Morocco Rally, Stage 2: Sunderland Wins, Takes Over Lead

Red Bull KTM’s Sam Sunderland has a strong day in which good navigation skills were key to a Morocco Rally stage win.

Red Bull KTM rider Sam Sunderland of Great Britain proved that his navigational skills are definitely up to par as he won a tricky Stage 2 during the OiLibya Morocco Rally today.

Sunderland excelled in the desert to the south of Zagora, which featured complicated routes and waypoints that were difficult to find, and he posted the stage win with a time of 2 hours 17 minutes and 37 seconds. Sunderland’s result was also good enough to put him in the overall lead after Stage 1 winner Joan Barreda of Team HRC finished fourth in Stage 2, nearly 9 minutes off Sunderland’s time.

Barreda still finished well enough to maintain second place in the overall standings for now, just ahead of today’s third-place finisher, KTM Warsaw Rally’s Pablo Quintanilla, the winner of the penutlimate, round of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship the Atacama Rally in his home country of Chile. Austrian Red Bull KTM rider Mathias Walkner was third in today’s stage and sits fourth overall.

Tomorrow’s stage, the Loop of M’Hamid, will feature a 275-kilometer special and 196 kilometers of liaison, with the route made up by a lot of sand again. The route will also feature a long stretch of high-speed terrain before the pace is slowed again by rocky and technical conditions. The tail end of the route will put the racers into some fast and sandy routes before they make one final pass through the dunes.

2015 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship
2015 OiLibya Morocco Rally
Morocco
Results: October 6, 2015 (Round 6 of 6)

Stage 2
1. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-KTM/2 hours, 17 minutes, 37 seconds
2. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI)-KTM/+00:05:38
3. Mathias Walkner (AUT)-KTM/+00:05:55
4. Joan Barreda (SPA)-Hon/+00:08:59
5. Paulo Goncalves (POR)-Hon/+00:10:48
6. Antoine Meo (FRA)-KTM/+00:14:21
7. Helder Rodrigues (POR)-Yam/+00:15:06
8. Alessandro Botturi (ITA)-Yam/+00:15:54
9. Kevin Benavides (ARG)-Hon/+00:16:15
10. Joan Pedrero (SPA)-She/+00:18:03

2015 OiLibya Rally Overall Standings (After 2 of 5 stages)
1. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-KTM/6 hours, 48 seconds
2. Joan Barreda (SPA)-Hon/+00:02:33
3. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI)-KTM/+00:04:52
4. Mathias Walkner (AUT)-KTM/+00:06:12
5. Paulo Goncalves (POR)-Hon/+00:10:25
6. Helder Rodgrigues (POR)-Yam/+00:11:31
7. Antoine Meo (FRA)-KTM/+00:12:34
8. Toby Price (AUS)-KTM/+00:13:30
9. Jordi Viladoms (SPA)/+00:23:47
10. Olivier Pain (FRA)-Nom/+00:27:23