Zé Hélio goes on leading (foto: Caetano Barreira/ www.webventure.com.br)
The dispute still goes on in the 17th edition of Sertões International Rally. On the day before the last, Spanish pilots Carlos Sainz and Lucas Senra won the 9th stage and managed to open an advantage in the Grand Total. Sainzs teammates Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk placed second today, and are little more than four minutes behind the leader in the Grand Total. Third place of the day went to Maurício Neves and Eduardo Bampi, who finished the special in 2h03min12s9. The whole last stage of this edition of Sertões will take place in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. There will be 340 kilometers between the city of Caicó and Natal. The pilots will have to cross the famous dunes in order to get to their final destination.
After placing first during most stages of the race, Nasser and Timo got lost during this Thursday special, and ended up shocking against the Brazilian pilot, and teammate, Maurício Neves. When we turned back and I started to drive towards the right way, we hid Neves car, which was also driving the wrong way. We drove slowly until the end. This is too bad, but things like these can happen in our sport, said Nasser.
After the first 39 kilometers, the competitors drove a 141-km special, with lots of stones, small trials, and some sinuous sections, where the speed could not be high. To get to Caicó, the pilots had to drive 249 kilometers more, in the final liaison.
Losing only once during the 17th Sertões International Rally, Edu Piano/Solon Mendes/ Davi Fonseca were the fastest of the day, and finished the special in 1h01mim24s. Two minutes after the Ford truck, Amable Barrasa/ Guilherme Petrine got to Caicó, followed by Guido Salvini/ Fernando Chwaigert/ Raphael with 1h31mim36s.
Even performing spectacularly with eight victories, Edu Piano is in the second place of the Grand Total, and will have to battle for the victory on Friday, last stage. Balance still rules, and Amable Barrasa, who is only 1min11s ahead, also shows his power in Sertões.
Among bikes, Zé Hélio stays leading. The pilot has been pushing hard on the gas, to get his fifth Sertões title. Even losing his first place to Jakub Przygonski this Thursday, the Brazilian pilot still has large advantage in the Grand Total. Third place of the 9th stage stayed with Sérgio Henrique (Ike) Klaumann that completed the special in 2h06min39s.
On quads, the difference in Grand Total is 33min09s for Cristiano Sousa, who still leads the competition. In Thursday special, the pilot got the second time, only 6min10s behind Carlo Collet, winner of the stage, in 2h21min37s.
Thursday results:
Cars:
1) Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Sebastian, 1h55min54s8
2) Nasser Al-Attiyah / Timo Gottschalk, 1h59min57s7
3) Maurício Neves/ Eduardo Bampi, 2h03min12s9
Trucks:
1) Edu Paino/ Solon Mendes/ Davi Fonseca 1h01mim24s
2) Amable Barrasa/ Guilherme Petrine 1h03mim11s
3) Guido Salvini/ Fernando Chwaigert/ Raphael Mohamedi 1h31mim36s
Bikes:
1) Jakub Przygonski 2h04min54
2) Zé Hélio 2h06min15
3) Sérgio Henrique (Ike) Klaumann – 2h06min39
Este texto foi escrito por: Redação Webventure
Last modified: julho 2, 2009
