The third stage of the Dakar 2024, which took place today over 438 km between Al Duwadimi and Al Salamiya, proved to be particularly demanding for the Franco Sport team, who, after a remarkable performance in yesterday's stage, found themselves "struggling" with a few setbacks. The Yamaha YXZ 1000R Turbo T3 of Mário Franco and Daniel Jordão suffered a puncture and crashed, but despite what happened, the Portuguese duo, who successfully completed the day's stage, are now 17th in the overall Challenger standings.
Mário Franco says that "the stage didn't go as well as we'd hoped. We started well, in the top 50. At the start there were a lot of stones, we were very cautious, but a puncture and a 'stall' because I wasn't used to the car yet caused us to lose between 45 and 50 minutes and we had to deal with the consequences of that lost time. We'll keep fighting for a good result, the result we deserve."
For Daniel Jordão, "today's day was very challenging. We finished the last few kilometers at night. We still pushed the pace a bit to try and complete the day's special. We then had a quick service for just two hours. We're now going to have the first of our nights sleeping in tents," said the co-driver about this first part of the marathon stage.
Tomorrow sees the second half of the marathon stage (the fourth stage of this 46th edition) which, over 299 timed kilometers, will take the Dakar caravan to Al-Hofuf and promises to be particularly challenging in terms of navigation.
Automatic translation of the Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: Franco Sport's official press release
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