Pilotos da KTM terminam em 2º e 4º no Sealine Rally

KTM Rally Factory Riders Marc Coma and Jordi Viladoms, both of Spain, wrapped up the Sealine Rally in second and fourth place respectively after the conclusion of the final Leg 5 in the desert of Qatar on Friday. The rally was the second round of the FIM Cross Countries World Championship.

 Coma, who raced to the finish line together with overall winner Joan Barreda conceded defeat by just one minute 23 seconds after almost 20.5 hours and five days of hard desert racing in temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius and very difficult navigation.

 Teammate Jordi Viladoms finished fifth in the final leg to miss his podium third by a narrow margin. Portugal’s Ruben Faria wound up his week with a very solid final leg, finishing second to stage winner Helder Rodrigues. Faria was out of the final reckoning because he did not finish Leg 2. Sam Sunderland, the team’s latest signing retired in Leg 4 with a suspected wrist fracture.

 Coma said he was still happy with his second place. “We added some good points for the World Championship and we again did a good job. We had a consistent race with a good pace, just as we did in the first round in Abu Dhabi. It is very difficult to be competitive in all the stages because they are really different races. These rallies are also short and it is only the small details that decide the outcome. We tried right up until the end of the last stage but it was not been possible to break away from the group of riders.” 

Final overall Results

1, Barreda 20 hours 28.46
2, Coma 20:30.09
3, Rodrigues, 20:30.36
4, Viladom, 20:36.05
5, Goncalves, 20:38.16
6, Mohammed Al-Balooshi, ARE, KTM 23:41.22

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"Bang Bang" Barreda vence no Qatar e é o novo líder do campeonato

Joan ‘Bang Bang’ Barreda takes the title at the Sealine Cross-Country Rally in Qatar. This is his first triumph in a world championship race with the Honda CRF450 RALLY, and in doing so becomes the championship's new leader. 

The fifth and final stage of Qatar's Sealine Cross-Country Rally, once again saw Team HRC in winning mood. This is now the team's third consecutive win in the World Rally Raids, since the debut of the new Honda CRF450 RALLY in the Morocco Rally. In addition, it is the season's second win after the race in Abu Dhabi a fortnight ago.

 Joan ‘Bang Bang’ Barreda was clearly man of the day, as he picked up his second World Rally Raids win, the first on a Honda. The rider who hails from Castellón, set out with a win in the first stage of the Sealine Cross-Country Rallies, at a cracking pace, and imposed himself once more in the third race. In the final special, he rode an intelligent ride, catching his main rival and then keeping him in check until the finish-line.

 It was Hélder Rodrigues who took the final stage victory, earning himself a place on the final podium too, after a string of steady daily performances.

 Fellow-countryman Paulo Gonçalves was left regreting an error on the competition's first day which left him without better options for the final classification. Today's sixth place finish leaves him with a fifth overall final place in this edition of the Sealine. Team HRC riders thus have won 4 of the 5 stages, with all the team's machines finishing without a single mechanical fault.

 The final result of the second championship race leaves Joan Barreda in command of the championship replacing team-mate and reigning world champion Paulo Gonçalves at the head of the leader-board, with a one point advantage over Marc Coma in second place in the World Rally Raids table.

 Team HRC's next port of call will be in Europe with the Sardinia Rally Race, the fourth in the World Championship calendar, to be held on the picturesque Italian island from 7 to 12 June.

  Joan Barreda: "I'm really pleased. Finally, after a whole week of really hard work, I've made it. I'm really happy for the victory, for the team, and for Honda. We have won here in Qatar, and we are leading the world championship too. This is a just reward for all the hard work that the team has done."

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Al-Attiyah wins Sealine Cross Country Rally in Qatar

• Vladimir Vasilyev extends his FIA World Cup lead 

 • Another win for the MINI ALL4 Racing


 Just two weeks after the triumph in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, X-raid celebrates its next success. In Qatar’s Sealine Cross Country Rally, local hero Nasser Al-Attiyah and his French navigator Mattieu Baumel proved to be invincible, in their MINI ALL4 Racing – and won the event. Vladimir Vasilyev and his navigator, Konstantin Zhiltsov, finished second place and secured with their MINI ALL4 Racing valuable points to their FIA World Cup tally.

 Meanwhile, Martin Kaczmarski (POL) and his co-driver Filipe Palmeiro, contesting the event for LOTTO X-raid Team, had to cope with a dose of bad luck just in the final stage. The young Pole hit a rock, resulting in a broken suspension. And for Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL) and Andreas Schulz (GER), the rally also proved to be anything but a walk in the park. Following a radiator problem in stage three, their battle for the top positions was over.

  “This was a successful rally for us,” beamed Team Manager Sven Quandt. “We now hold the World Cup lead and in addition, we added a lot of points to our tally. And to be honest, we never had doubts that Nasser is able to win his home event. After all, he knows the region like the back of his hand. Nonetheless, it was a hard race with an extremely difficult navigation for everybody.”

Results 5th Stage:

1. R. Varela (BRA)/G. Gugelmin (BRA) Toyota – 3h 27m 37s
2. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT)/M. Baumel (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing - 3h 41m 58s
3. V. Vasilyev (RUS)/K. Zhiltsov (RUS) MINI ALL4 Racing - 3h 48m 23s
4. M. Zapletal (CZE)/M. Marton (POL) Hummer H3 – 4h 00m 57s
5. M. Dabrowski (POL)/J. Czachor (POL) Toyota - 4h 04m 18s
...
8. K. Holowczyc (POL)/A. Schulz (GER) MINI ALL4 Racing - 4h 20m 24s
...
dnf M. Kaczmarski (POL)/F. Palmeiro (POR) MINI ALL4 Racing

  Overall Results after last Stage:

1. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT)/M. Baumel (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing - 17h 22m 51s
2. V. Vasilyev (RUS)/K. Zhiltsov (RUS) MINI ALL4 Racing - 18h 39m 47s
3. M. Dabrowski (POL)/J. Czachor (POL) Toyota - 18h 59m 47s
4. A. Malysz (POL)/R. Marton (POL) Toyota - 19h 02m 51s
 5. R. Varela (BRA)/G. Gugelmin (BRA) Toyota – 19h 17m 21s
...
10. (tbc) K. Holowczyc (POL)/A. Schulz (GER) MINI ALL4 Racing
 ... dnf. M. Kaczmarski (POL)/F. Palmeiro (POR) MINI ALL4 Racing

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Paulo Gonçalves perdeu a liderança no Qatar mas mantém-se na luta pelo título

Piloto português, Campeão do Mundo em 2013, terminou o Sealine Cross-Country Rally na quinta posição 

Paulo Gonçalves ficou fora do pódio final no Qatar mas mantém-se na luta pela título mundial na edição de 2014 do Campeonato do Mundo de Ralis Todo-o-Terreno. O piloto português, campeão em título, terminou no quinto posto final o Sealine Cross-Country Rally, segunda prova da temporada, cuja vitória final “sorriu” igualmente à Honda pelas mãos do espanhol Joan Barreda Bort.

 Depois da vitória na etapa anterior, Paulo Gonçalves foi o primeiro a entrar em pista na derradeira etapa qatariana, sendo naturalmente alcançado pelos pilotos que partiram nas posições seguintes. O piloto de Esposende acabou o dia com o sexto melhor tempo, perdendo mais 11m57s que o compatriota Hélder Rodrigues, o mais rápido na especial de 362,97 quilómetros.

  “Depois de três vitórias consecutivas no "Mundial", não consegui chegar ao pódio no Qatar. Ainda assim, estou muito satisfeito com o meu trabalho. O resultado final não foi o melhor, mas mostrei velocidade, tenho mota, tenho uma grande equipa e estou na luta pela vitória. Se não tivesse cometido o erro da primeira etapa creio que teria terminado na luta pela vitória final!”, disse Paulo “Speedy” Gonçalves. 

Concluídas as duas primeiras jornadas, Paulo Gonçalves ocupa agora a terceira posição do “Mundial” de Ralis Todo-o-Terreno a apenas três pontos do segundo classificado, Marc Coma, e quatro do primeiro, Joan Barreda.

 Ausentes na prova do Egipto, uma opção de segurança por parte das equipas oficiais, Paulo Gonçalves e a equipa oficial Honda HRC continuam a temporada na Sardenha de 7 a 12 de Junho de 2014.

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Al-Attiyah, Abu Issa e Barreda são os vencedores do Sealine Rally

· Final stage wins for Varela, Rodrigues and Abu Issa 

· Vasilyev, Coma and Sonik finish second; Kaczmarski breaks a wheel 

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, Spain’s Joan Barreda and Qatar’s Mohammed Abu Issa confirmed victories in the car, motorcycle and quad categories at the Sealine Cross-Country Rally on Friday. Final stage victories fell to Brazil’s Reinaldo Varela, Honda’s Helder Rodrigues and Abu Issa, although the Rodrigues stage time remains provisional.

 Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel’s winning margin was 1hr 16min 56sec. The Qatari duly confirmed his second victory in the progressive Sealine event in three years. He moves into contention for a second FIA World Cup success and will now represent the X-raid team at next month’s Pharoahs Rally in Egypt.

  “This was a very tough race and I am so happy to win at home,” said Al-Attiyah. “I am also very pleased for Matthieu. This was a big test for him and we made only one small mistake all week. That was a superb job with such difficult navigation. I tried not to damage the car and drive safely, but also quickly. The Mini was perfect.”

 FIA World Cup leader Vladimir Vasilyev and last year’s winning co-driver Konstantin Zhiltsov managed to overhaul Poland’s Adam Malysz (Toyota) to claim second position in a second Mini All4 Racing. Malysz fell behind team-mate Marek Dabrowski as well and slipped to fourth over the closing kilometres.

 Barreda played the Honda motorcycle tactics to perfection to catch KTM’s Marc Coma on the stage and race with the defending champion to the finish to claim a second successive FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship win for Team HRC Rally.

  “This is really good,” said a delighted Barreda. “We are all now, as a team, at a high level. The bikes, the riders and the mechanics are all working together and it is nearly one year ago in Sardinia since KTM won a World Championship race. We have been improving all the time and Paolo’s (Goncalves) win in Abu Dhabi and my win here is fantastic. I was disappointed after the Dakar, but this is special.”

 Coma held on to seal second position, a mere 1min 23sec behind Barreda, and the unofficial fastest time on the final stage moved Rodrigues into an unofficial final podium place.

  “You know I push as hard as I could, but the starting order did not work in our favour at all,” said Coma. “I lost some vital time on the first day and this is a short race and there is no way to make up that time. I am still happy with my performance.”

 Thirty-four minutes lost on day three after navigational delays cost Poland’s Rafal Sonik dearly and he was never going to be able to recoup that loss and prevent the host nation’s Abu Issa from taking a hard-earned quad title by a comfortable margin.

  “A great feeling to win here and brilliant to cross the last dunes where I normally come and play,” said Abu Issa. “My strategy was to follow Rafal this morning and catch him and I did that. But, then I punctured and had to stop and then had to catch him again."


2014 Sealine Cross-Country Rally – overall positions after SS5 – unofficial @ 13.00hrs:

  Cars

 1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Mini All4 Racing 17hr 22min 51sec
2. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) Mini All4 Racing 18hr 39min 47sec
3. Marek Dabrowski (POL)/Jacek Czachor (POL) Toyota Hilux 18hr 59min 47sec
4. Adam Malysz (POL)/Rafal Marton (POL) Toyota Hilux 19hr 02min 51sec
5. Reinaldo Varela (BRA)/Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) Toyota Hilux 19hr 17min 21sec
6. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Maciej Marton (POL) Hummer H3 20hr 30min 42sec
7. Andrey Cherednikov (KAZ)/Dmitro Tsyro (KAZ) Toyota 21hr 20min 20sec unne

  Bikes

1. Joan Barreda (ESP) Honda CRF 450 20hr 28min 46sec
2. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 20hr 30min 09sec
3. Helder Rodrigues (PRT) Honda CRF 450 20hr 30min 36sec*
4. Jordi Viladoms (ESP) KTM 450 20hr 36min 05sec
5. Paolo Goncalves (PRT) Honda CRF 450 20hr 38min 16sec
6. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (ARE) KTM 450 23hr 41min 22sec

  Quads

 7. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Honda TRX 680 24hr 44min 56sec
8. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700 25hr 17min 12sec

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Ruben Faria de novo com problemas

Definitivamente a edição 2014 do Sealine Rally não é para recordar. Hoje, no penúltimo dia da prova, Ruben Faria voltou a ser forçado a terminar o dia pela estrada e nem mesmo com a opção de treinar o algarvio consegue um dia isento de problemas. Hoje voltou a sentir dificuldades com a sua moto e chegou ao acampamento depois de cumprir a segunda metade da especial por alcatrão.

‘Não há nada a fazer, as corridas são mesmo assim. Temos tido sempre pequenos problemas que me impedem de fazer um dia limpo e isso voltou novamente a acontecer hoje. Tinhamos mais de 400 quilómetros para enfrentar, com temperaturas mais uma vez bastante elevadas mas a meio da especial sensivelmente voltei a sentir alguns problemas com a moto e a opção foi mesmo regressar por alcatrão. A prova está perdida desde o segundo dia, mas estes quilómetros em corrida seríam importantes.’ 

Palavras de desalento do piloto da KTM no derradeiro acampamento deste Sealine Rally que termina amanhã com a realização da derradeira especial, que será mesmo decisiva quanto ao vencedor da competição. No dia de despedida daquela que é a segunda prova do campeonato do mundo os pilotos enfrentam pouco menos de 363 quilómetros numa especial desenhada no sul do Qatar, antes de regressarem ao acampamento onde se realizará a cerimónia de encerramento da prova

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Hélder Rodrigues de novo em 3º

Hélder Rodrigues voltou a ser hoje o 3º mais rápido na etapa do Sealine Cross Country Rally, a segunda jornada do Campeonato do Mundo de Todo-o-Terreno. Aos comandos de uma Honda CRF450 Rally, o piloto gastou 4h52m05s no troço cronometrado de 404,18 quilómetros, desta penúltima etapa disputada no Qatar.

“Foi mais um dia bom para nós no Qatar. Ataquei forte de início e conseguiu apanhar o Marc e o Joan e fomos juntos durante muitos quilómetros. Antes do reabastecimento adiantei-me um pouco a eles e fiquei na frente da etapa. Cheguei ao reabastecimento numa boa posição para lutar pelo terceiro lugar na corrida. Depois perdi-me um pouco com o Joan e o Marc e o Viladoms apanhou-nos. Eu vou continuar a lutar pelo pódio, embora seja muito difícil”, salientou no final da etapa, Hélder Rodrigues, o piloto da Honda apoiado pela Red Bull e MEO.

 A derradeira etapa do Sealine Cross Country Rally, que amanhã se disputa, terá um sector selectivo com 362,67 quilómetros.

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Mário Patrão quer manter-se na liderança após o Vinhos Ervideira Rali TT

Piloto senense detém o maior número de títulos de Campeão Nacional de Motociclismo Todo-o-Terreno em Portugal 

Mário Patrão cumpre este final de semana a segunda jornada da temporada de 2014 do Campeonato Nacional de Todo-o-Terreno, o Vinhos Ervideira Rali TT, em Reguengos de Monsaraz, cujo interesse pela vitória final é único.

 Depois da vitória na prova inaugural, na Ferraria, Mário Patrão parte novamente rumo ao Alentejo à procura de manter em sua posse o domínio na modalidade de Todo-o-Terreno em Portugal, onde se afirma ininterruptamente desde a temporada de 2008 como Campeão Absoluto.

  “Estou de regresso ao Alentejo e o objetivo mantém-se inalterável, lutar pela vitória e pela renovação dos títulos nacionais. Conciliar a concentração com a velocidade será a chave desta prova, por isso quero poder estar ao melhor nível para poder proporcionar um bom espetáculo junto com todos os meus adversários ao muito público que esperamos ter uma vez mais nas planícies alentejanas, bem como garantir mais um grande trabalho para toda a equipa e todos os patrocinadores”, antecipou o piloto do Crédito Agrícola, RR-Motos e Suzuki.

 A prova Vinhos Ervideira Rali TT tem início marcado para esta Sexta-Feira, 25 de Abril, com uma Super-Especial de 5 quilómetros desenhada na Herdadinha, junto à adega dos Vinhos Ervideira, estando o Sábado reservado a dois sectores seletivos, de 74,2 e 147,6 quilómetros, respetivamente, traçados nos concelhos de Reguengos de Monsaraz, Alandroal, Redondo e Évora.

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