The Longest Day Is Over

“Our riders did a good performance today, starting with Nacho who had the hard task to open the stage. Pablo was fast but got a 6 minute penalty due to the speed limit in the liaison. Adrien also did well, but had to slow down in the end of the stage due to problems in the rear tyre - the same thing happened to Ricky and he had to work on the bike and reached the final control too late. Tomorrow we will have a hard stage with a lot of navigation, that’s for sure a great opportunity for us to climb in the overall standings."

“Stage 1 was a good day for me, a little bit difficult to warm-up in the beginning in the river beds with shadows and the sun but it was the same for everybody. I enjoyed the tracks, it was fast but then unfortunately I had an issue with my bib mousse and I had to slow down in the last 20 km. Luckily I could make it until the end and that was on the limit."

“The first day from the Desafio Ruta 40 is over and what a day it was! The first part of the special stage was fast and then we had a main track, more rally car style very sinuous and slippery. I’m happy because I got a good position for tomorrow. We will ride into the open desert so it’s important to keep the focus and to be calm."

“Today I had to open the stage and that is never an easy job to do and I think I did it well. Of course it is normal to lose some minutes when you open the way. I also made a few little mistakes, but nothing really big. So overall it was a good day, I felt good on my Honda CRF 450 Rally and that's what matters."

“Today was good until it wasn’t and this is how rally works many times. Now we have four more days to compete and fight for the best possible outcome and this works individually but also thinking about Honda defending its manufacturer world title."