Yamaha Racing France rider Olivier Pain has successfully defended his sixth place position against fellow Yamaha rider Frans Verhoeven today, completing the 13th stage of the 2013 Dakar Rally in eighth position, some 17 minutes ahead of Verhoeven. The 441km liaison and special stage between Copiapo and La Serena saw Pain’s team mate Michael Metge get closer to the top ten, the Frenchman wrapping up the stage in 13th place, to hold 18th on the overall standings.
Yesterday’s stage winner Verhoeven had a tougher day again today. The Yamaha Netherlands Verhoeven Team rider struggled to repeat his dominant performance of stage 12. Verhoeven missed a waypoint at kilometer 184 in the stage between Copiapó and La Serena to take 25th position and drop two places to ninth overall.
Marcos Patronelli cruised in to fourth place in today’s stage on his Yamaha quad, the Yamaha Racing Argentina rider comfortably defending his lead on the Rally of nearly two hours.
“At the start I was still in the winner’s mood of the day before”, Verhoeven said. “I was so fast and everything went really smoothly. My navigation was good, my riding was good: nothing to complain about. Until I came at kilometer 187 and found out I had missed a waypoint 3 kilometers back. When you know you are lost, you drive more carefully and pay extra attention. It took me a lot of time to find the right way. I just was a few hundred meters too far to the right in the wrong valley. My mistake. It’s not funny to ride such a long way when you just lost that much time. I have to start in 25th place in the last special and try to make up two minutes on Pizzolito to finish this Dakar in eighth.”
2013 Dakar Rally Stage 13 Results
Copiapo – La Serena: total distance 735 km, timed special 441 km
1. Chaleco Lopez, CHL (KTM) 3:44:54
2. Cyril Despres, FRA (KTM) 3:50:19
3. Paulo Goncalves, PRT (Husq) 3:50:23
4. Joan Pedrero, ESP (KTM) 3:52:36
5. Joan Barreda, ESP (Husq) 3:53:36
6. Helder Rodrigues, PRT (Honda) 3:54:31
7. Ivan Jakes, SVK (KTM) 3:54:48
8. Oliver Pain, FRA (Yamaha) 3:55:04
9. Jakub Przygonski, POL (KTM) 3:55:56
10. Gerard Farres Guell, ESP (Honda) 3:56:13
13. Michael Metge, FRA (Yamaha) 3:57:46
25. Frans Verhoeven, NED (Yamaha) 4:12:51
2013 Dakar Rally Overall Standings after Stage 13
1. Cyril Despres (KTM) 41:37:18
2. Chaleco Lopez (KTM) 41:45:33
3. Ruben Faria (KTM) 41:51:59
4. Ivan Jakes (KTM) 42:02:03
5. Joan Pedrero (KTM) 42:20:49
6. Oliver Pain (Yamaha) 42:45:32
7. Helder Rodrigues (Honda) 42:52:14
8. Javier Pizzolito (Honda) 43:03:41
9. Frans Verhoeven (Yamaha) 43:05:12
10. Paulo Goncalves (Husq) 43:07:04
19. Michael Metge (Yamaha) 44:23:36
