France's Declerck wins quad race on Day 11 of Dakar Rally
Xinhua, January 16, 2015 Adjust font size:
French quad racer Christophe Declerck garnered his first stage win of the 2015 Dakar Rally Thursday, in his division.
The Yamaha racer completed the tract between the Argentine cities of Salta and Termas de Rio Hondo in 3 hours, 56 minutes and 39 seconds, 6m35s ahead of runner up Nelson Sanabria (Yamaha) of Paraguay, and 6m50s ahead of both Walter Nosiglia (Honda) of Bolivia and Willem Saaijman (Yamaha) of South Africa.
Poland's Rafal Sonik (Yamaha) came in sixth place, but leads the general standings in the quad race with a total time of 52h7m58s.
Sonik's lead over his closest rival grew to 2 hours and 50 minutes after second-placed Victor Gallegos "was forced to withdraw after breaking his engine," organizers said.
The next to last day of the rally Friday will see racers battle it out across a long (726 km liaison and 298 km special) cross-country journey from Termas de Rio Hondo to Rosario, in Santa Fe province. Endi