16 Jan 2010

Despite finishing off the podium for the first time this Dakar, the Raptor mounted Patronelli brothers have nothing to worry about heading onto the final stage.

Frenchman Christophe Declerck won his third special stage in this 32nd Dakar. Declerck finished 5min 56sec ahead of Polish Raptor rider Rafal Sonik and 27min 14sec ahead of Argentine rider Sébastian Halpern, also on a 700cc Raptor... But there was no change in the general standings where Argentinean Marcos Patronelli is still way ahead in first position with close to a 2.5hr lead on his older brother Alejandro Patronelli and over a five hour lead on Spanish rider Juan Manuel Gonzalez Corominas (Yamaha).

In the bikes, perennial second place finisher Pal Anders Ullevalseter won the stage to shore up second place in the standings. Along the way, he passed Chilean rider Lopez Contardo who finished the day’s stage 5min 35sec behind the day’s winner. This is more than enough for Pal to keep his second position up to Buenos Aires. Cyril Despres is the nailed on leader of the rally and only has 666km to ride before securing his third Dakar title with only 202km as a special stage. This distance would appear to be way too short for anyone including second place Ullevalseter to overcome the lead Despres now has in the standings of over an hour.

WR450F riders Rodrigues and Frétigné lie fourth and fifth overall having finished sixth and 11th on this stage.

 2010 Dakar Rally overall motorcycle top ten

 2010 Dakar Rally overall ATV top ten