The second stage of the Sealine Cross-Country Rally, in Qatar was far from an easy one for Team HRC. Neither the fourth place of Joan Barreda nor the eighth position of Paulo Goncalves really reflected the sheer amount of navigational work that the riders had put in over a long and arduous stage.
The riders had their work cut out at today’s second stage of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship, the Sealine. Not only was it a lengthy day with almost 400 kilometres in the saddle, but also one involving a heavy measure of navigation and road-book interpretation over the rocky stretches of the Qatar desert.
Today turned out to be a tiresome day that barely allowed Team HRC to shine. Paulo Goncalves had been forced to start out from an unfavourable position and, in spite of managing to notch up the fastest time at the first check-point, was baffled at how other riders – including team-mate Joan Barreda – had been able to catch up. Barreda crossed the line alongside the eventual race winner, yet both he and his Portuguese comrade dropped time to the other competitors. Barreda does, however, hang on to second overall place, while Goncalves lies in eighth in the general standings.
Jeremias Israel fell victim to the all-pervasive stones just a few kilometres into the special taking a heavy hit in the right arm from a rock that shot up from the front wheel. The Chilean rider was forced to battle bravely on against the intense pain, making a decision to play it safe and even managed to improve on his overall ranking by the time the day was through.
Tomorrow’s third stage of the Sealine Cross-Country Rally of Qatar offers the Team HRC a further chance to display their abilities and will feature another long special as riders go 401.15 km against the clock.
Joan Barreda: I’m happy with today which has been a really hard day. One where it was really tough to keep up the concentration with such a lot of complicated navigation. In the first few kilometres I pulled alongside Marc, he took over first and from then on we took it in turns to open the track.
I’m not so happy with the race strategy. The new rule makes it impossible to control the race. You can go as fast as you want but it doesn’t get you any good results. You get controlled from outside and I’m not in favour of that. Anyway, for everything else the bike is going really well and I’m on good form. Let the fight continue!
