Yamaha Racing's Adrien Van Beveren and Xavier de Soultrait reached the end of the two-day-long marathon stage retaining third and sixth positions respectively in the overall standings.
Joined at the finish of today’s stage by Hélder Rodrigues, the trio of Yamaha riders will continue pushing for even better results in the remaining four stages of this year’s Dakar Rally.
Rising river water levels forced organisers to modify the stage, splitting the timed special into two parts. Making a cautious start to the special stage, Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team’s Adrien Van Beveren went on to post the 11th fastest time of the day. With four stages left to be contested in this year’s Dakar Rally the Frenchman is still holding on to a very strong third place in the rally’s provisional overall standings.
Trying to make the most of his experience in the difficult conditions of today’s stage, Hélder Rodrigues struggled to find a good race pace and had to settle for 18th. The Portuguese rider is currently 16th in the rally’s standings, less than 30 minutes behind the provisional top 10.
Attacking today’s second part of the marathon stage, WR450F mounted Xavier de Soultrait was the highest placed Yamaha rider. Involved in some great battles with the fastest riders of the day, the Frenchman wrapped up the stage in ninth to retain his impressive sixth place in the provisional overall standings.
With 2014 Dakar Rally champion Ignacia Casale topping today’s standings in the Quad class, Yamaha Raport 700R mounted Russian Sergey Karyakin retains his lead in the provisional standings.
According to information coming from Argentina at the time of issuing this release, team crews have come to a halt in the small city of Tilcara, 200km before Salta, with all major roads being blocked due to flooding and mud slides. Riders are currently heading to Tilcara where they will meet up with their crews and spend the night before setting off on tomorrow’s stage nine.