The opening stage of the 2014 Desafío Inca saw the big favourites rise to the top after 326 kilometres of spectacular racing on the dunes around Ica. Nani Roma (cars) and Ignacio Casale (quads) produced a stunning performance to seize the lead at the end of the first stage, while Chile’s José Cornejo (motorcycles) surprised everyone by taking the reins in his category.MOTORCYCLES: JOSÉ CORNEJO STRIKES FIRST IN ICA The star-studded field may have driven expectations in the motorcycle category to stratospheric levels over the last few months, but it was Chile’s José Cornejo (Suzuki RMX 2) who sprang a huge surprise at the end of the Desafío Inca opener. The South American’s time of 4 h 16?24? was enough to propel him to the top of the classification, ahead of all the big names in the category, with Claudio Rodríguez (+3?32?) and Felipe Ríos (+3?53?) rounding off today’s podium. A fabulous start for Cornejo, who’d already shown he meant business in the last leg of this Dakar Series by posting the fastest time at the end of the first loop, whereas defending champion Pablo Quintanilla was unfortunately forced out of the race by mechanical problems. QUADS: IGNACIO CASALE MOVES INTO THE LEAD The reigning Dakar and Desafío Inca champion, Chile’s Ignacio Casale (Yamaha Raptor 700), stormed into the lead in the quad category with another display of the skills and experience amassed over all these years. Casale posted a time of 4 h 17?56? to steal the show in Paracas, beating Peru’s Alexis Hernández (+6?33?) and Alonso Elías (+14?34?), who at the young age of 17 rubbed elbows with the top brass and showed promise as one of the rising stars in the Dakar Series firmament. The opening special was a titanic struggle between Casale and Uruguay’s Sergio Lafuente, which came to an unfortunate end when the defending Desafío Ruta 40 (Argentina) and Desafío Guaraní (Paraguay) champion had to withdraw due to a blow sustained during the race, leaving Ignacio to chase what would be his second Desafío Inca on Peruvian soil. CARS: NANI ROMA STAMPS HIS AUTHORITY Spain’s Nani Roma (Mini All 4 Racing) was in a league of his own in the opening stage of the 2014 Desafío Inca. The Spanish driver and two-time Dakar champion made good use of all the experience accrued over the years to clock a fastest time of 4 h 33?21? at the end of the two loops which he’d started in the early morning. Roma’s health issues didn’t stop the two-time Dakar champion from bursting onto the scene. Nani had already opened up a sizeable gap with Michel Perin by the end of the first loop and never looked back as he charged towards the stage win. WHAT THE PROTAGONISTS HAD TO SAY Ignacio Casale – Stage 1 winner in quads: “It was a gruelling stage. The famous Paracas wind made the dunes extremely soft and we had trouble crossing them. Lots of motorcycles went down. I also had a small fall when I hesitated and let the motorcycle pitch up. Anyway, I had a great stage despite these problems. I was able to press on hard and ride well, and I got used to the new motorcycle. My right hand hurts a bit, but it’s perfectly tolerable.” José Cornejo – Stage 1 winner in motorcycles: “It was a really hard stage with lots of dunes. We rode the same loop twice, and the second time things were quite messed up, with more dust, more stones and lots of fesh-fesh, more than the first time. Navigating wasn’t too difficult today. I, at least, didn’t have to do much work because I started further back and was able to use the openers’ tracks a bit.” Nani Roma – Stage 1 winner in cars: “This morning was somewhat difficult because I wasn’t feeling well. We knew the dunes and all the other things always make it hard to race here. It was a nice stage, no walk in the park. Some strings of dunes were difficult to cross, but anyway, my main problem was that I wasn’t feeling well this morning and had to stop four times to throw up. The first special was a horror story, but the second one went well.” |
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Photo credit : A.S.O / Shakedown Press Team |
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