With stage eight of the rally cancelled in memory of Paulo Goncalves, the motorcycle class returned to action early this morning with the 886-kilometre stage nine from Wadi Al Dawasir to Haradh. Crossing the Saudi Arabian ‘Empty Quarter’ riders were faced with a wide variety of terrain including dirt, sand and stony tracks as they navigated around canyons and riverbeds.

Following an extremely tough stage seven on Sunday, Toby Price did his best to regroup and focus for today’s stage nine. Seventh into the 410-kilometre special, Price was immediately on the pace – posting the quickest time to the first checkpoint. With the stage proving to be relatively straightforward, times at the top between the front runners were very tight. Ultimately placing second at the finish, Toby was just under two minutes behind stage winner Pablo Quintanilla.

“It’s been a long day today and with it being so fast, it’s was really difficult to make up any time on the others as we’re all so close on these full-gas stages,” said Price. “Obviously, it’s been a really tough day mentally but we’re still cruising along in the race and the main goal as always is to make it safely to the finish line. We entered the Empty Quarter a little today but to be honest we only had 30 kilometres or so of dunes. I’m hoping these next few days will feature more. There’s definitely a lot of kilometres left to go so we’ll just try and keep it on two wheels.”

Yamaha’s Rod Faggotter placed 18th in the stage, 14 minutes off the pace of the leader. The Queenslander is 13th overall in the official standings. Trevor Wilson finished 72nd in the stage, one position ahead of Ben Young. The pair are 81st and 62nd in the overall standings, respectively. Matthew Tisdall placed 104th in the stage and is 99th overall.

Provisional Results Stage Nine – 2020 Dakar Rally

1. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL), Husqvarna, 3:30:33
2. Toby Price (AUS), KTM, 3:32:27 +1:54
3. Joan Barreda (ESP), Honda, 3:33:15 +2:42
4. Ricky Brabec (USA), Honda, 3:34:28 +3:55
5. Ross Branch (BWA), KTM, 3:36:03 +5:30

Provisional Standings (after stage nine) – 2020 Dakar Rally

1. Ricky Brabec (USA), Honda, 31:59:29
2. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL), Husqvarna, 32:20:22 +20:53
3. Toby Price (AUS), KTM, 32:26:12 +26:43
4. Joan Barreda (ARG), Honda, 32:27:45 +28:16
5. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (CHL), Honda, 32:28:58 +29:29