HJohThe ninth stage of the dakar measured in at 886km with a 410km special, taking racers from Wadi Al Dawasir to Haradh. The stage involved equal parts sand and soil along with a tricky rocky section. Stephane Peterhansel won the category while Pablo Quintanilla was first among the bikes.
Stephane Peterhansel of the Bahrain JCW X-raid Team won the stage, once again getting a solid result and closing up on overall leader and teammate, Carlos Sainz. Stephane clocked a time of 3 hours 8 minutes and 31 seconds. Nasser Al-Attiyah finished second just 15 seconds behind the Frenchman. Nasser is currently second in the overall rankings. Yasir Seaidan of the Race World Team finished in third place, 4 minutes and 48 seconds behind Stephane. Jakub Przygonski of the Orlen X-Raid team finished ahead of Carlos Sainz in fourth place with a time of 3 hours 14 minutes and 54 seconds. Carlos placed fifth with a time of 3 hours 15 minutes and 2 seconds, losing 6 minutes and 31 seconds to Stephane. Carlos leads Nasser in the overall rankings by a mere 24 seconds.
Pablo Quintanilla of the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Team placed first with a time of 3 hours 30 minutes and 33 seconds, closing up on championship leader Ricky Brabec. Toby Price of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team came home second just a couple of minutes behind the leader with a time of 3 hours 32 minutes and 27 seconds. Joan Barreda Bort of the Monster Energy Honda Team placed third with a time of 3 hours 33 minute and 15 seconds. The championship leader Ricky Brabec lost some ground with a fourth place finish but there are still 3 long stages to go. Ricky got a time of 3 hours 34 minutes and 28 seconds, losing 3 minute and 55 seconds to Pablo. Ross Branch of the Bas Dakar KTM Racing team got a fifth place finish in the stage thanks to a time of 3 hours 36 minutes and 3 seconds. The Sherco TVS boys did fairly well in the stage as well, with Adrien Metge finishing 19th with a time of 3 hours 45 minutes and 36 seconds, 15 minutes off the leader. Metge is currently running in 12th place overall. Our countryman Harith Noah crossed the line in 29th place with a time of 4 hours 2 minutes 33 seconds while Spaniard Lorenzo Santolino crashed out and failed to finish.
Ignacio Casale is leading the quads category since day one. He picked up his fourth stage win by just three seconds from Giovanni Enrico, who finished stage 9 in the second place. Casale leads by 45 minutes overall and the Chilean is on course to claim his third Dakar victory after 2014 and 2018. Finishing the stage in third place was Czech national Tomas Kubiena from Moto Racing Group, concluding the stage 6 minutes behind Casale and Enrico.
As the stage moves towards south west of Saudi Arabia, there were less dunes, less sand and more flat stretches of desert for stage 9 of the Dakar 2020. Andrey Karginov piloting the Kamaz-Master truck, who leads the general rankings comfortably by over 38 minutes, finished stage 9 too at the top position. Maz-Sportauto’s Siarhei Viazovich finished the stage at a respectable second position thanks to his consistent pace while reigning Dakar champion Eduard Nikolaev concluded the stage in the third position.