Spanish athletes shine at Dakar precursor

COMMITMENT: Joan Barreda takes a well fought third position in the 2 wheeled category. Source: Twitter @bgmotogp

FACTORY Monster Energy Honda rider Joan Barreda took an impressive second place at the gruelling Rallye du Maroc rally raid in the motorcycle category last week.

The Spanish rider, along with his team mates, American rider Ricky Brabec, Kevin Benavides and José Ignacio Cornejo tackled the 2,500km, 6 day event in preparation for the world famous Dakar Rally to be held next year.

In an event, littered with retirements and technical issues, Bareda capitalised on his rivals’ misfortune and ended the final day just three seconds shy of the events eventual winner, America’s Matthew Short.

COMMITMENT: Joan Barreda takes a well fought third position in the 2 wheeled category. Source: Twitter @motosponsor

In the female category, Rally Raid legend, Laia Sainz took the 2019 FIM Women’s Cross-Country Rallies World Championship crown with an emphatic victory in Morocco.

In the four wheeled category, a familiar name took his place on the podium this year after an emphatic performance during the events five gruelling desert stages.

Rally legend Carlos Sainz took his specially modified X-raid MINI JCW to second place, putting him in a fantastic position to defend his title at the Dakar next year.

The four wheel category was won by South African driver  Giniel De Villiers who put in a consistant display to take the win from Sainz by 17 minutes 42 seconds.

“We won! A big thank you to the team for their hard work this week and also to Alex Haro for the navigation. This was one tough rally!” said De Villiers.

Author badge placeholder
Written by

James Warren

Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

Comments