Motorbikes – Gonçalves wins the 2nd stage and gets closer to Coma

With information sent from Isabela Rios straight from Catalão

Paulo Gonçalves was the besto f the day, but he wanted a longer timed stretch. Foto: Marcelo Machado/Webventure

The Portuguese rider, Paulo Gonçalves won the short special this Monday (25) valid for the 22nd edition of the Sertões International Rally, the second largest cross country style competition in the world. The stage took place between the cities of Caldas Novas and Catalão, both in Goiás. With a timed stretch of 70 kilometers almost a third of that initially planned, some racers regretted the lack of time to ride at the limit and recuperate time in relation to the leaders in the accumulated results. The winner of the stage was one of them. “Today was a very short special. I started in third. I would have preferred it to be a normal special, of 200 kms because I would have had more time to recuperate. I think I managed to recuperate more or less 1min40s of time difference to Marc Coma, therefore I would have preferred it to be longer. But we still have five days ahead of us. Now I have to stay focused to try to get in a good final position”, analyzes the competitor of the Team Honda HRC.

The Portuiguese rider came in over a minute ahead of the Brazilian, Jean Azevedo (Honda Mobil de Rally), the second of the day third in the overall -, and now only with 39seconds of disadvantage to Coma, in the accumulated time.

Jean Azevedo was the second fastest today , e and is in third in the accumulated result. Foto: Jonne Roriz/Webventure

The Spaniard, Marc Coma, of the KTM Red Bull Factory Team, maintained the lead and ended the day in third. “It was a very short stage today. I was expecting over 100 kilometers, but it wasn’t a problem. I am happy, I didn’t make mistakes and the rhythm continues strong. If we were to analyze the rally as a whole. We are practically still warming up, so we have a whole competition ahead of us”, said the champion of the 2010 Sertões International Rally.

Closing with the 11th best time of the special, Ramon Sacilotti (Kawasaki Rinaldi) also wanted more ground to cross today, but just for the simple pleasure of the ride. “It started off as a locked stretch, then, we went to very high ground, which I don’t like very much because it does not measure the rider’s ability, but at the end it was very pleasant to ride on. Very locked, curvy, a lot of fun. I enjoyed today much more than yesterday”, he assured.

On Tuesday (26) the Sertões International Rally will arrive in Minas Gerais, with around 360 kilometers in total, which should make a few of the competitors happier. There will be 210 kilometers of special, giving enough time to make the competition even more exciting.

Follow the Sertões live and check out the full results here.

Check the results of the best in the motorbikes:

Motorbikes 2nd Stage
1 #1 PAULO GONÇALVES (HONDA / TEAM HONDA HRC) 45min37s
2 #5 JEAN AZEVEDO (HONDA / HONDA MOBIL DE RALLY) 46min39s
3 #2 MARC COMA (KTM / KTM RED BULL FACTORY TEAM) 46min58s
4 #3 JORDI VILLADONS (KTM / CASTEU ELF) 48min07s
5 #12 RUBEN FARIA (KTM / KTM RED BULL FACTORY TEAM 48min16s

Motorbikes Accumulated Results
1 #2 MARC COMA (KTM / KTM RED BULL FACTORY TEAM) 02h42min27s
2 #1 PAULO GONÇALVES (HONDA / TEAM HONDA HRC) 02h43min06s
3 #5 JEAN AZEVEDO (HONDA / HONDA MOBIL DE RALLY) 02h44min44s
4 #4 HELDER RODRIGUES (HONDA / TEAM HONDA HRC) 2h45min20s
5 #3 JORDI VILLADONS (KTM / CASTEU ELF) 02h46min08s

Check the sequence of the 22nd edition of the Sertões International Rally:

26/08 – 3ª stage- Catalão (GO)/Paracatu (MG)
Initial liaison: 22,2 km
Special: 209,86 km
Final liaison: 128,39 km
Day’s total: 360,45 km

27/08 – 4ª stage- Paracatu (MG)/São Francisco (MG)
Initial liaison:135,24 km
Special: 363,85 km
Final liaison: 86,21 km
Day’s total: 585,30 km

28/08 – 5ª stage- São Francisco (MG)/Diamantina (MG) – MARATHON
Initial liaison223,57 km
Special: 335,98 km
Final liaison: 85,89 km
Day’s total: 645,44 km

29/08 – 6ª stage- Diamantina (MG)/Diamantina (MG)
Initial liaison: 0 km
Special: 178,87 km
Final liaison: 25,42 km
Day’s total: 204,29 km

30/08 – 7ª stage- Diamantina (MG)/Belo Horizonte (MG)
Initial liaison: 54,38 km
Special: 125,88 km
Final liaison: 151,96 km
Day’s total: 336,96 km
12h00 to18h00: Arrival of the competitors
21h00: Prize giving Ceremony and Party

Este texto foi escrito por: Marcos Souza

Last modified: agosto 25, 2014