The Honda rider is definitely showing his skill in the second week of racing, as Jose Ignacio Cornejo wins Stage Nine of the Dakar 2022. The Chilean crossed the line in just under two and a half hours, slightly ahead of Kevin Benavides and Ricky Brabec. It’s his second stage win in three days, and moves him up to seventh overall.
Matthias Walkner finished fourth on the stage, and into the overall lead, as Britain’s Sam Sunderland finished thirteenth on the day, just eight minutes behind Cornejo, and six behind Walkner. The other British riders are David McBride, who finished 54th on Stage Nine, David Mabbs (117th), and Simon Hewitt (122nd). This puts McBridge 51st overall, Mabbs 95th and Hewitt 115th (just four places behind MotoGP and debut Dakar stage winner Danilo Petrucci, who is continuing after a technical issue forced his retirement).
Sam Sunderland: “Opening a stage only adds to the difficulty of rally racing and I’m super happy with how the day went for me. On paper you could look at the results and think it wasn’t a great stage for me, but the reality was that leading out means you’re relying solely on your roadbook. Not losing huge chunks of time today means I did a pretty good job. Since my crash last week, I’ve felt better and better every day so I’m looking forward to this continuing through the final three days.”
Dakar 2022 Stage Nine Results:
- Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo 2:29.30
- Kevin Benavides 2:30.56
- Ricky Brabec 2:31.17
- Matthias Walkner 2:31.36
- Joan Barreda Bort 2:31.40
Dakar 2022 Overall Standings After Stage Nine:
- Matthias Walkner 30:14.03
- Sam Sunderland 30:16.15
- Adrien Van Beveren 30:17.59
- Pablo Quintanilla 30:18.44
- Kevin Benavides 30:24.25
Mirjam Pol now leads the Women’s Trophy by more than three hours from Sandra Gomez. In the Junior Trophy Mason Klein has almost two hours over Bradley Cox, with his BAS World KTM Racing team-mate losing time after a rock holed his fuel tank. And Mario Patrao now has 30 minutes over his challenges Mikael Despontin and David McBride in the Veterans Trophy.
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