Monster Energy Honda HRC’s Martim Ventura secured a hard-fought stage victory on Stage 11 of the Dakar Rally, marking the rookie’s second stage win of this year’s event.
As the sun rose over Bisha, the Dakar once again delivered drama in the fiercely contested Rally2 category. Riders faced a demanding 346 km special stage, where outright speed was essential through the fast opening sections before the pace shifted on the rocky tracks. There, survival and bike control became the priority as conditions punished even the smallest mistakes.
Preston Campbell began the day leading the Rally2 standings by just 3’23”. After suffering a couple of falls in the dunes yesterday aboard his Honda CRF450RX RALLY, the American knew concentration would be crucial across today’s punishing special stage, with his closest rival Toni Mulec poised to challenge. Campbell brought his bike home in fourth place, but was forced to surrender the overall lead to Mulec, the gap now standing at just 2’27”. Despite the setback, the laid-back youngster remained unfazed, fully aware that reclaiming the top spot over the final two days will require an all-out push.
Martim Ventura has endured a truly action-packed Dakar in his rookie campaign, experiencing the full mental and physical demands of the rally. Gradually climbing back up the standings after dropping to ninth overall, the young Portuguese rider returned to the Rally2 podium yesterday and focused on consolidating his position, Ventura delivered a strong performance on the sandy sections, initially finishing just one second behind stage winner Toni Mulec. However, after encountering issues with his navigation tablet during the stage, Ventura was awarded time compensation, promoting him to the top of the results and securing his second Dakar stage victory. The result gives him valuable breathing room in third overall, with a 20-minute advantage over fourth place.
With the Red Sea now on the horizon, both Monster Energy Honda HRC riders will face a long 720 km stage tomorrow as the rally heads back to its start city of Yanbu. The penultimate stage promises to be decisive, with the Rally2 podium positions still very much up for grabs.
Ruben Faria
General Manager
Preston didn’t feel entirely comfortable on the bike today and lost the overall lead, but the gap is very small. Tomorrow, he has a great chance to make up time and arrive in Yanbu back in the lead. Martim was incredibly fast today. He ran into some issues with the road book, which was replaced at the refuelling zone, and he went on to take the stage victory in the Rally2 category - his second win of this year’s Dakar.
The bike has proved strong across all types of terrain and we couldn’t be happier with the performances of both riders on their first Dakar.
Martim Ventura 84
Stage: 1st Overall: 3rd
One more day, one day closer to the finish. I’m super happy to be here again. The fact was that today was super chilled, what was more difficult was the liaisons, but the stage was super fast, super fun. The classification could be a bit better for me if we hadn’t had the problem in the middle of the race, but I’m happy. It's a dream race, dream team and my second stage victory of the Dakar, so I'm very happy.
Preston Campbell 85
Stage: 4th Overall: 2nd
Tomorrow is going to be a big push to get the lead back. We don’t know how it will go but I’ll do my best, push my maximum, make up some lost time and hopefully get a good result. My first goal coming here was to just finish and as the race evolved, your goals change and you’re close to the win, so you want to win. I’ll just have a good couple of last days, if the win comes that’s great and make it to the finish.
Source: Monster Energy Honda HRC
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