Team HRC Goes One-Two in 2015 Sealine Rally Stage 4

Team HRC riders Joan Barreda and Paul Goncalves finish first and second at the Sealine Rally today, but is it enough to catch Marc Coma?

Team HRC Honda riders Joan Barreda of Spain and Paulo Goncalves of Portugal went one-two in Stage 4 of the Sealine Rally in Qatar today, moving up in the overall standings and making time on rally leader Marc Coma of Spain, who seems to be well on his way to his second straight FIM Cross-Country Rallies victory of the year.

Barreda was strong today as he scored the Stage 4 win with a time of 4 hours, 32 minutes and 28 seconds, coming in 1 minute and 56 seconds quicker than Goncalves to vault from sixth overall to second overall. He also made up 4 minutes on the Red Bull KTM-backed Coma. Likewise, Goncalves backed up his Stage 3 yesterday win with a runner-up finish today to overtake Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla for third overall.

“Today was a great day,” Barreda said. “I started out from further back and I pushed hard the first 150 kilometers with Paulo [Goncalves]. We were able to catch the other riders up before we got to the refueling, and we rode with them until the end. It was a really good stage. Tomorrow is the final day, and I’d like to be able to make up some time, but it will be difficult.”

While Team HRC says that it hasn’t thrown in the towel yet, Coma made their task all the other by putting in one of signature fast and steady stages, thus the damage to his overall lead was minimal. The reigning FIM Cross Country Rallies Champion came into today with a 10-minute and 12-second lead, and he ended the day third with just under 8 minutes still in the bank heading into tomorrow’s final stage. Barring an epic disaster the likes of which Coma is known for avoiding, he will walk away with the overall win to remain undefeated through the first two rounds of the 2015 FIM Cross-Country Rallies campaign.

“You never know until the end, we have a long day to go,” Coma said. “It’s never finished until the end. You cannot just take it easy and that’s it. The level of the stage is high all the time. You cannot relax one minute. It is very difficult to break the group here with the difficult navigation. It is easy for the riders starting behind to catch you. This is the game of this race.”

Red Bull KTM’s Matthias Walkner led off today’s stage, which featured a 406.78-kilometer timed special stage. Barreda started seventh and Coma fifth. Walkner had his day go bad when he hit a rock very early in the special stage and suffered damage to his motorcycle, which would drop him well out of the running as he scrambled back to the bivouac to make repairs.

With Red Bull KTM’s Jordi Viladoms in the physical lead. Barreda and Goncalves made up time on Coma to slot into the top two spots as the leading six motorcycle riders finished the stage in a group. Goncalves was pleased with how his day went even though he still 8 minutes and 29 seconds behind Coma with one stage remaining.

“We started out from nice positions,” he said. “I was setting a fine pace, good enough to catch the leading group. I managed to make up more time. Tomorrow will be important to keep the podium places. The bike is working at 100 percent, and everything that we’ve tried is going really well. It’s crucial to stay as focused as possible to not make any mistakes on the final day.”

The 2015 Sealine Cross-Country Qatar Rally winds up tomorrow with Stage 5, a route that includes a 365-kilometre special stage.

2015 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship
Sealine Rally
Qatar
Results: April 23, 2015 (Round 2 of 6)

Stage 4
1. Joan Barreda (ESP)-Hon/4 hours, 32 minutes, 38 seconds
2. Paul Goncalves (POR)-Hon/+00:01:56
3. Marc Coma (ESP)-KTM/+00:04:00
4. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI)-KTM/+00:06:02
5. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-KTM/+00:08:05
6. Jordi Viladoms (ESP)-KTM/+00:10:03
7. Armand Monleón (ESP)-KTM/+00:28:19
8. Jakub Piatek (POL)-KTM/+00:44:56
9. David Megre (POR)-KTM/+01:08:08
10. Matthias Walkner (AUT)-KTM/+01:08:34

Sealine Rally Overall Standings (After 4 of 5 Stages)
1. Marc Coma (ESP)-KTM/+15 hours, 30 minutes, 40 seconds
2. Joan Barreda (ESP)-Hon/+00:7:57
3. Paulo Gonçalves (POR)-Hon/+00:08:29
4. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI)-KTM/+00:12:15
5. Jordi Viladoms (ESP)-KTM/+00:16:15
6. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-KTM/+00:17:03
7. Matthias Walkner (AUT)-KTM/+01:15:42
8. Armand Monleón (ESP)-KTM/+02:10:55
9. Jakub Piatek (POL)-KTM/+03:04:29
10. Mohamed Alblaooshi (UAE)-KTM/+03:18:59