Dakar 2020
Stage Four

Images by Rally Zone

KTM’s Sam Sunderland led home the Monster Energy Honda duo of Jose Cornejo and Kevin Benavides in Stage Four of the 2020 Dakar Rally in the provisional results. But Sunderland would later be slapped with a five-minute penalty, which was enough to regulate the KTM rider back to eighth position

This left Jose Cornejo as stage winner from teammate Kevin Benavides, while Ross Branch completed the top three, with only a minute separating the three. Paulo Gonçalves then completed the top four.

José Ignacio Cornejo

“I’m very happy with the stage victory. The truth is that I wasn’t expecting it with Sam’s penalization. I’m really pleased to have achieved my first Dakar stage win. Today was a very long stage, very demanding physically and above all mentally. The first part was very fast where there was practically no time difference between the riders. From the first refuelling, difficult navigation areas began with poorly visible tracks and many tracks on either side. It was quite difficult until I have caught Ricky approximately at kilometre 220 and we helped each other to open the track until the second refuelling. It was a difficult stage where we went through some very beautiful places. I’m very happy with this stage in which we kept a cool head to be able to find the route more easily.”

Kevin Benavides

“Today was a very long day, very physically demanding and quite cold in the morning. The stage began fast and, little by little, the technical areas began to arrive with rocks and hard track where navigation was very difficult. Then came a fairly fast part once again and before the end it was back to another part with a very complicated navigation full of sand and rocks. It was really very nice but a very demanding special. My team-mates did an excellent job opening the track. I followed them closely but I remained a little behind. I am very happy with the pace of today.”

Previous stage winner Ricky Brabec had to settle for fifth, 11-seconds faster than defending champion Toby Price, but it was enough for Brabec to retain his overall lead, while Price moved up the standings into fourth – 12min-9s off the combined lead.

Ricky Brabec

“The day was good. I didn’t have the best starting position. I started first. I was kind of nervous and I thought that I would lose a lot of time today. I’m very happy. I rode in front all day long. Then eventually my team-mate Nacho Cornejo caught up with me. We rode together from maybe kilometre 250 to the finish. We did really well. It was a really long and tiring day for the mind and the body. We are still healthy and the bikes are good and all the riders are still here. We have a couple of days left. We are going to rest and suit up for tomorrow.”

Dakar Rally Stage Ricky Brabe — Ricky Brabec – 2020 Dakar Rally Stage 4

Toby Price

“It’s been a good solid day’s riding for me, I made a few mistakes but nothing major. I don’t want to bash myself up or bend the bike so I’ve just tried to ride consistently and stay in touch with the other guys. We’re still in contention and there’s still a long way to go.”

Stage Four of the Dakar Rally offered a long day in the saddle for riders, who needed to complete a total of 672 kilomtres, including a 453-kilometre timed special, offering a mix of sandy pistes and travel tracks, traveling from Neom through to Al-Ula.

Following the GPS and waypoint issues of the previous stage, Stage Four also saw the the Top-10 separated by just five-minutes, however the combined leaderboard continues to stretch out.

Aussie Rodney Faggotter finished Stage Four in 18th position on his Yamaha Motor Australia mount, 13min-4s off the leader, moving into 17th in the standings.

toby price Dakar stage — Toby Price – 2020 Dakar Rally Stage Four

The overall standings now see Ricky Brabec leading Kevin Benavides by 2min-30s, while a more distant Jose Cornejo is third making a Monster Energy Honda Team 1-2-3. Toby Price and Sam Sunderland complete the top five, as the leading KTM riders, while Pablo Quintanilla is top Husqvarna pilot in sixth.

Pablo Quintanilla

“Honestly, today was not the best for me. Sometimes it’s like this – you can feel really good or sometimes you struggle a little bit. The stage was really tricky with high speeds and a lot of navigation. We still have many days in front of us and the good thing is I am ok and we have no problems with the bike. I lost some time today but we’re still in the fight and there’s definitely a long way to go and anything can happen.”

Provisional Stage 4 Results – Dakar Rally 2020

Stage 4
Combined Standings

Stage 4

Pos.	Riders	Team	Time/Gap/Pen
1	Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo	Monster Energy Honda Team 2020	04h 24′ 51”
2	Kevin Benavides	Monster Energy Honda Team 2020	+ 00h 00′ 35”
3	Ross Branch	Bas Dakar KTM Racing Team	+ 00h 00′ 55”
4	Paulo Gonçalves	Hero Motosports Team Rally	+ 00h 02′ 11”
5	Ricky Brabec	Monster Energy Honda Team 2020	+ 00h 02′ 48”
6	Toby Price	Red Bull KTM Factory Team	+ 00h 02′ 59”
7	Johnny Aubert	Sherco Tvs Rally Factory	+ 00h 03′ 52”
8	Sam Sunderland	Red Bull KTM Factory Team	+ 00h 04′ 49” 05′ 00”
9	Skyler Howes	Klymciw Racing	+ 00h 04′ 52”
10	Lorenzo Santolino	Sherco Tvs Rally Factory	+ 00h 06′ 24”
11	Franco Caimi	Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team	+ 00h 07′ 25” 05′ 00”
12	Stefan Svitko	Slovnaft Rally Team	+ 00h 07′ 34”
13	Andrew Short	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	+ 00h 07′ 54”
14	Pablo Quintanilla	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	+ 00h 08′ 03”
15	Adrien Metge	Sherco Tvs Rally Factory	+ 00h 08′ 28”
16	Jaume Betriu	Fn Speed Team	+ 00h 10′ 43”
17	Juan Pedrero Garcia	Ls2 Aventura Touareg	+ 00h 12′ 14”
18	Rodney Faggotter	Yamaha Motor Australia	+ 00h 12′ 53”
19	Martin Michek	Moto Racing Group (Mrg)	+ 00h 12′ 54”
20	Luciano Benavides	Red Bull KTM Factory Team	+ 00h 14′ 58”
21	Sebastian Bühler	Hero Motosports Team Rally	+ 00h 15′ 08”
22	Jacopo Cerutti	Solarys Racing	+ 00h 15′ 20”
23	Joan Barreda Bort	Monster Energy Honda Team 2020	+ 00h 17′ 06”
24	Maciej Giemza	Orlen Team	+ 00h 17′ 38”
25	Laia Sanz	Gas Gas Factory Team	+ 00h 20′ 34”
26	Matthias Walkner	Red Bull KTM Factory Team	+ 00h 23′ 49”
27	Maurizio Gerini	Solarys Racing	+ 00h 27′ 01”
28	Garrett Poucher	Klymciw Racing	+ 00h 31′ 09”
29	Patricio Cabrera	Fn Speed Team	+ 00h 35′ 23” 02′ 00”
30	Sebastien Lagut	Nomade Racing	+ 00h 37′ 32” 03′ 00”

Combined Standings

Pos	Rider	Time/Gap/Pen.
1	Ricky Brabec	15h 06′ 43”
2	Kevin Benavides	+ 00h 02′ 30”
3	Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo	+ 00h 08′ 31” 01′ 00”
4	Toby Price	+ 00h 12′ 09” 02′ 00”
5	Pablo Quintanilla	+ 00h 17′ 52”
6	Sam Sunderland	+ 00h 19′ 11” 05′ 00”
7	Joan Barreda Bort	+ 00h 25′ 20”
8	Luciano Benavides	+ 00h 26′ 30”
9	Matthias Walkner	+ 00h 27′ 03”
10	Skyler Howes	+ 00h 34′ 28”
11	Adrien Metge	+ 00h 44′ 24”
12	Stefan Svitko	+ 00h 46′ 04”
13	Franco Caimi	+ 00h 50′ 27” 05′ 00”
14	Lorenzo Santolino	+ 01h 00′ 09”
15	Andrew Short	+ 01h 02′ 05” 30′ 00”
16	Johnny Aubert	+ 01h 02′ 08”
17	Rodney Faggotter	+ 01h 02′ 17” 05′ 00”
18	Ross Branch	+ 01h 05′ 48”
19	Juan Pedrero Garcia	+ 01h 12′ 43”
20	Sebastian Bühler	+ 01h 24′ 27”
21	Maciej Giemza	+ 01h 35′ 00”
22	Martin Michek	+ 01h 40′ 05”
23	Jaume Betriu	+ 01h 47′ 51” 01′ 00”
24	Laia Sanz	+ 01h 48′ 12”
25	Maurizio Gerini	+ 01h 54′ 48”
26	Adam Tomiczek	+ 02h 05′ 16”
27	Sebastien Lagut	+ 02h 09′ 06” 07′ 00”
28	Jacopo Cerutti	+ 02h 09′ 34”
29	Jamie Mccanney	+ 02h 20′ 16” 14′ 00”
30	Garrett Poucher	+ 02h 28′ 41” 02′ 30′