Update motorcycle result stage 3: Several riders, including stage winner Quintanilla, penalized for speeding – Kevin Benavides leads new result
The third stage of the 2024 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia originally ended with a stage win for Honda rider Pablo Quintanilla. However, a few hours after the top riders crossed the finish line, the FIM race organizers handed out a number of penalties for violations in speed limit zones.
This mainly affected Quintanilla. The Chilean received a time penalty of six minutes. As a result, he lost the day’s victory and dropped back to sixth place. Joan Barreda Bort (Hero), who was second in the first result, was hit even harder.
The Spaniard received twelve penalty minutes! He had already been handed eight penalty minutes the day before for speeding in a speed limit. Barreda’s penalties therefore already add up to 20 minutes.
Defending champion Kevin Benavides (KTM) therefore inherited the stage win. His lead over Ricky Brabec was 1:11 minutes. However, it could have been closer, as the Honda rider received a penalty minute today (also for speeding).
Adrien van Beveren (Honda) is the new third-placed rider. Two riders are also new to the top 10. Toby Price (KTM) and Skyler Howes (Honda) had stopped when Sebastian Bühler fell off his Hero at kilometer 320.
They gave their colleague first aid. Price and Howes were credited with this time by the race organizers. Bühler was flown to hospital by helicopter. According to initial information, the German was able to move everything, but had pain in the lower torso area
Howes appears in fourth place in the new daily results, followed by Ross Branch (Hero). Price is now ninth. The penalties also have an impact on the overall standings, with Quintanilla having lost the most ground in the lead pack.
Branch continues to lead the overall standings. But as the rider from Botswana also received a penalty minute, his lead over Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) shrank to 3:11 minutes. In third place, Brabec is just under five minutes behind.
Quintanilla is still fourth, but his gap has grown to 16 minutes. Kevin Benavides is the best KTM rider in sixth, 20 minutes back. Barreda has dropped out of the top 10.
In the “Malle Moto” classification (Original by Motul), Tobias Ebster (KTM) took his third stage win in a row. He now leads this class with a lead of 38 minutes. In the overall standings, the Austrian improved to 26th place
Result of the 3rd stage (Top 10):
01st Kevin Benavides (KTM) – 4:39:28 hours
02nd Ricky Brabec (Honda) +1:11
03. Adrien van Beveren (Honda) +2:51
04. Skyler Howes (Honda) +2:57
05. Ross Branch (Hero) +3:18
06. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) +3:34
07. Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) +4:14
08. Stefan Svitko (KTM) +5:04
09. Toby Price (KTM) +6:36
10th Martin Michek (KTM) +7:32
Overall standings after 3 of 12 stages (Top 10):
01st Ross Branch (Hero) – 14:32:51 hours
02. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) +3:11 minutes
03. Ricky Brabec (Honda) +5:08
04. Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) +16:16
05. Adrien van Beveren (Honda) +20:16
06. Kevin Benavides (KTM) +20:32
07. Toby Price (KTM) +22:57
08. Daniel Sanders (GasGas) +24:13
09th Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) +27:00
10th Martin Michek (KTM) +27:12
