VOLUME 59 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 19, 2022 P39
time to wait! I'm super happy to
get another win and claim the
first one for GasGas."
Quintanilla was the quiet
standout of the Rally, the Chilean
slowly working his way up the or-
der to be the lead Honda rider in
the final quarter of the race. Just
as he did in 2019, he tried des-
perately to make up the gap on
the final stage but came up short.
It was a nonetheless successful
Dakar for HRC, with all four riders
finishing the Rally.
"I am very happy with the result
and my performance through-
out the whole race, especially
during the second week, which
I managed well, making up time
with a steady performance,"
Quintanilla said. "It was a really
tough race, with a lot of tension,
but I'm happy. Today there was
second place at stake and there
was even a chance of winning
the race. It didn't turn out that
way, but I'm still happy with the
second-place finish."
Walkner's third place meant his
was the first KTM machine home,
the 2021 FIM Cross Country Rally
World Champion banking another
podium to go with his 2018 race
win.
"I feel super happy and also
lucky to be here healthy at the
finish line," Walkner said. "It feels
great to be back on the podium,
too, after a couple of difficult Da-
kars the past two years. It's been
a super long and hard Dakar as
always, but this year has been
special because of the level of
navigation needed every day. We
saw right from the first day that
you can win or lose so much time
on each stage. Because of that I
really tried to focus on my road-
book, and concentrate on my
navigation for the whole race."
Adrien van Beveren, Joan
Barreda (Honda), and Jose Igna-
cio Conejo (Honda) rounded out
the top six.
Seventh for the rally was come-
back king Ricky Brabec (Honda).
Although the American was with-
Ricky Brabec's rally was basically over
after Stage 1B, but the Californian
fought back into the top 10.
