Peterhansel was champion in thew Sertões in the car category (foto: Gustavo Epifanio)
Ten times champion of the Dakar (four in the cars and six in the motorbikes), the Frenchman, Stéphane Peterhansel this Tuesday afternoon conquered one more title in his career: the 2012 Sertões International Rally. Next to his navigator and fellow countryman Jean-Paul Cottret and driving a prototype of the Mini Cooper of the BMW X-Raid; the driver took 26h06min53 to complete the almost 2,300 kilometers of specials in the commemorative edition of the 20 years of the rally.
The French driver kept up his strategy of regularity of the results and few risks, that guaranteed him a good part of his titles. He won six of the ten stages, and his worst result was a sixth place, on the first day. But this does not mean that the rally was easy for the duo: It was difficult. A long test, ten days and thousands of kilometers. And mainly because in the beginning there was a tough contest between Spinelli and myself. It was necessary to increase the rhythm and run some risks, the champion reported as soon as he crossed the finish line.
According to the racer, the Sertões was a good test to attempt his eleventh title in the Dakar. It was a very positive test. Several kilometers without any problem in the car. An excellent test for the Dakar, an excellent training. If it is possible to come back, it will be a pleasure. Even more so now that I know more about the test, he said.
Guilherme Spinelli and Youssef Haddad ended over 23 minutes behind the French competitors, in the second place in the overall. Even so, they were happy with the result. I always come to win, but this year, the one who won was the best in the world. Just the fact of competing against him was satisfying, the driver of the Mitsubish Lancer, the best Brazilian in the category. We lost to the best duo in the world, and the fact of driving close to them, of getting in their way, is a reason for satisfaction. Of course one does feel a bit bad, we are not going to be hypocrites and say the second place is fine, but we have to look ahead and see who we are behind, Haddad added.
The last stage
The cars did the best time among all the vehicles of the rally this Tuesday, between Iguatú and Fortaleza in Ceará. The majority of the drivers drove in average faster than one kilometer a minute, ending the test between 1h20m and 1h40m. In all, the timed stretch of todays special was 103 kilometers.
On an easygoing track, the only one who started and were not able to complete the route were Paulo Henrique Pichini and Paulo Eduardo Simões. The duo formed by Riamburgo Ximenes and Flavio Franca did the best time of the day, of 01h15m40s. The duo ended with the third best time in the overall standing. In the end we evolved a lot and managed two victories in the specials. In the first marathon I had problems with the turbine and this got in the way a lot. Because of a mechanical problem, I was far from the fight, so this third place has a bit of the taste of a first, Riamburgo said.
Peterhansel finished the last stage in fourth place with a time of 1h17m38s, behind João Antonio Franciosi and Rafael Capoani, with a time of 1h17m35s, and Guilherme Spinelli and Youssf Haddad with 1h17m08s.
Check the final accumulated results of the cars in the 2012 Sertões International Rally:
1) STEPHANE PETERHANSEL/JEAN-PAUL COTTRET – 26h06min53
2) GUILHERME SPINELLI/YOUSSEF HADDAD – 26h30min26
3) RIAMBURGO XIMENES/FLAVIO FRANCA- 27h09min40
4) FELLIPE BIBAS/EMERSON CAVASSIN – 28h58min39
5) MARCOS MORAES/FABIO PEDROSO – 29h35min33
6) MARCOS BAUMGART/KLEBER CINCEA – 30h01min18
7) REINALDO VARELA/GUSTAVO GUGELMIN – 30h32min18
8) JOAO ANTONIO FRANCIOSI/RAFAEL CAPOANI – 31h14min50
9) PAULO CESAR BERTOLINI/ANDERSON BERTOLINI – 33h22s
10) MAURO S. GUEDES/NEURIVAN CALADO – 33h11min27
Este texto foi escrito por: Fanni Duarte
Last modified: agosto 28, 2012
