Northallerton motorcycle ace Robbie Wallace showed his true potential when he romped to a fantastic 35th position on today’s eighth stage of the 2025 Dakar Rally.
Virtually exhausted after the weekend’s exploits which saw him cover nearly 1,000 miles with minimal sleep, the 27-year-old North Yorkshireman was sufficiently refreshed to tackle today’s 733km (455 mile) stage from Al Duwadimi to the Saudia Arabian capital of Riyadh, known as the ‘Empty Quarter’ and with the terrain being his favourite of the two-week long event so far, he relished the challenge.
The result meant the X Raids Experience TCC Plant-sponsored 450cc KTM rider continued to climb the leaderboard after last week’s crash which saw him miss a couple of stages whereby he was hit with some hefty time penalties and at tonight’s bivouac, he holds 88th overall and now lies 77th in the Rally2 class and 21st Rookie.
Robbie Wallace: “I’ve had an absolutely fantastic day on the bike today and I’m extremely happy with how today’s stage went. I always knew that given the right conditions, I had it in me. It was super-fast which suits me down to the ground and although there were some tricky bits in the navigation, which saw me have a couple of massive moments, I somehow managed to pull it off. I felt more at one with the bike today and it just goes to show what a good sleep can do for you.”
The event is dubbed ‘The toughest rally in the world’ and with good reason as so far, since the rally began on 3rd January, 36 motorcycle competitors and 42 car and truck crews have retired.
Robbie has now less than 2,000km to go in the remaining four stages, but that equates to still around 1,200 miles before the finish on Friday. Tuesday’s stage comprises a slightly shorter distance of 589km (365 miles) from Riyadh to Haradh but with the terrain again being smooth and fast, Robbie will once again be hoping the route proves favourable without any problems.
Results after Stage 8 – Al Duwadimi to Riyadh
Position on Stage: 35th
Overall Position: 88th
Rally2 Position: 77th
Rookie Position: 21st
Overall Time: 129h 55′ 11”
Total Penalties: 58h 05’ 00”
Time Behind Leader: 85h 28′ 19”
Distance Covered: 5,724 km
Distance To Go: 1,894 km
SAND SNIPPETS
- Today saw top rider Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) crash out and injure his shoulder after 133km. Rivals Luciano Benavides (KTM) and Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) stopped to assist the Chilean rider but were credited with their time loss when helping their stricken colleague. In the end, Argentinean Benavides and Frenchman Van Beveren took the top two places on the day’s podium, in that order, separated by two minutes and eight seconds.
- In the overall standings, Honda’s Tosha Schareina still holds second place, but the Spaniard pulled three minutes and 30 seconds back on Australian KTM rider Daniel Sanders who continues to lead despite a one-minute penalty today. Sanders’ lead stands at 11 minutes and three seconds at the overnight halt in the Saudi capital Riyadh. Van Beveren is in third 21 minutes and 31 seconds behind the leader with Benavides in fourth 30 minutes and 48 seconds behind ‘Chucky’.
Pictures attached courtesy of EdoPhoto, higher resolution versions and a selection of others are available upon request.
More updates as the event progresses and further details at www.dakar.com.
Notes to Editors
The 47th edition of the Dakar will see around 140 motorcycle competitors, as well as hundreds of car, buggy and truck drivers from all over the world converge on Bisha in the south west of Saudi Arabia starting with technical checks and administration on January 1st/2nd 2025 and then the Prologue on January 3rd 2025 before the competition starts in earnest the following day. There then follows a mighty 950km stage over two days on varied terrain, with competitors required to camp out overnight in the desert in a bivouac. At least five stages of the 2025 Dakar will take place on separate courses for safety purposes to reduce the danger of cars and trucks overtaking bikes, and another feature of the 2025 event is riders will have to service their own bikes for up to 800km on a couple of days. After 14 days incorporating 12 stages, Shubaytah, in the eastern part of the country and near the Abu Dhabi border, will welcome the weary finishers.
ENDS
