Joan Barreda wins the second stage and strengthens his leadership

Team HRC’s Joan Barreda was the quickest in the second stage of the China Grand Rally, although the day was not without setbacks. The Spaniard further bolsters his position at the top of the leaderboard.

 Joan Barreda once again proved to be the main protagonist at the China Grand Rally with a 3:22’59 time over the 241.79 kilometre special stage. The competitors have now moved on to the bivouac in Wulate Houqi.

 The day turned out to be a positive one for Barreda, who increases the deficit over his second place adversary, although there were hitches on the way. Some glitches on the instrument panel saw Barreda forced to swap his TRIP navigational device for that of teammate Michael Metge’s.

 Metge, now without his TRIP, was forced to embark on the special stage equipped with just the GPS and roadbook. Barely had the special began when the GPS stopped working. Nevertheless, Metge followed the tracks left by this teammate up ahead, but suffered a mishap on one of the dunes and damaged the front wheel of the Honda CRF450 RALLY. The Frenchman was able to battle on to the refuelling but was so focused on repairing the damaged wheel that he failed to completely refuel the bike. The machine subsequently ran out of fuel a few kilometres short of the finish. The rider finally made it back to base, but with a lengthy delay. Metge now lies in third place overall.