The Technical Director of the Sertões International Rally comments on todays route

Initial liaison: 40 km
Stretch with radar: 25 km
Special: 292 km
Final liaison: 258 km
Total: 590 km

This is one of the toughest stages. It has everything you can imagine: sand, stones, fine gravel, hills, sinuous mountainous stretches, trails, pasture land. It is the most complete stage we managed to make until today.

The start is close to the district of Lagolândia, leaving Pirenópolis. The race begins with curvy and narrow roads in farms, good for all: cars, motorbikes, trucks and quads.

The route even passes through areas of hill crests. This stretch is an old road, not used any more, which we got authorization to go through. It is a road that seems the top of the world: there is nothing on either side, and you dont see any houses for 40 or 50 kilometers.

After this part comes a faster stretch of plateaus, still in Goiás. Immediately afterwards, the first zone of radars of this years rally, on a road with a lot of movement that we didnt manage to close off. Therefore, for the safety of both the population and the drivers, we made it a radar zone.

In sequence, the race enters into a fast section of road between the sugarcane, with fast speeds and lots of navigation (most probably, the sugarcane will have been cut, therefore, there will be some changes in the course. To make things easier for the drivers, there will be some navigation waypoints so that you stay on course in case you get lost and so you will be able to find your way out of the agricultural area.

Afterwards, the rally enters the second radar zone, on an asphalt highway with an average of 80 kilometers per hour and peaks of 100 kilometers per hour. This way, the motorbikes can refuel in Dois Irmãos (GO), carry on along the asphalt and enter the third part of the race: a windy stretch with farms, erosions, a lot of cliffs and rivers to cross. Then comes a curvy part, with good ground and where navigation is fundamental.

It is also at the end of this asphalt (the radar stretch), with around 180 kilometers of the course, that the Special for trucks will be closed we decided this so as to improve logistics for them, because it is a very uneven and narrow stretch and also for the race technical team to go in front and close it off with security.

The cars will continue for another few kilometers, go across the Maranhão River and come back for the last Special stretch. Here the drivers will drive for around 50 kilometers, with large rivers and stones to cross, where they will not even be able to use third gear. There are curves and cliffs on both sides and a lot of dust (a type of talcum powder, known as fesh-fesh, and you cant see anything ahead). Therefore, it is not a place to overtake. This means, the strategy and the mind of the drivers will have to be very alert here.

Este texto foi escrito por: Webventure