2013 Desafio Ruta 40 Rally, Stage 3 Results
The Desafio Ruta 40 Rally in Argentina continued Wednesday with stage 3, which took riders from San Fernando del valle de Catamarca to Belén.
And after 713 kilometers with a special stage of 466 kilometers, Team HRC was once again in the lead. But it wasn’t Tuesday’s stage-two winner Helder Rodriquez on top.
Instead, it was Honda CRF450 Rally rider Javier Pizzolito who secured the first world championship cross country stage win of his career. As for Rodrigues, he finished fifth. Three-time Dakar winner Mar Coma ran out of fuel just three kilometer from the refueling stop and American Red Bull KTM teammate Kurt Caselli stopped to give him enough to see him through. Coma is now 18 minutes behind the leader.
Pizzolito was joined on the stage-three podium by KTM’s Chaleco Lopez and Speedbrain Honda’s Paolo Gonvalves
Speaking of the race, Honda says: “The soft and sandy terrain suited Pizzolito’s riding style perfectly and the Argentinean rider was able to bring his Honda CRF450 Rally across the line in first place with a time of 6h1m41s. The victory places him at the top of the overall standings.”
Javier Pizzolito (Team HRC Honda CRF450 Rally (#7) says: “I am so happy to win today! It’s my first world championship stage victory so it means a lot to me and I’m really pleased to continue the team’s winning streak after Rodrigues’s performance yesterday. I felt in control throughout the stage and even though I had a small crash, I was still able to win, so perhaps without that the margin would have been even greater.”
2013 Desafio Ruta 40 Stage 3 Results:
1. Javier Pizzolito, Argentina, Honda
2. Chaleco Lopez, Chile, KTM at 5’46”
3. Paolo Goncalves, Portugal, Speedbrain at 7’10”
4. David Casteu, France, Yamaha at 10’37”
5. Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, Honda at 11’32”
6. Kurt Caselli, USA, KTM at 13.00
7. Pablo Quintanilla, Chile, KTM at 17’34”
8. Marc Coma, Spain, KTM at 18’34”
9. Juan Carlos Salvatierra, Bolivia Speedbrain at 24’48”
10. Felipe Prohens, Chile at 28’42”
2013 Desafio Ruta 40 Rally Overall after Stage 3:
1. Pizzolito 11 hours 00.53
2. Goncalves, at 3.51
3. Lopez, at 401
4. Rodrigues, at 6.09
5. Casteu, at 11.23
6. Caselli, at 12.31
7. Coma, at 14.51
8. Quintanilla, at 33.44
9. Prohens, at 46.08
10. Salvatierra, at 46.34
