Brabec improves and finishes second in the Marathon stage

The third day of the Atacama Rally race has drawn to a close in Diego de Almagro,
where the riders will spend the night in the temporary bivouac without the mechanical
assistance of their teams. American Ricky Brabec performed well to claim the day’s
second best time.
 
The first part of the Atacama Rally marathon stage concluded this afternoon back at the camp
in Diego de Almagro after a stage which had been a very complete one featuring fast sections,
areas clouded with fesh-fesh, dunes, sand and mountainous tracks that required delicate
navigational prowess. At the end of the special the riders were not permitted to receive
outside mechanical assistance for their equipment, having to carry out any necessary repair-
work on the bikes by themselves.

Ricky Brabec was the best of the four Monster Energy Honda Team riders, finishing in
runner-up spot after the 281-kilometre special, four seconds behind the stage winner. With
today's result, the American climbs a position in the general standings.

In fifth position finished Joan Barreda who had been able to reach his team-mate Kevin
Benavides on the track, who finished eighth on the day, the two reaching the final destination
together with a solid yet prudent pace to not overwork the machinery. Chilean José Ignacio
Cornejo made some navigation slip-ups at the beginning of the special and dropped precious
time ending his initial hopes of making up positions on the stage. .

After resting in Diego de Almagro, the riders will start out tomorrow in the direction of Bahía
Inglesa, where the fourth stage - the longest of this Atacama Rally - at 426.68 kilometres sets
off from. The route will consist of 354 kilometres of timed special before reaching the
surroundings of Copiapó.

KEVIN BENAVIDES
Today was a rather complicated stage. I had to open track all day and it was quite hard. We
had technical areas at the beginning, some dunes, valleys ... with complicated navigation ... I
am happy with the pace that I managed to keep up until the end. We shall keep moving
forward and we will prepare everything to be able to attack tomorrow. The bike is fine, so I
didn’t have to do much work on it today
RICKY BRABEC
The day was somewhat better for me, as the speeds remained high, but the terrain was much
more rugged than yesterday, which was safer than the day before. The fast tracks and the
stones make me feel at home, but I still don't feel motivated by the style of this rally because
of how fast it is. Sometimes the sand is very soft in the valleys and when I try to push it, it
slows me down and I feel like I'm wasting time, but this is a feeling we all have. Now is the
time to do the work here in the marathon, give a break to the mechanics who have worked
hard so far and it is time to charge batteries for the next two days.

JOAN BARREDA
We are in the marathon stage, quite happy with the day. It has not been an easy stage. We
started out ahead, with Kevin opening track, with a lot of dust. The first part more technical,
mountainous, even with trial areas. Then we have got together and we have practically gone
together until the end. We have given up some time, but it was something we expected. Let's
see how things play out over the two days left of the race.

NACHO CORNEJO
It was a hard, very varied special: with areas of dunes, sand, rocks, with navigation ... I made
several navigation errors and it didn’t go quite as I had expected. I lost several minutes which
is a pity. In the second part I tried to recover a little and I reached the final goal, with the bike
in perfect condition. We will try to attack in the next stages.