Austria’s Mathias Walkner scores a win in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, but Marc Coma is closing in on his eighth career UAE rally win.
Red Bull KTM’s Mathias Walkner put together his best ride of the week to claim the Stage 4 victory in the UAEMC Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in Abu Dhabi today.
The talented Austrian, who claimed a stage win at this year’s Dakar Rally before dropping out due to an illness, has been fairly consistent in Abu Dhabi, and he was strong enough on a difficult day in the dunes of the Liwa Desert to outrun teammate and rally leader Marc Coma and the rest of the field for the stage win. Walkner had a trouble-free ride en route to posting a winning stage time of 3 hours, 14 minutes and 43 seconds.
“This stage was really nice,” Walkner said. “The dunes come in a bit more rounded and were pretty fun to ride. I really enjoyed it but I tried to push a lot and am happy to have won the stage by 10 seconds.”
The man that Walkner beat to the finish line? Perhaps the king of the sport, Walkner’s teammate Marc Coma of Spain, who is looking good to add yet another rally win to his illustrious resume when the rally concludes tomorrow. If all goes according to plan, the reigning FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion and five-time Dakar Rally winner will claim his eighth career rally win in the United Arab Emirates.
“I rode in a group of five, and in the earlier part across the open desert we managed to get a good rhythm going,” Coma said of his Stage 5 ride today. “I then took it easy because of the extreme driving conditions and the heat. I’m very happy with today’s stage.”
By contrast, defending Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Champion Paulo Goncalves was less than pleased to see his chances for a repeat win go out the window when his Team HRC Honda suffered an electrical problem just 43 kilometers into the 258-kilometer timed special stage. Despite assistance from junior team member Ricky Brabec, Goncalves could not sort out the problem, and he was unable to finish the stage.
“After the great stage that I won yesterday, I put myself second and got off to a good start from a nice start-position and everything was going really well,” Goncalves said. “I was ahead at kilometer 43 when the bike stopped. It was an electrical problem, and I wasn’t able to get it started again. Let’s see what happened and how it can be fixed so that it doesn’t happen again in a more important race.”
Goncalves’ teammate, Joan Barreda, started first in the motorcycle field today, which meant he would have to be keen with his navigation in the tricky Arabian dunes to maintain an advantage over the pack behind him. The Spanish star led for most of the 258.1 kilometer special stage, but he was eventually swallowed up by his pursuers and had settle for sixth place in the stage, behind Walkner, Coma, Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla, Portugal’s Ruben Faria and Great Britain’s Sam Sunderland.
“Everything turned out today as we had predicted that it would,” Barreda said. “I opened the track, and this set me back. Right from the start, with complicated dunes it was a difficult ride with tough navigation. But I made it through to the end problem-free, raising the pace in the final part. It’s a pity for Paulo—really bad luck. But we have to look on the bright side—it’s a really hard, demanding test, and it will help us to face the future.”
Sunderland is the closest to Coma in the overall standings, running 11 minutes and 55 seconds behind Coma in second place overall.
“I feel sorry for Paulo as he had a bike problem, but this is life and rallying,” Sunderland said. “If there’s anyone you have to lose against, you want it to be Marc. He’s a great rider so hopefully we can get a KTM one-two-three on the podium.”
Tucked in behind Barreda was America’s young lion, his Team HRC teammate Ricky Brabec, who has shown veteran-like maturity in his first career FIM rally. Ricky Brabec played the role of Good Samaritan to Goncalves, costing him a chance for the stage victory, but despite finishing the stage in seventh place, he advanced two positions to fifth place on the overall leaderboard. Brabec is now in line for a top-five finish and still has a chance for a podium finish in his rally debut.
“I had a seventh position start so I started from the rear with all the fast guys up front,” Brabec said. “I tried to catch up as fast as I could and maybe reach Joan and Paulo. But next thing I know I found Paulo at the bottom of the dune with a problem on the bike, and unfortunately we couldn’t do anything to get it started. Other than that the day was good. It was hard to see the top of the dunes with the breeze and the position of the sun, so I’m glad to have finished. There’s one more day tomorrow, and I’m going to push tomorrow.”
The 234-kilometer Abu Dhabi Aviation Special Stage 5 takes the rally to its finish at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, at 4:30 p.m. local time tomorrow.
2015 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship
Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Results: April 1, 2015 (Round 1 of 6)
Stage 4
1. Mathias Walkner (AUT)-KTM/3 hours, 43 minutes and 14 seconds
2. Marc Coma (SPA)-KTM/+00:00:10
3. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI)-KTM/+00:02:05
4. Ruben Faria (POR)-KTM/+00:04:43
5. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-KTM/+00:06:01
6. Joan Barreda (SPA)-Hon/+00:07:49
7. Ricky Brabec (USA)-Hon/+00:08:48
8. Mohammed Albalooshi (UAE)-KTM/+00:12:56
9. José Cornejo (CHI)-Suz/+00:13:42
10. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL)-Hon/+00:14:11
Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Overall Standings (After Stage 4 of 5)
1. Marc Coma (SPA)-KTM/14 hours, 49 minutes and 5 seconds
2. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-KTM/+00:11:55
3. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI)-KTM/+00:20:16
4. Ruben Faria (POR)-KTM/+00:28:01
5. Ricky Brabec (USA)-Hon/+00:34:17
6. Mohammed Albalooshi (UAE)-KTM/+00:44:48
7. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL)-Hon/+01:03:06
8. Matthew Hart (AUS)-KTM/+01:13:15
9. José Cornejo (CHI)-Suz/+01:13:31
10. David McBride (GBR)-KTM/+01:17:35
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