Husqvarna rider Alessandro Botturi of Italy puts together a consistent five days to score World Championship round win.
Italy’s Alessandro Botturi closed out the 2014 Sardinia Rally by riding conservatively in Stage 5 to score the overall win on the island of Sardinia today.
Botturi, who races with support from Husqvarna Motorcycles Italia, finished eighth in the fifth and final stage of the rally, ending with a time of 15 hours 11 minutes and 5 seconds, 7 minutes and 44 seconds ahead of Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma of Spain, who finished second overall. Gerrard Farrés, also of Spain, was third overall. Sherco Rally factory rider Joan Pedrero won the final stage of the rally today, finishing 10th overall.
Botturi said that his navigations skills were a key factor in his win, as the Sardinian island can present tricky conditions.
“Here in Sardinia the navigation is rather amazing because of the special terrain and the incredible number of entries in the road book–for example 560 entries just for the fourth stage,” Botturi said. “I think the secret to success is to maintain a very high level of concentration and to do this you have to forget about high speed and focus on the pace. The rhythm is the secret.”
Botturi was consistent throughout the rally, running second overall through the first two days before taking the overall lead on day three and holding it to the finish.
“My best day was day four where I managed to gain some time,” he said. “The opponents were very strong but they were also a bit unlucky. Marc [Coma] for example had some problems with his navigation device, and here in Sardinia you cannot give this advantage to your opponents.”
The fifth round of the FIM World Championship Cross-Country Rallies, the Rally Does Sertoes, will take place in Brazil August 21-30.
FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship
Sardinia Rally
San Teodoro-San Teodoro
Results: June 12, 2014 (Stage 5 of 5)
Stage 5
1. Joan Pedrero-She/2:46:58
2. Paulo Goncalves-Hon/+00:02:24
3. Gerard Farrés-GG/+00:02:36
4. Marc Coma-KTM/+00:02:41
5. Olivier Pain-Yam/+00:02:47
6. Armand Monleón-KTM/+00:03:11
7. Ruben Faria -KTM/+00:04:08
8. Alessandro Botturi-Hus/+00:05:05
9. Mario Patrao-Suz/+00:07:50
10. Andrea Mancini/+00:08:05
Sardinia Rally Final Overall Standings (After 5 of 5 stages)
1. Alessandro Botturi-Hus/15:11’05
2. Marc Coma-KTM/+00:07:44
3. Gerard Farrés-GG/+00:12:21
4. Paulo Goncalves-Hon/+00:22:50
5. Andrea Mancini-Bet/+00:25:54
6. Olivier Pain-Yam/+00:27:49
7. Joan Barreda-Hon/+00:35:11
8. Ruben Faria-KTM/+00:35:35
9. Armand Monleón-KTM/+00:40:05
10. Joan Pedrero-She/+00:41:15
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