Day Summary: Brazilians keep 100%

Brazilian teams keep bright in the 17 Sertões International Rally. This Sunday, Edu Piano, Zé Hélio and Cristiano Sousa won the fifth stage in their categories, and kept leading the most important off-road competition in Brazil. This Monday, the race will have another 558 kilometers between Luís Eduardo Magalhães (BA) and Barra (BA).

The fifth day of Sertões marked halfway of the race. The special was not surprising, for the first places in almost all categories. The fastest stage of all the rally started with a 42 kilometers liaison, to Taquaruçu where a special of 301 kilometers started, with winding roads, lots of bumps and curves that demanded lots of skills from the competitors. The final liaison took 196 kilometers to Luis Eduardo Magalhães (BA).

Among the cars, the dispute is intense. Volkswagen team kept leading, reaching speeds higher than 119 km/h. The pair Nasser Al-Attiyah/ Timo Gottschalk got the first place, followed by their teammates, Mauricio Neves/ Eduardo Bampi and Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Cruz in third.

In general classification, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk are still in first. The pair Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Cruz had a little problem with the turbo hose and ended up losing their second place in this Sunday’s stage. Despite this problem, they kept their second place in general classification, only 12 minutes behind the leaders

Brazilians Mauricio Neves and Eduardo Bampi finished the race in 2h33min58s, with an average of 117 km/h. “It was a fast special. One or two trial sections over sand, but 99% of the time I was stepping hard. The Touareg is a weak car. Its maximum speed is 180 km/h and it doesn’t go any faster. I always drive at Eu 180 km/h”, joked Mauricio Neves. Today, they are the 10th place.
For the fifth day in a row, Edu Piano/ Solon Mendes/ Davi Fonseca finished the stage in the first place, with 3h15min27. After overcoming Saturday’s problems that left them in the fifth position, André Azevedo/ Maykel Justo/ Ronaldo Pinto placed second. Third place went to Guido Salvini/ Weidner Moreira/ Fernando Chwaigert, in 3h21min06.

Isolated leader, Edu Paino adds up 14h01min37 in five days. Team Amable Barrasa/ Guilherme Signoretti made the fourth time: 3h28min35, but keep their second place in general classification. The difference behind Piano has grown to 32min56.

Once again, in bikes category, Zé Hélio ruled. Averaging 94.66 km/h, he finished the stage in 3h10min47s. Second placer in general classification, Denisio do Nascimento, arrived only two minutes behind Zé Hélio (3h12min23s). In third place, Sergio Henrique Klaumann, 3h12min32s.

Cristiano Souza also kept his domination on quads. The pilot won for the fifth time, and augmented his advantage to more than one hour. Averaging 81 km/h, he finished today’s special 3h42min46s. Carlo Collet, second place in the stage, is also second place in general classification. He averaged 79 km/h and finished the stage in 3h46min25s.

Sunday’s results:

Cars:

1) Nasser Al-Attiyah/ Timo Gottschalk – 2h30min57s
2) Mauricio Neves/ Eduardo Bampi – 2h33min58s
3) Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Cruz – 2h41min01s

Trucks:

1) Edu Piano/ Davi Fonseca/ Solom Mendes – 3h15min27
2) André Azevedo/ Maykel Justo/ Ronaldo Pinto – 3h18min49
3) Guido Salvini/ Fernando Chwaigert/ Weidner Moreira – 3h21min06

Bikes:

1) Zé Hélio – 3h10min47s
2) Denisio do Nascimento – 3h12min23s
3) Sergio Henrique Klaumann – 3h12min32s

Quads:

1) Cristiano Sousa – 3h42min46s
2) Carlo Collet – 3h46min25s
3) Heronaldo de Andrade – 3h49min31s

General classification

Cars:

1) Nasser Al-Attiyah/ Timo Gottschalk – 17h22min36s8
2) Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Cruz – 17h34min27s9
3) Jean Azevedo/ Yossef Haddad – 19h12min06s8

Trucks:

1) Edu Piano/ Davi Fonseca/ Solom Mendes - 14h01min37s5
2) Amable Barrasa/ Guilherme Petrine -14h34min33s5
3) André Azevedo/ Maykel Justo – 15h32min45s5

Bikes:

1) Zé Hélio – 20h42min31s
2) Denisio do Nascimento – 21h22min14s
3) Juca Bala – 21h44min56s

Quads:

1) Cristiano Sousa - 24h00min50s4
2) Carlo Collet - 25h07min27s2
3) Bruno Leão Sperancini - 27h37min48s6