RALLY DAKAR 2024

Honda breaks in two in the first part of the '48 hour time trial' stage of the Dakar 2024

The 48-hour stage of the Dakar 2024 has celebrated the first of its two days with the Hondas as the main protagonists, since while the Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren(image above) and the American Ricky Brabec are setting the tone towards the stage victory and the leadership of the general, respectively; Chilean Pablo Quintanilla gave up almost two hours and American Skyler Howes had to abandon.

There was a great desire to see how the organization's new invention worked: a stage divided into two days where the pilots had to stop at a certain time and sleep in the closest camp of the seven distributed throughout the stage. And there was desire, above all, because yesterday's sprint was not enough.

The stage soon claimed its first victim: the American Skyler Howes, who had barely covered 39 kilometers of the stage when his Honda left him stranded, choosing to abandon after failing to repair it.

Meanwhile, Joan Barreda was paying the price of opening the track and, before being caught by Nacho Cornejo at the fifth waypoint of the day, he already left himself about 20 minutes against the best times, established by Ricky Brabec who attacked the virtual leadership of the general, with Adrien Van Beveren also flying until he caught up with Toby Price who stayed with the Frenchman.

Skyler Howes(image above) has said goodbye to the 2024 Dakar due to mechanical problems on his Honda

A few kilometers earlier, almost upon reaching camp A (the first of the seven established to sleep today), the Chilean Pablo Quintanilla ran out of gas. The veteran Honda rider, who had been setting the third best time after his two teammates, was able to get back on track... but losing almost an hour and a half, ruining all his options in the general classification.

Sailing together, Cornejo and Barreda began to somewhat minimize losses, making them almost go hand in hand with bonus compensation. And, almost arriving at camp F, they were joined by Luciano Benavides who, after finishing yesterday's stage, had to change the engine of his Husqvarna, with the corresponding 15-minute penalty.

The next to arrive were Kevin Benavides and Ricky Brabec, with the difference that the Argentine had left 11 minutes before the American. However, the best time in that partial would be for Adrien Van Beveren, who will start tomorrow with 1:21 ahead of Ricky Brabec and 1:49 ahead of Toby Price.

Despite losing more than 20 minutes, Joan Barreda's stage is being heroic after his two falls yesterday, which made him a doubt for today. 

Swinxy