Luciano Benavides has won his 2nd stage on this edition of the Dakar ahead of Toby Price (55'') and his Husqvarna Factory Racing team-mate Skyler Howes.
As on stage 6, HVA can celebrate the victory of Luciano Benavides and the fact that Skyler Howes retains the lead of the Dakar, making it the 5th consecutive day for the American at the summit of the rally. However, Toby Price is only 3 seconds behind in the general rankings!
This morning, 13 seconds separated the two men. Kevin Benavides, Price’s KTM team-mate, occupies third, 5'09’’ from the rally leader. Adrien Van Beveren is the leading Honda rider, 15'40'' behind, but ahead of his team-mate Pablo Quintanilla, who trails the rally leader by 18'24''. Mason Klein has dropped back into 6th position, 18'42’’ from the top of the leader board.
Luciano Benavides: “I’m really happy. I cannot believe I won again, and to be the first rider at this Dakar to win twice feels incredible. It was a really hard stage with a lot of navigation – you really had to focus on your road book to make sure you didn’t make any mistakes. There were a lot of broken tracks and different lines, so it was easy to take a slightly wrong line. Now I am opening the stage tomorrow, so it will be full gas all the way to the finish.”
Skyler Howes: “The stage today was pretty tricky. We hit a section where we were missing one waypoint and it was in a place deep with stones and a lot of mud. It was tough to navigate through there and I knew we were going off the CAP heading a little, so I had to circle around to get back on track. Luciano caught up with me then and riding together we really put the charge on, partly because I thought I had lost a lot more time than I had. We did a good job all the way from the refuelling to the finish. The ground out there was incredible – there’s been so much rain, in some places it was like riding through giant rivers. It’s been a challenging day and I’m sure there will be plenty more to come as we make our way to the end.”
2023 Dakar Rally – Stage 9 Provisional Classification
1. Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) 3:18:44
2. Toby Price (KTM) 3:19:46
3. Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) 3:21:41
4. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) 3:24:56
5. Kevin Benavides (KTM) 3:26:37
6. Toni Mulec (Husqvarna) 3:27:30
2023 Dakar – Provisional Overall Classification [After Stage 9]
1. Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) 33:55:57
2. Toby Price (KTM) 33:56:00
3. Kevin Benavides (KTM) 34:01:06
4. Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) 34:11:37
5. Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) 34:14:21
6. Mason Klein (KTM) 34:14:39
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ASO