Terranova gives BRX superb Dakar stage win

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Orlando Terranova secured a brilliant stage victory for Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) yesterday as the Dakar Rally reached the halfway point in Riyadh. The Argentinian driver, partnered by Spain’s Dani Oliveras in their BRX Prodrive Hunter, was fastest by one minute and six seconds from Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom on the 348- km sixth special as he continued his climb up the rankings to seventh overall.

The quality of Terranova’s drive was underlined by the fact that he was more than six minutes quicker on the day than Nasser Al Attiyah, who extended his overall lead, despite recording only the 10th best stage time.

BRX’s two-time Dakar winner Nani Roma with Alex Haro also impressed in another Prodrive Hunter, going fifth fastest over the punishing terrain. It was a frustrating day for Sebastien Loeb, who lost time at a tricky navigational turn but still completed the first half of the Dakar in third place overall alongside Fabian Lurquin in their BRX Prodrive Hunter.

The nine-time World Rally Champion is just one minute 31 seconds adrift of Saudi’s Yazeed Al Rajhi, who trails leader Al Attiyah by 48 minutes 54 seconds as the rally arrives at the midpoint rest day in Riyadh, when the BRX team will rebuild the cars for the remainder of the rally.

Still ahead before the return to Jeddah are six more stages adding up to 2,179km, a distance similar to driving from Paris to Casablanca. Terranova’s seventh stage win in 16 Dakars was the second of the rally for the Prodrive Hunter, and for the sustainable Prodrive EcoPower fuel making its debut on this event, reducing CO2 emissions by 80 per cent.

Terranova said: “It was a very nice stage, difficult in places but easier in others as the tracks of the bike from yesterday made it easier, but we kept our concentration and the speed. “Towards the end the navigation was very hard because there were so many tracks but it all worked well because for the first time since 2015 we have a stage victory and it feels fantastic.”

Loeb commented: “We got lost after 100km. We tried to push and close the gap so even though we had good speed and great pace over the stage we lost too much time earlier. But we are only half way through this rally so we will continue to push and do some good stages all the way back to Jeddah.”

Roma said: “We really did take a normal speed through the kilometres, but this second week ahead will be much harder than the first as we are going over some ground we did last year. It won’t be easy for everyone but we’re confident for these days ahead.”