Dakar Quads, Stage 4: Marcos Patronelli quickest, Casale extends lead
Stage 4 honours in the quad category of the 2016 Dakar Rally went to Argentinian Marcos Patronelli - but that didn't stop runaway leader Ignacio Casale from stretching his advantage.
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Casale started the day around four minutes in the clear of surprise Stage 3 winner Brian Baragwanath, who lost three-quarters of an hour soon after the beginning of running on Wednesday.
The rally leader then completed a trouble-free day, finishing 25 seconds off pacesetter Patronelli and establishing a 12-minute gap in the overall standings.
Patronelli, who lost a fair bit of time on both Monday and Tuesday, was into the lead right from the get-go in Stage 4 - and while he was at one point trailing Casale, as well as surprise challengers Pablo Copetti and Alexis Hernandez, he recovered to clinch the top time.
Hernandez ended the stage runner-up, just 16 seconds behind, while Patronelli's brother Alejandro was best of the rest in fourth place, almost four minutes off the pace.
Mohammed Abu-Issa led the Honda charge in fifth, ahead of Marcelo Medeiros, who remains as Casale's main chaser in the general classification.
2015 champion Rafal Sonik ended the stage in ninth and now sits more than 19 minutes adrift in the standings.
Lucas Bonetto, who was an impressive third for Honda on Tuesday, lost more than an hour midway through the stage.
Standings after Stage 4:
Pos. | No. | Rider |
Bike | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 251 |
Ignacio Casale |
Yamaha |
7h00m40s |
2 | 292 |
Marcelo Medeiros |
Yamaha |
12m06s |
3 | 253 |
Alejandro Patronelli |
Yamaha |
13m52s |
4 | 265 |
Alexis Hernandez |
Yamaha |
14m45s |
5 | 252 |
Marcos Patronelli |
Yamaha |
17m50s |
6 | 250 |
Rafal Sonik |
Yamaha |
19m24s |
7 | 254 |
Jeremias Gonzalez |
Yamaha |
19m26s |
8 | 255 |
Mohammed Abu-Issa |
Honda |
21m45s |
9 | 256 | Walter Nosiglia |
Honda |
27m09s |
10 | 264 |
Sergei Karyakin |
Yamaha |
29m54s |
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