Spanish rider Joan Barreda has been proclaimed the new champion of the China Grand Rally after commanding the entire nine-day rally held in Inner Mongolia and the Gobi Desert.
Joan Barreda raised the victor’s trophy today after having triumphed in every single stage of the China Grand Rally. The final win came on a tiny special stage of barely more than one and a half kilometres in Zuo Qi.
The final evaluation sheet for Barreda and the Honda CRF450 RALLY shows a total of 3,974 kilometres completed, including some 1600 kilometres of special stage. The result was a full hand of stage wins. Add to this the wins in the Baja Aragón in July and the Las Vegas to Reno Race in September and Team HRC’s Spanish rider has completed a near flawless pre-Dakar training regime.
The Team HRC success story is further boosted with a third place podium place for Michael Metge who has proved himself to be very quick over the nine days of racing. A rear-brake problem and some fuel issues stopped him from finishing even higher on the final leader board.
