2016 Dakar Rally Stage 3 took the competitors north from Termas de Rio Hondo to Jujuy in Argentina. Strom continued to plague the Stage 3 resulting shortened timed section. Riders faced tight mountain tracks this time out, Team HRC’s Joan Barreda took advantage of the less demanding navigation, throttling hard from the start and holding it to the finish for the stage win. His Stage 3 run catapulted him from sixth overall at the beginning of the day to first in the general classification.
Barreda was later hit with a one-minute penalty, dropping him from the top-time in Stage 3 down to fifth. He lost the lead position in the overall standings as well, dropping to third. Dakar Rookie Kevin Benavides is now credited with the fastest time in Stage 3 followed by Team HRC’s Paulo Goncalves in second and KTM’s Antoine Meo in third. KTM’s Stefan Svitko takes over position as overall leader.
The previous day’s winner, KTM’s Toby Price, opened the road and found obstacles such as animals and spectators on track a persistent difficulty.
“I had a few close calls with some people,” Price explained in statement to Dakar personnel after the stage. “It was safer to back it down a little today and put ourselves in a good position for tomorrow and we’ll go from there. We’re only at day three now so there’s still a long way to go.”
CS Santosh finished the Stage 3 at 62nd rank after being promoted to 87th position due to Joan Barreda penalty.
Pablo Quintanilla from Husqvarna Rockstar Energy team crossed the line in sixth place but was just over a minute behind stage winner Joan Barreda and Spain.
Quintanilla and teammate Ruben Faria of Portugal are well positioned in fifth and sixth place in the general standings where the top ten riders are only separated by five minutes.
2016 Dakar Rally Stage 3 Results
1. Kevin Benavides (Honda) ARG – 2:31:03
2. Paulo Goncalves (Honda) PRT – 2:31:29
3. Antoine Meo (KTM) FRA – 2:31:30
4. Stefan Svitko (KTM) SVK – 2:31:34
5. Joan Barreda (Honda) ESP – 2:31:37
6. Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha) FRA – 2:32:39
7. Gerard Farres Guell (KTM) ESP – 2:32:49
8. Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) CHL – 2:32:55
9. Alain Duclos (Sherco TVS) FRA – 2:32:58
10. Matthias Walkner (KTM) AUT – 2:33.29
2016 Dakar Rally Overall Standings after Stage 3
1. Stefan Svitko (KTM) SVK – 6:27:04
2. Kevin Benavides (Honda) ARG – 6:27:38
3. Joan Barreda (Honda) ESP – 6:27:50
4. Paulo Goncalves (Honda) PRT – 6:27:58
5. Alain Duclos (Sherco TVS) FRA – 6:28:00
6. Matthias Walkner (KTM) AUT – 6:28:37
7. Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) CHL – 6:29:28
8. Ruben Faria (Husqvarna) PRT – 6:30:47
9. Toby Price (KTM) AUS – 6:31:53
10. Juan Pedrero Garcia (Sherco TVS) ESP – 6:33:23
