Days Summary: Sainz wins and leads

Carlos Sainz steps on the gas at Sertões (foto: André Chaco/Webventure)

Once again, Volkswagen team performed spectacularly in the 17th Sertões International Rally. This Thursday, the Spanish pilots Carlos Saniz/ Lucas Cruz won the second stage and got the lead in general classification. On Friday, the race goes from Cidade de Goiás (GO) to Minaçu (GO).

One of the best rally pilots of the world, Sainz didnt make mistakes and finished last Thursday course, between Santa Helena and Goiás, in 3h59min08s7. Second placers were his team mates Nasser Al Attiyah/ Timo Gottschack, and the Brazilian Pilots Riamburgo Ximenes De Faria and Stanger Eller were third.

Everything was ok, we didnt have any problem and the car behaved very well this stage. The special was very good, technical and beautiful, says Sainz. It is still too early to say anything, we still have 8 stages ahead of us, and our goal is to keep our pace and wait that nothing bad happens until the end of the race, completed the speed rally twice world champion.

Unlike the leading team, the Brazilian pilots Mauricio Neves and Eduardo Bampi, also from VW, encountered many difficulties in the race and didnt even finish among the five best.

We had so much bad luck, there was a bike that had the back wheel stuck in a cattle-grid. Nasser passed on the right, Carlos passed slower by the left, and I chose the same side, but I was afraid of hitting the stopped bike and ended up falling in the cattle grid. Its a pity, but this things happen, and we have more to come tomorrow, said Neves.

By the time the teams were getting to Cidade de Goiás (GO), after 469 Km, it became very clear that the stage was exhausting. But there was a practically unanimous opinion, that the physical demands of the trail were surprising. There were so many hills, so many bumps, hard soil. Im so tired, said Marco Macedo, Reinaldo Varelas navigator.

But, differently from the other pilots, Stanger Eller was very happy with Thursdays special. The special was very pleasant. Thats what Sertões is all about. Hard, trial, slopes, said Riamburgo Ximenezs navigator, that finished the day in third place.

The bikes were the first vehicles to face the hard rally day. Once again, Zé Hélio dominated, and rode the 334 Km in 4h45min27s. Tiago Fantozzi was the second, with 4h54min34. He lead for some time, but a problem with an animal took his leadership.

With 50 Km to go, in farmland, a chicken jumped in front of my bike and got entangled with my wheel. In trying not to fall, I put my foot on the ground and twisted my ankle. Im in a lot of pain, but I kept going, and at that moment, Zé took the leadership, said Fantozzi.

Portuguese pilot Pedro Bianchi was the third to get to Cidade de Goiás, and completed the course in 5h01min26. It was a difficult special, very physically demanding. We faced traffic on the course, animals, cars, bikes, closed gates, but thats all part of the rally, and were here for that. Zé Hélio and Tiago Fantozzi rode very fast today, and I preferred to ride more calmly. There is still a lot ahead, and I want to get to Natal (RN), said the Portuguese pilot.

Among the quads, it was also a close dispute. Cristiano Sousa managed the problems and won. The second place went to the experienced Carlo Collet and Rodrigo Varela finished third.

The leader found it very strange not to find his contender Collet in his way, because the five times champion of the category had passed him during the special. The reason was that Collet ended up missing a curve and capsized his quad while still ahead of Sousa. In a slower section, and due to the dust, I missed a curve and ended up capsizing, said Collet, that finished the course in 8 hours.

Finally, among the trucks, Edu Piano had his second victory, and opened an advantage in the general classification. This Thursday, the trio Edu Piano/ Solon Mendes/ Davi Fonseca completed the course in 3h35min54s. Second place went to Amable Barrasa/ Guilherme Petrine (3h44min50s) and trio André Azevedo/ Maykel Justo/ Ronaldo Pinto finished third.

It was hard, lots of contour lines, little roads, erosion, and hi-speed sections. The stage was hard on the vehicle. We rode well, saving the equipment, and we managed to reach our goal, that was finishing well and with our vehicle in one piece, said Piano.

Best times in cars category in the second stage:

1) Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Cruz 3h59mim08s7
2) Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah/ Timo Gottschalk 4h06mim13s4
3) Riamburgo Ximenes De Faria/ Stanger Eller 4h27mim35s9

Best times in trucks category in the second stage:
1) Edu Piano/ Solon Mendes/ Davi Fonseca 3h35min54s
2) Amable Barrasa/ Guilherme Petrine 3h44min50s
3) André Azevedo/ Maykel Justo/ Ronaldo Pinto 4h07min41s

Best times in bikes category in the second stage:

1) Zé Hélio – 4h45min27s
2) Denísio do Nascimento – 4h53min44s
3) Tiago Fantozzi – 4h54min34s

Best times in quads category in the second stage:

1) Cristiano Souza Batista, Suzuki 450 5h36min14s9
2) Carlo Giovanni Collet Junior, Bombardier Renegade 6h17min46s4

General classification after two stages

Cars
1) Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Sebastian, VW Race Touareg 2 6h35min01s2
2) Nasser Al Attiya/ Timo Gottschalk, VW Race Touareg 2 6h36min41s5
3) Riamburgo Ximenes/ Stanger Eller, Mitsubishi L200 Evolution 7h16min58s3
4) Jean Azevedo/ Youssef Haddad, Mitsubishi L200 Evolution 7h19min25s5
5) Reinaldo Varela/ Marcos Macedo, Mitsubishi L200 RS 7h29min59s6

Trucks
1) Edu Piano/ Davi Fonseca/ Sólon Mendes, Ford F4000 6h49min56s8
2) Amable Barrasa/ Guilherme Petrine/ Raphael Bettoni, Ford F4000 7h06min50s5
3) André Azevedo/ Maykel Justo/ Ronaldo Pinto, Mercedes-Benz Ateto 1725 7h48min42s3
4) Ulysses Marinzeck/ Evandro Luiz/ Jose de Carvalho, Ford 1722E Cargo A 8h42min23s1
5) Guido Salvini/ Weidner Moreira/ Fernando Chwaigert, Mercedes-Benz Atego 1725 9h13min10s0

Bikes
1) Zé Hélio, Honda CRF 450X 7h45min17s9
2) Tiago Fantozzi, KTM 530 EXC 8h01min32s8
3) Bianchi Prata, BMW G450X 8h12min31s9

Quads
1) Cristiano Souza Batista, Suzuki 450 9h16min14s6
2) Carlo Giovanni Collet Junior, Bombardier Renegade 10h06min11s4
3) Márcio José Pessoa de Oliveira, KTM 525 XC 16h00min00s0

Este texto foi escrito por: Redação Webventure