after a nail-biting duel with Kevin Benavides, Monster En-
ergy Honda. It was also good enough for him to seize the
overall lead from Brabec, who finished 7 minutes down.
Walkner, Price and Van Beveren all remained within strik-
ing distance.
"It was a hard stage,” said Quintanilla.
“I attacked from the beginning, caught Kevin and over-
took him. At kilometre 290, I had a problem with the road
book and was unable to read it, so I had to follow Kevin.
We were near the finish when I got a fuel warning. In the
end, it was a blessing in disguise to have to ride behind be-
cause, if I'd kept on attacking at the same pace, I would've
run out of petrol."
San Juan de Marcona is usually the starting point to dis-
cover the Nazca Lines, not for competitors taking on stage
7 of the Dakar, with an assortment of difficulties to fray the
nerves of all types. The fast riders were in their element in
the fast off-road sectors of the first 100 kilometres, only to
suffer in the fesh-fesh and on the rough tracks on a plateau
halfway through the stage. For the next 50 kilometres, the
focus switched to the dune surfers, with the Duna Grande
and Duna Argentina sectors, later to transition to faster
stretches near the end of the stage … all while dodging the
navigational pitfalls in the vicinity of San Juan.
Sunderland's participation in the 2019 Dakar had been
a roller coaster, but on stage 7 he reached new heights on
the 323 km loop around San Juan de Marcona. The 2017
champion claimed his second stage win and moved up the
general classification.
"Yesterday was a big disappointment,” an exhausted
Sunderland explained.
“I rode fast and navigated well, but the type of special
played into the hands of the others … Today, apart from
losing three or four minutes looking for a waypoint, the
special went well. I wanted to push hard this morning
and it paid off."
Brabec capitalised on Quintanilla's sub-par perfor-
mance to take back the overall lead. Van Beveren was
still banking on a consistent approach, as was Price who
moved himself into third place overall despite a 93 second
penalty.
Last year, when called upon at the last minute to replace
Paulo Gonçalves, José Ignacio Cornejo clearly proved that
he deserved a spot on the prestigious Honda factory team.
Although the young Chilean rider was still acquiring ex-
perience in the toughest rally in the world, he’d already
become a key asset for HRC. As well as rushing to the aid
of any teammate in trouble, Cornejo demonstrated he is
extremely fast and smart, as he showed by matching his
career-best result from two days prior —second behind
Sunderland.
On the return journey to Pisco, the riders were served
TRAVERSE 18