German Hero rider Sebastien Bühler applied pressure on overnight leader Tosha Schareina from the start of Thursday’s 166.29km stage and managed to reduce the Spaniard’s lead to 2min 56sec with the fastest time.
Bühler actually began the day 5min 35sec adrift after four minutes of time penalties were added to his time on Wednesday evening. But he managed to overhaul Sherco’s Lorenzo Santolini and Skyler Howes to snatch second place.
Bühler said: “I felt good throughout the entire stage. There was a lot of water on the road before the refuelling. I tried to be fast but to be careful with the bike, because in fast areas the risk is huge. After that, the special flowed and I am very happy with this result.”
Schareina rode the stage with a wrist brace on his left arm as added protection against any niggling repercussions from the wrist fracture that he had sustained on the first stage of the Dakar Rally in January.
Behind the two battling Monster Energy Honda Team and Hero Motorsports Rally Team riders, Howes and Santolino waged their own personal tussle for third place and Howes managed to move 13 seconds ahead of his rival and into third.
Santolini actually began the day in second, 4min 02sec behind the leader, after more time penalties had been imposed on several of his closest rivals. Howes had been third overnight as a result of a two-minute time penalty for W2RC leader Ross Branch of the Hero Motorsports Rally Team.
Portugal’s António Maio (Yamaha) and Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) hold fifth and sixth overall. Ross Branch holds eighth overall.
Maio said: “The first part of the special had a lot of puddles, with a lot of mud and poor visibility due to the fog. The bike failed a little in the water crossings. Fortunately, the second half of the stage was drier and went better. I had a safe stage, without major mistakes and that is the most important thing.”
Bruno Santos stormed into Rally2 contention with the third fastest time and the Portuguese Husqvarna rider now holds seventh place and leads the Rally2 category by 5min 09sec from 10th-placed Frenchman Mathieu Doveze. Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna) is third in Rally2 and 11th overall.
A delighted Santos said: “It was an excellent day for me. I felt very comfortable, I always had a good pace. The route was treacherous, with some very slippery areas. We are in our country and we can attack with more confidence!”
Frenchman Adrien van Beveren began the day 14th on the road after his costly time penalty on Wednesday but the Honda factory rider delivered a supreme performance on the muddy and winding stage to card the second quickest time and climb from 14th to ninth.
Van Beveren said: “I’m really enjoying this race. I love running in Portugal. I love this type of terrain. It’s completely different from what we’re used to in the desert. It’s a technical route that requires a lot of concentration in the water crossings. It would be difficult to beat Sebastian Bühler here, because we’re running in his ‘garden’. But I’m happy for him and I’ll continue to do my best.”
Harith Noah won the Rally2 class at the recent Dakar Rally but stopped after 48km of the day’s stage with clutch issues. The Sherco rider had started out this morning classified sixth in the Rally2 standings.
The Portuguese rider Gonçalo Amaral holds 16th overall and continues to lead the Rally3 section on his Honda by 22 minutes from his brother Salvador.
Argentina’s Manuel Andujar continues to dominate the quad category a day after the ASO’s David Castera announced that quads would not have their own classification at the 2025 Dakar Rally. The Yamaha rider finished the stage 5min 03sec in front of Pole Kamil Wisniewski, although Gaetan Martinez of France moved up to second in the rankings, albeit 8min 57sec adrift of the Argentine. Lithuania’s Antanas Kanopkinas is third.
Tomorrow (Friday), competitors will tackle a stage of 374.10km which is the longest of the entire event but may be subject to late weather-related modifications.
- From Rally Raid Portugal
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