The Dakar Rally adventure continued through Tuesday as the second half of the raid got underway last Sunday. You can read more about the characteristics of the stage here.
Bikes
The stage for the bikes category today was won by Ignacio Cornejo Florimo. The Chilean rider went through the challenge of the 9th rally section and finished ahead of Kevin Benavides, who finished in second place.
The victory means little in the fight for the Dakar title for now though, as Florimo placed 11th in the general standings after today’s result, with Benavides in the 5th overall position. However, the nature of the rally implies that anything can happen, and Florimo shouldn’t be ruled out just yet.
Last year’s runner-up, Ricky Brabec, finished the stage in third place after looking at the lead through the first waypoints of the stage. However, he failed to keep his momentum and finished today’s challenger in third place.
Austria’s Matthias Walkner is the new leader in the overall standings for the bikes. The Red Bull KTM rider finished today’s stage in 4th place, compared to the 14th-place finish by Sam Sunderland which gave Walkner an advantage of 2 minutes and 12 seconds over his British competitor.
Stage 9 standings:
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Ignacio Cornejo Florimo | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA | 02H 29′ 30” |
| 2 | Kevin Benavides | RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING | + 00H 01′ 26” |
| 3 | Ricky Brabec | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA | + 00H 01′ 47” |
| 4 | Matthias Walkner | RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING | + 00H 02′ 06” |
| 5 | Joan Barreda Bort | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA | + 00H 02′ 10” |
Overall standings after stage 9:
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Matthias Walkner | RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING | 30H 14′ 03” |
| 2 | Sam Sunderland | GASGAS FACTORY RACING | + 00H 02′ 12” |
| 3 | Adrien van Beveren | MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM | + 00H 03′ 56” |
| 4 | Pablo Quintanilla | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA | + 00H 04′ 41” |
| 5 | Kevin Benavides | RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING | + 00H 10′ 22” |
Cars
Giniel de Villiers took today’s stage victory by only 9 seconds to Hank Lategan. The South African – who won the 2009 Dakar Rally – managed to stay ahead in today’s challenger without running over any bikes competitor.
Current class leader, Nasser Al-Attiyah, finished the stage in third place by just over a minute to de Villiers. The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver remains on top of Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, who finished today’s stage in 5th place. He was penalized after an incident in yesterday’s stage, but only with a fine – meaning no further time loss which could complicate his chances for the victory.
Lategan led through the first half of the stage and was battling the position with Al-Attiyah. However, a charging de Villiers capitalized on his performance and managed to build an advantage – though short – over both drivers.
The top 5 was completed by Stage 8’s winner Mattias Ekstrom, who finished in 4th place by just over 2 minutes to Al-Attiyah.
Stage 9 standings:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Giniel de Villiers | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 02H 23′ 08” |
| 2 | Hank Lategan | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | + 00H 00′ 09” |
| 3 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | + 00H 01′ 04” |
| 4 | Mattias Ekstrom | TEAM AUDI SPORT | + 00H 02′ 07” |
| 5 | Sebastien Loeb | BAHRAIN RAID XTREME | + 00H 02′ 11” |
Overall standings after stage 9:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 30H 10′ 04” |
| 2 | Sebastien Loeb | BAHRAIN RAID XTREME | + 00H 39′ 05” |
| 3 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | OVERDRIVE TOYOTA | + 00H 58′ 44” |
| 4 | Orlando Terranova | BAHRAIN RAID XTREME | + 01H 36′ 09” |
| 5 | Giniel de Villiers | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | + 01H 45′ 01” |
