Paulo Gonçalves vence última etapa na Sardenha e termina em quarto

After occupying sixteenth place in the general standings, Team HRC’s Paulo Goncalves pulled off a great comeback to finish just shy of a podium place at the Sardinia Rally. Italian rider Jacopo Cerutti clinched the Dakar Challenge.

 Paulo Gonçalves and the entire Team HRC set out today focused on a clear objective: all-out attack. The Portuguese rider dutifully lived up to the task, winning the final stage and climbing the leader-board to fourth place ahead of current world championship leader Marc Coma.

 A psyched-up and merciless Paulo Goncalves grabbed the glory in the fifth and final stage of round four of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship. In the first of the day’s two short specials, where there was little chance of clawing back time, the Team HRC rider posted the third quickest time, twenty-five seconds off the fastest. In the second special, Goncalves upped the pace and powered home thirty seconds ahead of the runner-up to secure the stage’s overall fastest time. This was Gonclaves’ third stage win in the rally.

 Today’s result allows Paulo Goncalves to jump from ninth place in the world championship rankings to fifth spot with 39 points.

 Good news too for Honda rider Jacopo Cerutti, being observed by Team HRC in this race, who scored a notable sixth position overall and picked up the Dakar Challenge trophy, which grants him a place in the legendary event that gets underway in January next year.

Paulo Gonçalves: I had a very nice race this week. I was able to win on the first day, the third and today in the final stage. Of course, the navigational error on the second day and the subsequent loss of time in the thunderstorm meant that I had to fight back to get into it. I realized that it had destroyed the result, but it was great to find out that the speed here has been really competitive, especially when I had to open the track in the races. The bike has worked perfectly and we had a good time together with the team. Finally Sardinia is always special and I see that I can do better and better each year, which makes me happy for the team and for HRC.