Another day, another type of rally. After the sand and dunes of yesterday’s opening stage, today saw an entire day of rocky mountain terrain with a lot of navigation. Joan Barreda started out first and rode a fine race, although this allowed the other riders to follow his tracks and thus gain time. His colleague TEAM HRC rider Paulo Gonçalves, seemed at ease on his Honda CRF450 RALLY and kept up the consistency in the first leg, before pushing hard in the later stages. Around Zagora he was practically unbeatable. Gonçalves finds himself leading in the overall standings after two days of rally.
British rider Sam Sunderland also put in a fine performance, overcoming a slight navigational error early on in the special and finishing in third. Joan Barreda’s fifth place leaves him behind Gonçalves in the overall standings. A good all-round team effort.
The tough rocky terrain suited much less Argentine Javier Pizzolito, who is looking forward again to the sand and dunes, where he hopes to better today’s seventh place.
Finally, Hélder Rodrigues, who set out from fourth position suffered an electronic failure some fifteen km from the end of the stage.
Paulo Gonçalves: It was a mountain and rocky stage with a lot of navigation. I think I did well trying to stay on course. The Honda CRF450 RALLY never ceases to amaze me. In the hard terrain the traction is very important and it’s been great to see how it handles the curves. Let’s see how the next four days play out in this tough rally.
