Dakar 2011
After having been announced winner of the sixth stage of the 2011 Dakar Rally, Ruben Faria on his Red Bull KTM motorcycle was finally reclassified 3rd following an race organizer timing error.
This meant that the Dakar motorcycle racing victory was passed to Helder Rodrigues with Cyril Despres second.
The reclassification however had no impact on the overall result with Cyril pulling back to 8’48 behind Marc Coma, the Chilean Chaleco Lopez third (at 22’12), Rodrigues fourth (at 27’35) and Ruben moving up one place to fifth (at 33’54).
Cyril Despres (KTM) says: "We are now at the rest day which marks the rally’s halfway point and the mechanics are busy rebuilding the bikes in readiness for the second week. From a sporting point of view the first week was very positive."
The pace has been fast right from the beginning and we have had some great specials. I am also satisfied with how I have been riding. I haven’t had any big crashes, I’m not caring any injuries, my navigation has been precise and my speed good."
The team is also functioning very well and Ruben (Faria) has been doing a great job supporting me on the piste. Away from the track, obviously the big negative has been the 10 minute penalty. It is frustrating to lose time for a detail in the rule book but that too is part of rally-raid and I just have to accept it."
Now at 8’48 behind the leader there is still everything to play for and I am looking forward to a really hard second week that will allow me to make the difference."
