Barreda maintains bike lead in Stage 3 at Dakar (VIDEO) - MotorSportsTalk

Honda’s Joan Barreda notched his second bike class win in three stages so far at the 2014 Dakar Rally, pushing his overall lead over defending class champ Cyril Despres to just past 13 minutes.

Barreda’s Tuesday win also maintained Honda’s perfect score so far at this year’s event. Fellow Honda man Sam Sunderland took Monday’s Stage 2 in addition to Barreda’s triumphs in Stages 1 and 3.

Today’s stage from San Rafael to San Juan, Argentina featured an modified route due to severe weather in the area over the last several days. The bikes and quads got started at the 130-kilometer point of the original route, while the cars and trucks finished their routes at 222 kilometers instead of the original 245 (those classes went off from the original start point).

Barreda set a new altitude record for the Dakar, hitting a height of 4,300 meters as the route crossed the Andes Mountains. He later said it was not easy dealing with the high altitude on his bike.

“It was very exhausting in the high altitude and I needed to stay very calm to avoid mistakes,” Barreda said. “As I was over the highest point, the navigation downhill was getting very delicate, with many changes of directions and possibly wrong ways to follow on very steep trails.

“I stopped and made sure I was choosing the right way several times. Eventually, it paid [off] to keep a cool head.”

In the cars, Nani Roma moved into the overall lead after winning the stage with a time of 2:58:52 in his Mini. As for Stephane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz – who had been first and second in the category after Monday – they both faltered in Stage 3.

Peterhansel, in particular, suffered through six punctures en route to a 29th-place finish in the stage; Sainz wasn’t much better, finishing 18th.

Roma now holds an overall lead of 9:06 on Orlando Terranova, with Nasser Al-Attiyah in third (+10:00). Sainz fell to fourth (+12:02) and Peterhansel is now fifth (+24:08).

The quad category saw a dramatic turn of events on Tuesday. Marcos Patronelli was forced to abandon the Dakar after he had to jump off his ATV before it tumbled into a deep ravine.

Also suffering from dehydration, the defending Dakar champion is now OK – although according to the Dakar website, he was “raging a little later on at the bivouac in San Juan against the hand fate had dealt him.”

With Patronelli gone and Lucas Bonetto also having mechanical problems, that opened the door for Rafal Sonik to take the stage win and the overall lead in the quads by 6:10 over Ignacio Casale.

Andrey Karginov won Stage 3 in trucks, but Gerard de Rooy was able to solidify his overall lead with a second-place finish. de Rooy now holds the edge over fellow Dutchman Marcel Van Vliet by 18:49.

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Ryan Hunter-Reay was named to replace Conor Daly in Ed Carpenter Racing’s No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet, starting in the NTT IndyCar Series event next week at Road America.

Hunter-Reay is the 2012 series champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner. He finished 11th for Dreyer & Reinbold last month in the 107th Indy 500, his first start since the 2021 season finale. He drove full time for Andretti Autosport from 2010-21.

“We need to improve our competitiveness and I wanted to add a fresh perspective from a driver like Ryan who has a massive amount of experience and success as well as a reputation as a team leader. I am excited to welcome Ryan to the team,” team owner Ed Carpenter said in a team release. “We have worked together in the past as teammates and he tested for ECR at Barber Motorsports Park in October 2021, where he made an immediate impact as we were able to qualify one of our cars on the pole following that test. I am confident that his experience and technical abilities will be an asset to ECR as we move forward toward our goals as a team.”

Hunter-Reay has 18 IndyCar victories, most recently in 2018. He also is a winner in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, having been a part of winning entries in the 2020 Twelve Hours of Sebring and 2018 Petit Le Mans. Last year, he was an endurance driver for Cadillac Racing while being on standby for Chip Ganassi Racing.

He replaces Daly, whose departure was announced a day earlier in what the driver and team said was a mutual decision.

“I was surprised when I got the call from Ed,” Hunter-Reay said in a team release. “He described how frustrated he was that his team has not been able to realize its potential despite their efforts, investments, as well as technical and personnel changes over the past few years and asked for my help. Ed and I are very close friends and have been for a long time. I’ve worked with the team in the past and they are a very talented group with high expectations and a committed partner in BITNILE.COM.

“This will certainly be a challenge for me as well. It’s a tough situation jumping in a car in the middle of the season without any testing in what I believe to be the most competitive series in the world. Certainly, part of my motivation in saying ‘yes’ to Ed is the great challenge ahead. The last time I turned right driving an NTT IndyCar Series car was in October of 2021 with this team at Barber. However, I remain very confident in both my driving and technical abilities and believe by working with the talented people at ECR and Team Chevy, while representing BITNILE.COM, we will make progress. I am going to do everything I can do to help the team achieve its long-term objectives.”

Said Milton “Todd” Ault, the chairman of sponsor BitNile.com: “It is great for BitNile.com to be aligned with an Indy 500 Winner and an NTT IndyCar Series champion. I have followed Ryan’s career for years and I am confident he will challenge the entire ECR team to perform at higher levels. I wish everyone luck at Road America.”