Team HRC’s Paulo Gonçalves got on track in the 2016 OiLibya Morocco Rally by nailing down the win in Stage 2 and vaulting into the overall rally lead today while his American teammate, Ricky Brabec, finished second and improved from fourth to third overall.
Today’s marathon stage featured a bizarre and unexpected twist when the Moroccan Army conducted unannounced and unexpected rider stops on some of the competition, forcing rally organizers to start the marathon stage at Checkpoint 1, some 105 kilometers after the timed special had already begun. Thus, instead of being nearly 300 kilometers, today’s timed special was whittled down to just 186 kilometers.
The veteran Gonçalves just seemed to have the speed today as he hammered through the stage, finishing in the dunes near M’Hamid with a stage time of 2 hours, 1 minute and 11 seconds. With no outside assistance being the rule for the marathon stage, Gonçalves gave his Honda CRF450 Rally the once-over, and he has faith that the machine is ready for the second half of the stage tomorrow.
“Today was a really, really hard stage,” Goncalves said. “I had a good starting position for the 300 kilometers of track with a lot of rocks and various hazards near the start. In the final 40 kilometers we came up against some difficult dunes with very hard navigation. We are happy because we have made it without any mechanical problems for the first part of the marathon stage. Tomorrow we will try and get away as well as possible.”
Brabec had a great day, running ahead of Gonçalves before ultimately finishing just 2 minutes and 25 seconds behind him with a time of 2:03:36. Finishing ahead of Red Bull KTM rider Sam Sunderland allowed Brabec to move around the Brit and into third place overall, behind Stage 1 winner Toby Price, who finished fourth today and slipped to second overall behind Gonçalves.
“It has been a very good day,” Brabec said. “I don’t know if it was the best ever, but it has been really positive for me. I attacked hard and felt pretty good. I think that I really am on the right path. Once I was taking the stage to learn, now it’s time to race. Let’s see if I can get a good result out here. Today the stage was a tough one with a lot of rocky terrain at the beginning and dunes with navigation that was far from easy. But here I am at the target of the day and a great result. I’m pleased!”
The riders face a tough second half to the marathon stage tomorrow, with over 80% of the route, 315 of 390 kilomesters, being run against the clock.
2016 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship
OiLibya Morocco Rally
Morocco
Results: October 4, 2016 (Stage 2 of 5)
Stage 2
1. Paulo Goncalves (POR)-Hon/2 hours, 1 minute, 11 seconds
2. Ricky Brabec (USA)-Hon/+00:02:25
3. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-KTM/+00:03:50
4. Toby Price (AUS)-KTM/+00:04:03
5. Helder Rodrigues (POR)-Yam/+00:05:25
6. Adrien Van Beveren (FRA)-Yam/+00:05:36
7. Kevin Benavides (ARG)-Hon/+00:06:17
8. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI)-Hus/+00:08:07
9. Stefan Svitki (SLO)-KTM/+00:08:11
10. Xavier De Soultrait (FRA)-Yam/+00:09:55
2016 OiLobya Morocco Rally Overall Standings (after Stage 2 of 5)
1. Paulo Goncalves (POR)-Hon/3 hours, 30 minutes, 45 seconds
2. Toby Price (AUS)-KTM/+00:00:45
3. Ricky Brabec (USA)-Hon/+00:02:00
4. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-KTM/+00:02:06
5. Kevin Benavides (ARG)-Hon/+00:04:05
6. Helder Rodrigues (POR)-Yam/+00:08:33
7. Adrien Van Beveren (FRA)-Yam/+00:08:59
8. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI)-Hus/+00:09:52
9. Stefan Svitko (SLO)-KTM/+00:11:25
10. Xavier De Soultrait (FRA)-Yam/+00:12:32
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