Hélder Rodrigues já está em Portugal

Para o piloto da Honda este foi o Dakar mais duro de sempre

 Depois de mais uma participação no Dakar, a oitava da sua carreira, Hélder Rodrigues chegou esta terça-feira a Lisboa. Nas declarações prestadas após aterrar em Portugal, o piloto oficial da Honda não escondeu a sua insatisfação por não ter alcançado os objetivos a que se tinha proposto, à partida para esta edição de 2014 da mais importante competição mundial de Todo-o-Terreno.

“O Dakar foi bastante duro para mim porque não era este o resultado que eu pretendia alcançar. Lutei muito e se consegui chegar ao quinto lugar foi porque acreditei sempre que poderia ir mais longe. Tive uma primeira semana muito difícil, mas depois cheguei a acreditar que podia terminar no pódio. Este Dakar foi o mais duro de sempre. Foi muito mais duro do que os outros, tanto física como tecnicamente, já que o percurso era muito difícil” salientou o piloto apoiado pela MEO e Red Bull.

  “Comecei por ter problemas de saúde e depois tive também alguns problemas técnicos. Face a isso percebi, a determinada altura, que a vitória estava mais longe. Mas no final fiquei apenas a menos de vinte minutos do segundo lugar, o que não é nada perante tudo aquilo que se passou. Estou apostado em regressar em 2015 com renovadas ambições. Agora vou atacar o campeonato do mundo, que começa já no próximo mês de Abril no Dubai. Estamos apostados em fazer, ao longo de 2014, uma boa preparação para chegarmos ao Dakar 2015 mais competitivos”, salientou Hélder Rodrigues

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Site oficial da 3ª Expedição ao Montado já está online

Já é possivel fazer a pré-inscrição.

 Agora que já faltam menos de três meses para a realização da 3ª Expedição ao Montado, foi aberto ao público o site oficial do evento em www.todoterreno.pt/expedicao2014.

 Neste site poderá encontrar, para além das habituais informações sobre o programa e inscrições, encontrar também informações também sobre o que é a "expedição", sobre as características do evento e sobre os nossos parceiros. Estão também on-line neste endereço as galerias de imagens das edições anteriores juntamente com uma outra galeria com imagens da região que no próximo dia 13 de Abril iremos percorrer. Ainda no que diz respeito aos conteúdos, estão também disponíveis os videos de promoção e resumos das edições anteriores, aos quais se vão juntar em breve os videos de promoção da edição de 2014.

 Enquanto não abrem as inscrições, podem os interessados em participar na 3ª Expedição ao Montado fazer a sua pré-inscrição, uma vez que as vagas são limitadas. As pré-inscrições não têm qualquer obrigação por parte do participante até ao momento em que recebam o e-mail da organização a pedir para formalizar a sua inscrição. Terão depois 5 dias para o fazer, e findo esse prazo a pré-inscrição é anulada e passam para a ordem normal de inscrição correndo no entanto o risco de ficar sem vaga. Para cumprir esta fase basta enviar-nos um email com o seu nome, localidade, numero de acompanhante e e-mail de contacto para expedicaoaomontado@gmail.com.

 A Expedição ao Montado é um passeio TT de grau de dificuldade baixo, destinado não só aos proprietários dos veículos 4x4 tradicionais, mas também aos proprietários dos modernos SUV. Para iremos seguir um roadbook que nos levará a percorrer caminhos de terra batida, dentro e fora das herdades do Concelho de Coruche, que não colocarão grandes obstáculos e mas que irão dar um enorme prazer de condução ao mesmo tempo que "avivam" o gosto pela aventura aos participantes. Para além dos automóveis, a "expedição" é aberta a motos de trail e grande trail, e este ano pela primeira vez, aos buggies de lazer e utv's. 

O Programa definitivo ainda não está concluído, com várias negociações ainda em curso, mas a base será idêntica ás edições anteriores, mudando apenas nos detalhes. A data marcada para o evento é o próximo dia 13 de Abril, um domingo, e ponto de partida e chegada será este ano na Vila de Coruche. Depois o percurso irá fazer um longo circulo de mais de 150kms a sul do Rio Sorraia, parando nos diversos locais de visita, sendo que a mais demorada dessas paragens será para o almoço sensivelmente a meio da viagem. 

Este evento é organizado pela X-Adventure em parceria com o Todoterreno.pt. A Expedição tem no Todoterreno.pt o seu "Media Oficial" e tem como "Media Partners" a revista "Off Road 4x4, e os sites MaisTT e Dezasseis Válvulas.

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O Dakar 2014 da X-Raid

The Monster Energy X-raid Team and Team X-raid performed a true feat, this year: all the 11 MINI ALL4 Racing that started into the 2014 Dakar in Rosario, Argentina, also crossed the finish line on 18th January in Valparaiso, Chile. First of all, the Spanish-French pairing Nani Roma / Michel Périn who secured the win, with their yellow MINI ALL4 Racing.

 But they weren’t the only MINI ALL4 Racing drivers on the podium as Frenchmen Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret took their black MINI ALL4 Racing to second position, with Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) and Lucas Cruz (ESP) in the white MINI ALL4 Racing coming third. For the driver from Qatar, it was the first rally he contested at the wheel of MINI ALL4 Racing. Only on 01st January, he made his first outing with the car: “The MINI ALL4 Racing is a very good vehicle,” he said. “Fast and solid. Contesting the Dakar with it was big fun.” 

The positions five and six also were clinched by Monster Energy X-raid Team drivers: Orlando Terranova (ARG) / Paulo Fiúza (POR) finished fifth, with their orange MINI ALL4 Racing. “Our pace was good,” revealed Terranova, “But we just made too many mistakes, this year. A pity that we lost our fourth place at the very end of the event.” Right behind him, Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL) and Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) in the red MINI ALL4 Racing came sixth. “I definitely had set myself the goal to secure a better result,” admitted the Pole, “But we had to cope with a lot of bad luck in week one. Therefore, we had to start from far behind, afterwards, thus having to race in the dust of numerous other drivers. At least, things tended to improve, in the closing stages of the Dakar, and we had the chance of pushing again.”

 One of the biggest surprises was Martin Kaczmarski who contested his very first Dakar. As youngest driver in the car category, the Pole secured the outstanding ninth place. Together with his experienced co-driver, Portugal’s Filipe Palmeiro, he delivered – first of all – on a very consistent level, with his MINI ALL4 Racing. “It was very, very tough,” admitted Kaczmarski, “And it took me some days to find the proper rhythm. But from that point in time, things went really well.” 

Russian Vlaidmir Vasilyev and his Ukrainian co-driver Vitaly Yevtyekhov took their MINI ALL4 Racing to 10th place. Consequently, seven of the top-ten positions were secured by the MINI ALL4 Racing! And 11th and 12 positions also were clinched by two MINI ALL4 Racing: together with his French navigator Gilles Picar, Chile’s Boris Garafulic came 11th, thus securing the best Dakar result in his career to date. “I’m extremely happy,” said the Chilean, “Although it’s a pity that we didn’t quite make it to the top 10. Nonetheless, we once again demonstrated that delivering in consistent style is the key for securing a good result in this rally.” 12th position was secured by the Argentinean pairing Federico Villagra / Jorge Perez Companc who contested their first Dakar with the MINI ALL4 Racing. Unfortunately, they missed a waypoint in stage six and received a one-hour time penalty, as ‘reward’. “We had a lot of fun and I think that we succeeded in convincing the one or the other that we have got what it takes to deliver in competitive style,” said Villagra.

 By finishing 19th, the two Germans Stephan Schott and Holm Schmidt made a small dream come true, with their MINI ALL4 Racing. “Finally a result with the ‘1’ as first figure,” ‘Schotti’ beamed. “The Dakar was extremely exhausting and our forward roll also hadn’t been on the agenda. But the X-raid guys did a fantastic job. In this Dakar, I finally delivered on a consistent level, made nearly no mistakes and as result, I secured this great 19th place.” Meanwhile, the Chinese pairing Zhou Yong / Hong Yu Pan finished 31st, in their first Dakar rally. “The MINI is a great car,” said Zhou, “but I realised that I still have to learn a lot to get the maximum out of the car. I hope that I will be able to secure better results in the coming Dakars.”

  “I’m extremely proud of everybody,” Team Manager Sven Quandt beamed. “To make it to the finish with all the 11 MINIs ALL4 racing and secure these fantastic results is just astonishing. I’m really delighted for Nani. After all the years he displayed his great team spirit in he now secured the Dakar win. And what should I say about the MINI ALL4 Racing? Its results and its reliability speak for themselves.” 

Overall after 13 Stages:

1. N. Roma (ESP) / M. Périn (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 50h 44m 58s
2. S. Peterhansel (FRA) / J.-P. Cottret (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 50h 50m 36s
3. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / L. Cruz (ESP) MINI ALL4 Racing – 51h 41m 50s
4. G. de Villiers (ZAF) / D. von Zitzewitz (GER) Toyota – 52h 04m 05s
5. O. Terranova (ARG) / P. Fiúza (POR) MINI ALL4 Racing – 52h 12m 42s
6. K. Holowczyc (POL) / K. Zhiltsov (RUS) MINI ALL4 Racing – 54h 40m 40s
...
9. M. Kaczmarski (POL) / F. Palmeiro (POR) MINI ALL4 Racing – 57h 43m 10s
10. V. Vasilyev (RUS) / V. Yevtyekhov (UKR) MINI ALL4 Racing – 57h 44m 32s
11. B. Garafulic (CHI) / G. Picard (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 58h 20m 13s
12. F. Villagra (ARG) / J. P. Companc (ARG) MINI ALL4 Racing – 59h 05m 50s
...
19. S. Schott (GER) / H. Schmidt (GER) MINI ALL4 Racing – 64h 10m 36s
...
31. Zhou Yong (CHN) / Hong Yu Pan (CHN) MINI ALL4 Racing – 74h 19m 03s

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Paulo Gonçalves regressa a Portugal com o pensamento no Dakar 2015

Momentos marcantes assinalaram a edição de 2014 do Rali Dakar

 Paulo Gonçalves regressou hoje a Portugal depois de mais uma participação no Rali Dakar. O piloto português, Campeão do Mundo em título na vertente de motociclismo Todo-o-Terreno, trouxe na bagagem momentos de angústia e desespero depois de ver a sua participação na mítica prova reduzida a cinzas. 

Numa altura em que liderava a etapa, ao quinto dia de prova, na Argentina, entre Chilecito e Tucumán, Paulo Gonçalves viu incendiar-se a sua Honda CRF 450 Rally e, sem meios para combater o incidente, acabou por ficar inesperadamente fora de prova.

  “Estou de regresso, trago momentos bons e menos bons, naturalmente que o incidente que ditou o meu abandono me marcou profundamente, a sensação de impotência e de desespero com que encarei o momento é uma grande marca na minha memória. Mas o Dakar é isto mesmo, temos que saber viver com aquilo que esta ‘gigante’ prova nos dá, quilómetro a quilómetro, encarando sempre com grande otimismo dia após dia. Acabei por viver uma experiência nunca antes vivida, fiz o Dakar até ao final nos bastidores que me fez igualmente aprender muito e ganhar mais motivação para regressar em força. Tenho mais um longo ano de trabalho pela frente, é nisso que agora me quero concentrar”, esclareceu Gonçalves.

 Paulo Gonçalves tem ainda contrato por mais um ano com a equipa alemã, estando para já nos horizontes a renovação do título mundial de Todo-o-Terreno e a preparação para o próximo Rali Dakar, com início em Janeiro de 2015.

  “Próximos dias em família”

 Paulo Gonçalves esteve desde o final do mês de Dezembro na América do Sul, mas, de regresso a Portugal, é no conforto da família que procura recuperar as energias. “Quero aproveitar os próximos dias em família, junto da minha esposa e dos meus filhos, que estiveram sempre comigo estes dias em pensamento. Agora vou desfrutar da companhia deles e de outros familiares e amigos, depois regresso ao trabalho para preparar o resto da temporada e o Dakar 2015”, concluiu.

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De Villiers e Dabrowski terminam em 4º e 7º em Dakar demolidor

· Poles Malysz and Kazakh Rakhimbayev finish 13th and 17th overall 
· Toyota Imperial’s Poulter reaches Valparaiso in 33rd position 
· Issabayev’s Overdrive Toyota destroyed by fire on second Dakar stage 
· Dutchman van Merksteijn Snr. and Russian Ogorodnikov retire after day two

 The Toyota Imperial South Africa Rally Team Toyota Hilux of Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz finished in a fine fourth overall in the punishing 36th Dakar Rally, which finished at the Chilean naval port of Valparaiso on Saturday.

 The Polish duo of Marek Dabrowski and Jacek Czachor also enjoyed an excellent Dakar Rally with the Overdrive Racing team and brought their Team Orlen Toyota Hilux to the podium in seventh place.

 Polish team-mates Adam Malysz and co-driver Rafal Marton held ninth overall for long periods of the 13-stage rally before losing time in the Atacama Desert. They reached the podium in 13th overall.

 Kazakh driver Aidyn Rakhimbayev and Russian navigator Vladimir Demyanenko finished 17th in the Team Astana car and the South African pairing of Leeroy Poulter and Robert Howie were 33rd overall in the second of the Toyota Imperial South Africa Hiluxes.

  “This was a long and challenging Dakar Rally and we are delighted to have two Toyotas in the top 10 and to finish the race with the fastest time for Giniel today,” said Overdrive team director Jean-Marc Fortin. “We started last week by losing three cars early on, but everyone else has managed to reach the finish and we could so easily have had three cars in the top 10 had Adam (Malysz) not lost time near the end.”

 De Villiers’s challenge for the outright victory received a boost as he tackled the first stage after the rest day. Rival Orlando Terranova received a 15-minute time penalty for speeding and this promoted the South African to third position. After finishing third in 2012 and second last year, the South African was looking for the top of the podium this time.

 But the irate Toyota driver lost valuable time to Terranova on the eighth stage when he was forced to drive in the dust of Russian Vladimir Vasilyev for many kilometres. Two time-consuming flat tyres followed on the ninth stage and De Villiers slipped to fifth place.

 The stage between Iquique and Antofagasta through the Atacama desert saw the South African set the fourth quickest time and he moved up a position in the overall classification, but a further three punctures dropped him back to fifth into El Salvador. Late stage drama for Terranova on the 12th stage promoted De Villiers back to fourth and the South African reached the finish in fourth position - over 28 minutes ahead of his Argentinean rival - after setting the fastest time in the last stage.

  “It was great to win the last stage, but I am a bit disappointed not to be on the podium,” said De Villiers. “But, we weren’t quite as good at high attitude this year and, to make matters worse, we lost too much time at the beginning due to problems with our power steering. In a race as difficult as this, it’s impossible to claw back the time lost at the beginning. We’ll go back to South Africa and work on boosting our machine’s performance even more and do better next year.”

 Dabrowski left the Salta rest day in seventh overall and was determined to try and keep his position in the top 10, even though the forthcoming dunes made him a little anxious. The Pole dropped 25 minutes to the leaders on the stage between Salta and Calama and slipped to eighth overall, but he returned to seventh on the next stage when Carlos Sainz hit trouble.

 The Team Orlen driver retained seventh on the run through the Atacama Desert on stages 10, 11, and 12 and reached the podium in a similar position.

  “The goal before the start of this rally was to be in the top 25,” said Dabrowski modestly. “But, at the rest day, we found ourselves in seventh position and that was unbelievable. I just wanted to take every day as it came after that and try and stay around the top 10 because I was a little nervous of the Atacama and the big dunes. It is so different to drive the dunes in a car than with the bike, because you just have the view from the windscreen and it is tricky.”

 Malysz began the second half of the rally from ninth position in Salta after surviving a light roll during the first week, but the former ski jump world champion slipped to 11th on the Salta loop stage. He climbed a place on the first special in Chile into Calama and an excellent sixth fastest time consolidated his 10th overall on stage nine.

 The Pole climbed back to ninth when Sainz retired on the next stage, but time-consuming delays cost him four hours on the special between Antofagasta and El Salvador and the 46th quickest time cost the Overdrive Toyota driver four places in the overall standings. He maintained 13th into La Serena and on to Valparaiso.

 Rakhimbayev began the Salta loop stage after the rest day in 13th overall and retained his place through the next two stages, before slipping a position on the ninth special. The Russian climbed back to 11th into Antofagasta but, like Malysz, he suffered big delays in the dunes on stage 11 and the loss of five hours pushed him down from 11th to 18th. Heb climbed a place on the final stage to finish 17th.

 Poulter started the rally well and even set a third quickest time during the first half of the rally. He left Salta in 29th overall, but began to struggle a little as the event progressed. The South African dropped to 32nd on stage nine and was running in 34th overall into El Salvador, before climbing back to 33rd in La Serena, a position he maintained to the finish.

 One hundred and forty-seven cars had taken the start of the world’s most famous off-road rally on January 4th in Rosario and a mere 62 reached the finish in Valparaiso.

 The Russian pairing of Leonid Ogorodnikov and Anton Nikolaev retired their Overdrive Toyota Hilux before the third stage and the Kazakh duo of Bauyrzhan Issabayev and Gabdulla Ashimov also fell foul of the second special stage after their Team Astana car was completely destroyed in a serious fire.

 Dutchman Peter van Merksteijn Snr. and Belgian navigator Eddy Chevallier failed to start the third special in their Overdrive Toyota after stage two problems.

  Final positions after leg 13:

1. Joan Roma (ESP)/Michel Périn (FRA) Mini All4 Racing 50hrs 44min 58sec
2. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA)/Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA) Mini All4 Racing 50hrs 50min 36sec
3. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Lucas Cruz (ESP) Mini All4 Racing 51hrs 41min 50sec
4. Giniel de Villiers (ZAF)/Dirk von Zitzewitz (DEU) Toyota Imperial Hilux 52hrs 04min 05sec
5. Orlando Terranova (ARG)/Paulo Fiuza (POR) Mini All4 Racing 52hrs 12min 42sec
6. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) Mini All4 Racing 54hrs 40min 40sec
7. Marek Dabrowski (POL)/Jacek Czachor (POL) Overdrive Toyota Hilux 56hrs 19min 23sec
8. Christian Laveille (FRA)/Jean-Pierre Garcin (FRA) Haval H8 56hrs 20min 48sec
9. Martin Kaczmarski (POL)/Filipe Palmeiro (POR) Mini All4 Racing 57hrs 43min 10sec
10. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Vitaliy Yevtyekhov (RUS) Mini All4 Racing 57hrs 44min 32sec
13. Adam Malysz (POL)/Rafal Marton (POL) Overdrive Toyota Hilux 60hrs 43min 29sec
17. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demyanenko (RUS) Overdrive Toyota Hilux 63hrs 17min 58sec
33. Leeroy Poulter (ZAF)/Rob Howie (ZAF) Toyota Imperial Hilux 76hrs 58min 28sec

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MINI All4 Racing domina Dakar 2014

• Nani Roma und Michel Périn win the legendary desert rally 

 • Three MINI ALL4 Racing on the podium

 13 stages, more than 13,000 kilometres, one of the most gruelling Dakars ever – and in the end, the conclusion has to be: the MINI ALL4 Racing dominated the 2014 Dakar in unique style! For the third consecutive time, the Monster Energy X-raid Team won the Dakar Rally! Following the wins in the previous two years, secured by the French pairing Stéphane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret, Catalan Nani Roma and his French co-driver Michel Périn made for the hat-trick, with their yellow MINI ALL4 Racing. And on top of that, the fans in Valparaiso, Chile, witnessed and all-MINI-ALL4-Racing podium. Second place was secured by Peterhansel /Cottret in the black MINI ALL4 Racing, with Team X-raid driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Lucas Cruz securing third place, in their white MINI ALL4 Racing.

 Many pundits regarded the plan to contest the Dakar with 11 MINI ALL4 Racing as an unsolvable challenge. The Monster Energy X-raid Team and the X-raid Team, however, did not only succeed in making it to the finish with all the 11 vehicles but the entire team delivered in fantastic style, with the figures speaking for themselves: all the 11 MINI ALL4 Racing made it to the top 20, in the 2014 Dakar. Nine of them secured top-12 positions and as icing on the cake, the podium proved to be an all-MINI-ALL4-Racing podium!

 The extensive preparations in the run-up to the Dakar were the key to the MINI ALL4 Racing’s and hence, to this remarkable success, too. In numerous rallies and over the course of thousands of kilometres of testing, all the parts and components were tested regarding their solidity and reliability. Every single evening, a detailed checklist was completed on every single car and components were exchanged in defined intervals. An effort that paid off, in the most gruelling off-road rally of the world: in the 11th stage from Antofagasta to El Salvador, for instance, all the 11 MINI ALL4 Racing covered a total mileage of more than 6.600 kilometres – without encountering the slightest problem.

 For winner Nani Roma, the year 2014 represents a very special anniversary: 10 years ago, he won the motorbike ranking of the Dakar! In the following year, he already switched to four wheels! With his win in the 2014 Dakar, he followed the footsteps of Auriol and Peterhansel and now is the only third driver who succeeded in winning the legendary event on two and four wheels. In the 2013 season, Roma already underlined that he would be a factor in the battle for the 2014 Dakar win: four rallies – four wins! Inter alia in events such as the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge or the Ruta 40.

 Roma took the lead on day three of the 2014 Dakar and defended it up to day 12 when he lost it for one day! And his co-driver, Michel Périn also massively contributed to this triumph. In the sixth stage, when everybody lost time while looking for a waypoint, the Frenchman found it at once, thus enabling Roma to open the major part of his gap on the rest of the field. For him, the Dakar win is an early birthday present: Périn will turn 57, tomorrow!

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15º Título para a KTM com Coma e Viladoms em 1º e 2º

Red Bull KTM factory rider Marc Coma coasted into Valparaiso, Chile, on Saturday afternoon to pick up his fourth individual Dakar title and to secure KTM’s thirteenth title in this most toughest of rallies.

Factory teammate Jordi Viladoms made it a memorable day for the Austrian manufacturer by finishing second overall. Factory teammate Jordi Viladoms made it a memorable day for the Austrian manufacturer by finishing second overall.

 It was perhaps Coma’s finest victory in his Dakar Career as he led the overall standings from Stage Five. He completed the 13-stage, near 9,000 km course in 54 hours 50.53, almost two hours ahead of second placed Viladoms.

 Having to lead from the front for more than half of the rally was also a tribute to Coma’s skill as a rider and tactician and is testament to his physical and mental strength. He completed the rally with three stage wins, four second-place finishes and three thirds.

 Coma described his Dakar experience as “an extreme and grueling Dakar” and dedicated the win to “my friend Kurt Caselli”. Caselli, part of the Red Bull KTM Factory team was killed in a race accident in November.

  “Without the right people behind me it would have been impossible to win,” Coma said. “We have worked very well throughout the race and also before. Last year I went through a very difficult situation not being able to compete because of injury and I came back to win the race. I think this says a lot about the people I have around me. I am very proud of this victory. What was key to winning the Dakar was not to make any mistakes.”

 Coma, who has been a KTM factory rider since 2003, first won in Africa in 2006. He then repeated his success in 2009 and 2011 after the Dakar was relocated to South America. He did not compete in 2013 because of injury.

 Understandably, going into the final stage with a massive lead, Coma took it easy in the final stage, finishing in eighteenth place. However the main focus for the factory team was whether Viladoms was going to be able to finish second.

 Going into Stage 13 he was challenged for the podium spot by Olivier Pain and Cyril Despres but his sixth place proved more than enough to give him second place on the podium. French rider Pain joined KTM’s two Spanish riders on the podium in overall third.

 Viladoms, who said after the race that he was “overwhelmed and over the moon” with his result was drafted back into the team after several years away and his second place finish was a personal best for the Dakar veteran.

 KTM can also be well pleased with its two officially supported riders, Jakub “Kuba” Przygonski of Poland and South African Riaan van Niekerk. They finished a very strong sixth and twelfth in the final overall rankings. Eight of the top fifteen finishers were on KTM motorcycles.

 Victory in the Dakar 2014 and KTM’s thirteenth title was, as KTM Team Manager Alex Doringer explains, very much a team effort. “The competition is getting tougher and that is a win for the sport, but basically we did what we always do. We work hard. We prepare our bikes in the best way. Our new KTM 450 RALLY bike is fantastic and it is amazing what our technicians built in the short time that we had to do it.”

 The 2014 Dakar also represented a return to its roots in terms of levels of toughness that saw only 78 bikes of the original field of 196 starters in the final Stage 13. Riders traveled around 8700 km during the 13 stages, including more than 5,000 in timed specials.

 Final overall results (13 stages, a total of 8734 km, including 5,228 km of timed special)

1, Marc Coma, ESP, KTM at 54 hours 50.53
2, Jordi Viladoms, ESP, KTM at 1 hour 52.27

3, Olivier Pain, FRA, Yamaha at 2:00.03
4, Cyril Despres, FRA, Yamaha, at 2:00.38
5, Paolo Rodrigues, PRT, Honda, at 2:11.09

Other KTM


6, Kuba Przygonski, POL, KTM at 2:31.46 

9, Stefan Svitko, SVK, KTM at 3:50.10
10, David Casteu, FRA, KTM at 3:58.09
 11, Ivan Jakes, SVK, KTM at 4:19.35
 12, Riaan van Niekerk, ZAF, KTM at 5:33.38
15, Henk Knuiman, NLD, KTM at 7:44.38

Foto: Maragni M. KTM Images

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Joan Barreda termina Dakar com vitória, a Sexta da Honda em 2014

The Rally Dakar 2014 has run its course. It was a fight to the finish for the TEAM HRC riders as the 36th edition of the world’s toughest race drew to a close. Hélder Rodrigues finished the highest of the Honda riders in fifth place, with Joan Barreda in seventh with five stage victories under his belt. All the Honda CRF450 RALLYs finished the gruelling rally with the same engines, signalling a huge success for the brand and highlighting the machine’s great potential.

 Fifth overall place in the Rally Dakar went to Hélder Rodrigues. The Portuguese rider nearly went from zero to hero aboard the Honda CRF450 RALLY, beginning the opening days with stomach problems and still having the chance of a podium place on the last day.

 Joan Barreda last night arrived back at the bivouac in La Serena exhausted after finishing the 349 km liaison thanks to the help of another rider who accompanied him back to the camp. Barreda had taken a heavy fall at kilometre 265 of the special, where the front end of his Honda CRF450 RALLY received some heavy damage. The rider was forced to stop and check the state of the different navigation components before hitting the road again. Nevertheless, in trying to make up for lost time, he fell again, this time causing an electrical problem, which required him to seek assistance from a fellow-rider.

 Today, after the mechanics fixed up the damaged bike parts, Joan Barreda was off again, storming home to victory once more. The rider from Castellón, Spain has now chalked up a total of five victories, and finishes in seventh overall position.

 Javier Pizzolito finished his fifth Dakar. The Argentine rider proved himself to be consistent in the latter part of the race, finishing two stages in the top ten. The ‘water carrier’ of Hélder Rodrigues finished the rally in 23rd place .

 Sam Sunderland, the winner of the second stage, was forced out of the race in the fourth round after a fall which broke the exhaust, causing overheating and meant that he was unable to finish the marathon stage. 

Portuguese Paulo Gonçalves finished three times in the top ten over the course of the first four days, but on a dreadfully tough fifth day some dry shrubs got caught up in his exhaust and set the bike on fire in dramatic fashion. He could only watch helplessly as the flames engulfed the machine.

 TEAM HRC is enormously satisfied with the job done by riders Laia Sanz and Pablo Rodríguez from Honda Argentina Rally Team, and Jean DeAzevedo from Honda Brasil Rally Team. Laia Sanz finished in seventh, the best stage finish for a female in the Dakar, and 14th overall on the Honda CRF450 RALLY pre-production model that will be available to rally riders later in 2014. Pablo Rodríguez improved in the final stages finishing in 32nd place. Jean DeAzevedo had to retire in the fourth stage after an incident where the sump took a heavy hit from a rock.

 Laia Sanz: "As the race went on I started to realize that I was further ahead than I had expected. I was very surprised to find myself up against people that before I hadn’t seen. I had a problem one day with a waypoint but for the rest I’ve been very consistent and I’m pleased about it". 

 Pablo Rodríguez: "I’m very happy. It has been a very tough race but we’ve managed to finish. The bike was excellent and caused no trouble at all. I was able to come back in a couple of stages and do a good job. You’ve got to learn from some mistakes and keep looking to improve things".

 Joan Barreda: Today is the last day of the Dakar. For us it feels tough because I lost a lot of time with a problem after a fall at kilometre 200 But today I was back in the saddle like a pro, and I did a really good job in the special. In the end it wasn’t the result that we were working for in the Dakar. Well, now it’s time to go home and try to get to grips with what happened, how and where we went wrong and see how we can sort them out for next year.

 Hélder Rodrigues: The Dakar has finished and it’s been the hardest one that I’ve done yet. Honda has proved that it’s got a great bike. No one has had to change their engine even once in the two weeks of racing and that’s really important for us. I had a few problems last week, but nothing significant. I lost a bit of time, but the second week went better. I didn’t achieve my goal, but am happy to finish another Dakar.

 Javier Pizzolito: One more Dakar over. It’s not to be sniffed at! Maybe it wasn’t the general standings that we were hoping for, or the individual or collective ones either. It’s been a year of hard work where we’ve put together a really competitive bike with a lot of promise. I started the Dakar with a lot of problems in the third stage. But I was able to overcome them a lot better than my rivals.

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