Team HRC’s run at the Atacama Rally in Chile is checkered by strong rides and technical issues. See the video.
The Team HRC duo of Paulo Goncalves and Jeremías Israel netted sixth and eighth respectively in the Atacama Rally, round five of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship in Chile, last week, but their results were less important than the lessons learned about the durability of their factory Honda CRF450R Rally machines.
Goncalves got off to a great start by winning the prologue, but an electrical malfunction in the first stage would rob the Portuguese rider of his chance for the overall win. Goncalves’ machine was repaired, but he lost an hour in the process. From there, Goncalves spent the rest of the rally in catch-up mode, and he showed his championship caliber by winning Stage 2 and Stage 5, and he rebounded from as deep as 15th overall after Stage 1 to sixth overall by the end of the rally.
Goncalves is now fifth in the FIM Cross-Country World Championship points standings, and Team HRC has not yet ruled out the possibility of regaining the title that Goncalves won in 2013 even though only the OiLibya Morocco Rally is all that remains of the 2015 championship schedule.
Israel used the Atacama Rally as a test of his fitness after returning from a serious injury sustained in a crash at the Dakar Rally. The Chilean had recently undergone surgery to remove a plate that had been inserted in his right arm after the crash. Israel’s game plan was to find his race pace while getting seat time in preparation for the 2016 Dakar Rally. He finished eighth after incurring penalties for missing some of the waypoints in the Atacama Rally.
While Team HRC General Manager Martino Bianchi said that the Atacama Rally did not go as expected, the team is already looking forward to the OiLibya Morocco Rally, which is scheduled for October 3-9.
“The mechanical problems that Paulo Goncalves experienced at the beginning meant that we were unable to battle for the winning spot,” Bianchi said. “But some positive signs did come out of this Atacama Rally. First of all, we saw that Paulo Goncalves is in very good shape and he proved that he has very good navigational skills, a lot of pace and is in great physical shape, too. He would have won the race if it hadn’t been for losing an hour in the first stage. One other important thing has been that we were able to check on Jeremias Israel’s condition after the surgery on his arm. It was important to have raced here as we clearly see that he needs more work on every level in order to improve his performance in the future. Now, we have four very important months in order to analyze and prepare for the Dakar with a couple of weeks of intensive tests in Spain and in Morocco. Of course, the Morocco Rally will be the final test with the whole team together before the Dakar.”
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