Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/958653
IN THE WIND P46 Pablo Quintanilla's championship defense is off to a good start in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, round one of the FIM Cross- Country Rallies World Championship. PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARCIN KIN/HUSQVARNA MOTORCYCLES QUINTANILLA LEADS AT ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE T he 2018 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship is officially underway, with the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Two days in to the five-day event and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Pablo Quintanilla is leading the way. Eager to defend his Cross- Country Rallies World Champion- ship, the Chilean rider is out to a good start, and moved into the lead after a win on stage two. "It wasn't an easy stage today but I'm satisfied with the final result," said Quintanilla after a long day of tackling tricky sand dunes in the United Arab Emirates. Temper- atures were quite high in that area. Most of the timed special was in an off-piste section and that made navigation a lot more difficult. "The plan for tomorrow is to do exactly what I did in stage one. As the first rider to take the start, I want to avoid any naviga- tional mistakes and remain fast throughout the special. I feel good at the moment and I'm look- ing forward to one more good stage tomorrow." Quintanilla holds a one-minute lead over Red Bull KTM's Sam Sunderland, who sits comfort- ably within striking distance of the leader. Sunderland finished second in the opening stage, but finished third on day two behind Kevin Benavides (Hon). "Although the results don't look that good on paper, this race is always strategic and whenever you start at the front, you lose time on riders behind you," explained Sunderland. "Normally the guys behind catch you quite fast but today I wasn't caught until the 240km marker—that is really encouraging and shows my speed on the stage." Red Bull KTM's Toby Price start- ed the event with the win on stage one, but dropped in the standings on day two after damaging his fuel line in a crash. The incident cost Price over 30 minutes, but he managed to finish 11th on the day and now sits eighth. American rider Ricky Bra- bec piloted his Monster Energy Honda to sixth each day and currently sits sixth. But he admits the terrain hasn't quite been to his liking so far in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. "We don't really like it so much because it's so fast and danger- ous. It's hard to read the sand. Sometimes it's red and orange and white. It's difficult to know if it's roll- ing style sand or if it's cut. But I'm just glad that we've made it back safely and are still in the rally." CN Standings after Stage 2: 1. Pablo Quintanilla (Hus) 7:04:19 2. Sam Sunderland (KTM) +1:08 3. Kevin Benavides (Hon) +1:55 4. Matthias Walkner (KTM) +2:39 5. Paulo Goncalves (Hon) +13:25 6. Ricky Brabec (Hon) +14:10 7. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Hon) +22:51 8. Toby Price (KTM) +26:42 9. Michael Metge (Hon) +29:09 10. Mohammed Al Balooshi (KTM) +30:38