New Delhi, Oct 14 (Motor Sports news) Monster Energy Honda driver Pablo Quintanilla saw off his rivals to claim both stage and race victories on the final day of the Rallye du Maroc (Rally of Morocco).
The Hero MotoSports team also concluded their campaign on a high with a top-10 finish in the overall rankings.
After only five months with his new outfit, the Chilean Quintanilla clinched his first race victory aboard the Honda CRF450 RALLY.
The occasion also marked Quintanilla's maiden win in Morocco as he got back to winning ways after the 2019 Atacama Rally. The team tally now lies at three stage wins in Morocco.
"The forecast in Misano is looking hot so we know that we will have to work to improve to be closer to our Silverstone performance than our performance in Aragon," Quintanilla was quoted as saying in a media release.
"We have been making improvements in this area, but we need to keep on working to show our potential and the potential of the bike." Quintanilla started in a fine position from which he attacked Mathias Walkner’s lead. He held a sufficiently strong pace to allow him to fulfil this main mission and capture the final stage.
The other Monster Energy Honda driver, Ricky Brabec was unable to whittle down the gap separating him from his rivals in the general standings and in spite of finishing runner-up on the final day, narrowly missed out on a podium place.
Joan Barreda was also able to battle his way to finishing sixth on the day and 11th in the general standings while Chilean rider José Ignacio Cornejo was 10th overall.
For Hero MotoSports, Joaquim Rodrigues, who won the Prologue stage, was rewarded with an eighth place in the overall rankings.
“It was a good rally for me and I am really happy with my performance. All the teams here are testing for the Dakar and our bike is performing well against the competition," Rodrigues said.
Franco Caimi achieved two top-5 stage finishes during the rally. However, the technical troubles that he faced in the earlier stages cost him a good overall finish. He rode a measured stage 5, finishing in the 13th position.
Sebastian Buhler finished in the top-10 in this final stage of the rally. However, he too lost positions in the overall rankings due to his technical issues earlier. The highlight of the rally for him was his resurgent run to achieve a second-place finish in Stage 3.
Stage 5 of the rally, initially set to run for 290km, was cut short to 166km. Overall, during the rally, competitors covered over 1500km of race distance.
With the Rallye du Maroc completed, the teams now set their sights on the 44th edition of Dakar Rally, scheduled to start from Ha’il, Saudi Arabia on January 2.
Also Read : Hero MotorSports Team finishes in top-10 in Morocco Rally
News Source : PTI
