Team HRC’s Paulo Goncalves scores a big win at the opening round of the 2014 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship.
Team HRC’s Paulo Gonçalves of Portugal wrapped up the five-stage Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in the middle-eastern country of Abu Dhabi today by posting a stage win and stealing the overall victory away from Red Bull KTM rider Marc Coma by 20 seconds in the final standings. Goncalves completed the five-day, five-stage, 1173.73-mile rally with an overall time of 16 hours, 57 minutes and 47 seconds through the timed special tests, averaging 48.64 mph through those sections, which accounted for 825.01 miles of the total distance.
Former Team HRC rider and new Red Bull KTM Rally team member Sam Sunderland of Great Britain got off to a hot start with a win in the opening stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on Sunday. Sunderland’s teammate, reigning Dakar Rally Champion March Coma finished second, and Goncalves was third. Coma would pick up the win in stage two and Team HRC rider Joan Barreda would win stage three. All the while, Goncalves remained consistent, finishing in the top three each day.
By the time the rally passed the halfway point of day three, Sunderland still held a slim lead over Coma and Goncalves, the top three all within one minute of each other in total time. Barreda scored another stage win in stage four to move into the top three overall while Sunderland faltered. Anything could happen during today’s final stage, as Coma held a 1-minute, 31-second lead over Goncalves with Barreda 8 minutes and 44 seconds behind Coma.
But things went Gonçalves’ way today, as he rode a nearly perfect stage to catch up with Coma at the second checkpoint. While Coma was busy battling with Barreda, Goncalves took control of the race and charged, opening up a wide enough gap over Coma to win both the stage and the overall win in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Joan Barreda finished the stage in third, consolidating his third place in the overall standings. The Spanish rider won three of the rally’s special stages.
The next round of the 2014 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship will be the Sealine Cross-Country Rally in Qatar, April 20-25.
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