Zé Hélio (foto: Caetano Barreira/Divulgação)
The internal dispute in Volkswagen team is still intense in this 17th edition of the Sertões International Rally. This Saturday, Nasser Al-Attiyah/ Timo Gottschalk won the 4th stage, completing the 753 km course between Minaçu (GO) and Palmas (TO), in 4h29min26s, and took the lead in general classification. Second place went to Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Cruz, followed by the Brazilian pilots Mauricio Neves/ Eduardo Bampi all of them part of the German team. The race goes on this Sunday, with 538 kilometers, between Palmas (TO) and Luis Eduardo Magalhães (BA).
In general classification, the best placed Brazilian is Jean Azevedo/ Youssef Haddad which are in 3rd place in general classification, and first in Prototype T1 category. Despite their 3rd place this Saturday, Mauricio Neves and Eduardo Bampi are in the 8th place in the general timing due to problems they faced in the second day.
Just as expected by the rally organization, this Saturday section was the longest and ome of the most difficult ones. The pilots left Minaçu (GO) towards Palmas (TO) in a total course of 753 km. Initial liaison was 20 km, and the special had 373 km, where they would face sierras, the famous Kalungas trails, a heavy trial, and three large river crossings. Then fast roads to Paraná and a final liaison of 360 km.
Among the trucks, team Edu Piano/ Solon Mendes/ Davi Fonseca had another victory, the 4th in a row, with total time of 1h05min31, and opened their advantage over Amable second place totaling 10h47min10s. This Saturday was a balanced day, and the vice leaders stayed mere 55 seconds behind Fords team. Nevertheless, the distance from Piano to Amable in general classification is 18min47s. Third place of the day went to Guido Salvini/ Fernando Chwaigert/ Weidner Moreira, with 1h11min52. Today, the special was cut for trucks, and had only 70 kilometers. It was supposed to be 373 kilometers long.
Zé Hélio keeps leading the bikes. In a section full of obstacles, Zé Hélio was the best for the 4th time. Polish pilot Jakub Przygonski was second, and Denísio do Nascimento third.
It was an ordinary day. No news. But it was a hard stage. The rally is going to be very hard. Form me it was everything ok, no problems. I made the special the way it should have been; it had difficult river crossings, full of stones, where we had to push the bike, but ok. A very difficult sierra section. A very hard special, analyzed Zé Hélio.
On quads, Cristiano Sousa maintained his good performance marking the best time: 5h52min40. Five times Sertões champion, Carlo Collet arrived in second, in 6h00min05. Collet was around 8 minutes behind the first place, and around 40 minutes ahead of the third, Heronaldo de Andrade (6h45min45s).
Sertões Experience
New to this edition, Experience category, for rookies, ended this Friday in Minaçu (GO). The competition, which followed exactly the same route of the rally, lasted for the first three days.
Among the six cars in the dispute, Sálvio Costa Júnior (pilot) and Eduardo Alexandre da Silva (navigator), driving a Mitsubishi Pajero TR4 R, were the best. We have worked a whole year for this. I set up the team thinking of a good result. Next year, we want to have four cars to race the 10 days of Sertões. We are here to stay. When we had problems during the race, we always try to help our teammates, regardless of the result. Thats why we managed to get the three best places, this is teamwork, said the champion.
On bikes, Zé Alarico, riding a Honda CRF 450 X, was the best. Rodrigo Varela, riding a Can-Am DS 450, won the quads category. There There is no such thing as racing by yourself in Sertões. Here you race against the clock all the time. There is plenty of risk and so many people. It was pleasant, I want to come back next year to race the entire rally. I want more of it. In total, 18 Brazilian competitors rode 12 vehicles six cars, six bikes and a quad for 1,432 kilometers, being 983 kilometers of specials.
Saturdays results
Cars
1) Nasser Al-Attiyah/ Timo Gottschalk 4h29min26s
2) Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Cruz 4h31min36s
3) Mauricio Neves/ Eduardo Bampi 4h35min37s
Trucks
1) Edu Piano/ Davi Fonseca/ Solom Mendes 1h05min31
2) Amable Barrasa/ Guilherme Petrine 1h06min26
3) Guido Salvini/ Fernando Chwaigert/ Weidner Moreira 1h11min52
Bikes
1) Zé Hélio – 5h13min56
2) Jakub Przygonski – 5h21min06
3) Denísio do Nascimento – 5h22min46
Quads
1) Cristiano Sousa 5h52min10s
2) Carlo Collet 6h00min05s
3) Heronaldo de Andrade 6h45min45s
General classfication
Cars
1) Nasser Al-Attiyah/ Timo Gottschalk 14h51min59s
2) Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Cruz 14h53min26s
3) Jean Azevedo/ Youssef Haddad 16h19min41s
Trucks
1) Edu Piano/ Davi Fonseca/ Solom Mendes 10h47min10s3
2) Amable Barrasa/ Guilherme Petrine 11h05min58s2
3) Andre Azevedo/ Maykel Justo- 12h13min56s4
Bikes
1) Zé Hélio – 17h31min44s3
2) Denísio do Nascimento – 18h10min50s7
3) Joaquim Gouveia Rodrigues – 18h24min19s9
Quads
1) Cristiano Sousa 20h18min03s
2) Carlo Collet 21h21min01s
3) Bruno Leão 23h42min18s
Check out the list of the best in Sertões Experience this year:
Cars
1)Sálvio Costa Junior/ Eduardo da Silva, Mitsubishi Pajero TR4 R
2)Antonio Maria Reinaldo/ Marcio C. Marcantonio, Mitsubishi Pajero TR4 R
3)Marco Túlio Lana/ Breno de A. Rezende, Mitsubishi TR4 RIII
4)Gauber Fontoura/ Luis Fernando Carqueijo, Ford Ranger
5)Piloto Téo Ferreira Zanelato/ Lucas Damiani de Mendonça, Chevrolet S-10
6)Carlos Henrique Bevilaqua/ Jessé de Souza, Troller 3.0 TDI Eletronic
Bikes
1) José Alarico Rebouças Jr., KTM EXC 250 2T
2) Michelangelo Candido dos Santos, Yamaha XT
3) José Leonardo de Oliveira Scipião, Honda CRF 450 X
4) Carlos Octávio de Alexandre Queiroz, Suzuki DRZ 400
5) Vicente de Benedictis Neto, KTM Rally 660
Quads
1) Rodrigo Varela, Can-Am DS 450
Este texto foi escrito por: Redação Webventure