Dakar 2019, Stage 7: Sunderland fastest, Brabec leads again

Honda man Brabec led in the early stages of the test – which was delayed and then suspended due to fog – but Sunderland took over at the third of six waypoints.

Chilean rider Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) managed to stay close to Sunderland, finishing only 1m51s behind, but none of the title contenders were able to keep up with the Briton.

Brabec was best of the rest in third and the American reclaimed the lead from Pablo Quintanilla, the Husqvarna rider struggling throughout the day.

Yamaha’s Adrien van Beveren was the last rider less than 10 minutes off the pace, followed by Luciano Benavides (KTM), Andrew Short (Husqvarna), Xavier de Soultrait (Yamaha) and Toby Price (KTM).

Price and Matthias Walkner were more or less on par with Sunderland until WP4 but then lost a big chunk of time, the duo finishing 12 and 16 behind their pace-setting teammate.

Kevin Benavides and Quintanilla were the biggest losers of the day as they surrendered 19 and 21 minutes respectively, dropping to fifth and sixth overall.

Price stepped up as Brabec’s main rival with a gap of 6m55s, the Australian now closely followed by van Beveren.

Sunderland moved up to fourth while Walkner is only seventh, a single second behind Benavides.

Standings after Stage 7 (Bike class, Top 10):