KTM factory rider and multi-Dakar winner Marc Coma got down to business on Friday on what was effectively the opening stage of the massive 4,115 km Rally Dos Sertoes in Brazil.
The rally is part of the FIM World Cross Country Rally Championship in which, Coma, the current points leader, is looking to retain his world title.
Coma took a cautious approach on Thursday in the short prologue to determine the starting positions. The track, in the city of Goiania and set against a background of tall sky scrapers, was dusty and deeply rutted and KTM’s Spanish factory rider settled for a top 10 in the rankings.
Coma therefore started the stage on Friday in ninth, a favorable position in a day when organizers promised and delivered a relatively short, but very technical stage where the timed section was just 84 km. Coma completed the stage in one hour eight minutes 50 seconds to finish second. He is comfortably placed second in the overall rankings but is under no illusions that his work is still ahead of him on the KTM 450 Dakar-winning Rally bike
Marc Coma: "It was a special short but not easy. Conditions were very dusty, there was very little grip and it was also very technical. I lost about 40 seconds trying to overtake the rider in front of me but I’m happy with the result. It was important not to make any mistake or to have any crashes. We can say that the rally really begins tomorrow and we are expecting some very tough days, including the marathon stage. This race will be very long."
Coma’s KTM teammates Ruben Faria and Jakub Przygonski of Portugal and Poland respectively, are also well positioned in the early stages. Faria is sixth overall, trailing the leader by just 2m 37.2 seconds and Przygonski is eleventh, trailing by five minutes 36 seconds.
On Saturday the stage goes from Pirenopolis to Uruacu over a distance of 414 kilometers, 287 of which are timed and will be very challenging.
Results Stage 2 (unofficial)
Goiânia - Pirenópolis total 249 km of which 133 km was timed stage)
1, Paolo Goncalves, Portugal, Speed Brain 1 hour 06.03
2, Marc Coma, Spain, KTM, 1:08.50
3, Michael Metge, France, Yamaha 1:09.14
4, Cyril Despres, France, Yamaha at 1:09.53
5, Nelsen Bueno, 1:10.20
6, Ruben Faria, Portugal, KTM 1:10.34
7, Ike Klaumann, Brazil, Honda, 1:12.04
8, Ramon Sacilotti, Brazil, Kawasaki 1:12.40
9, Gregorio Caselanti, Brazil, Honda, 1:12.40
10. Dario Julio, Brazil, Honda, 1:13.23
11, Jakub Przygonski, Poland, KTM 1:13.34
Overall after prologue and Stage 2
1, Goncalves, 1 hour 09.55
2, Coma at 54 seconds
3, Metge at 1 minute13.3
4, Despres, 1m.53.0
5, Bueno, 2m 17.0
6, Faria, 2m 37.2
7, Klaumann 4m 47.2
8, Sacilotti, 4m 42.2
9, Caselanti, 5m 05.1
10, Julio, 5m 33.8
11, Przygonski 5m 36.0
