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Sunderland wins Morocco Rally; Walkner is World Champion 2015 The Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Racing Team on Friday celebrated a great conclusion to the season with an overall victory in the Morocco Rally by British rider Sam Sunderland and above all, by team colleague Matthias Walkner who won the 2015 FIM World Cross-Country Rallies Championship. After the retirement of championship leader Marc Coma in the summer Walkner went into the final rally with just two points separating him and team colleague Pablo Quintanilla for the world title. Matthias Walkner: “Luckily everything went extremely well for me today. I was able to take the lead at the 40 km mark and then I really went for those final two points and managed to have a small advantage. I had to wait 15 minutes at the refueling stop and when Pablo did not arrive (he had a small crash and was only slightly injured), I knew I was going well. I tried not to make any mistakes and more or less rode comfortably to the finish.” Sunderland was also second in the World Championship and the now retired former KTM factory teammate Coma was third. Alex Doringer, KTM’s Division Manager Enduro and Rally was particularly pleased with his team, saying: “This was a great way to wrap up our season with Sam (Sunderland) taking the victory in Morocco and above all, with Matthias (Walkner) wrapping up the world title in his first full year of competition with the team. Matthias did a fantastic job and improved dramatically in a very short time. We had our share of problems in Morocco, with a number of our team suffering stomach problems, but I think with these results we have more than proved that we are the best team in the world. As team, manufacturer and company we can be very proud to now have an Austrian Rally World Champion.” Sunderland went into the final stage with ten minutes 46 seconds advantage over KTM teammate Pablo Quintanilla of Chile. Quintanilla’s crash in the final stage effectively handed both the overall victory to Sunderland and the world title to Walkner. The young Austrian, who raced his first Dakar Rally for KTM in January 2015, also made it a great fight for the overall Morocco Rally victory with Sunderland and finished only 34 seconds short of his teammate in the final reckoning. Walkner has shown great resilience and huge fighting spirit throughout the current season. The factory team’s two other riders, Jordi Viladoms (ESP) and Toby Price (AUS) were struck down with the debilitating stomach bug mid-way through the rally and were unable to contest the final stages. Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Racing’s latest recruit, Antoine Meo of France made his rally debut in Morocco, and despite missing one stage through illness, can still be satisfied with his performance. Meo wound up his week’s racing on a high note by finishing sixth in the final stage and at the same time celebrated a successful transition from the world of enduro sport to rally raid. KTM Rally Factory Racing’s women competitor Laia Sanz, a proven Dakar Rally rider, also went out on a high note and was eleventh in the final stage. After a technical issue in the opening stage where she picked up a hefty time penalty, Sanz use the rest of the rally to put in a maximum amount of competitive track time ahead of the Dakar Rally. The Morocco Rally was essential preparation for the Dakar Rally 2016 in January. The Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Racing riders and their KTM Rally Factory Racing colleagues all ride the KTM 450 RALLY. Rally of Morocco Stage Five Results 1. Paolo Goncalves (POR) Honda, three hours 35 minutes Final Overall Results FIM World Cross-Country Rallies Championship
Stage Three of the Morocco Rally, the final round of the FIM World Cross Countries Rally Championship 2015, saw another strong day for KTM Rally factory riders Sam Sunderland, Matthias Walkner and Pablo Quintanilla. The three riders are now second, third and fourth in the overall standings after the 417 km stage that took them on a loop of De M’Hamid and included a 274 km timed special. And while Sunderland had to concede the overall lead by 3 minute 57 to Joan Barreda, it was Austria’s Walkner who was the strongest of the trio. He finished third in the stage, just 3.01 minutes behind the stage winner Paolo Goncalves, while teammates Quintanilla and Sunderland were fourth and fifth at 5.05 and 7.48 behind the leader. It was up to Sunderland as the second stage winner to open the track on Wednesday, and with 80 km of piste at the start of the day the KTM riders opted to take a cautious approach and not take any risks, factory team manager Stefan Huber said later. Riders were also faced with a tricky technical section in the second half of the stage, which was very rocky, and like Tuesday’s Stage required plenty of concentration. The Morocco Rally is particularly important for both the Austrian Walkner and his Chilean counterpart Qunitanilla. After world championship leader Marc Coma announced his retirement from rally raid sport in the summer, Walkner and Quintanilla are only two points apart and the top candidates to take the 2015 title in this, the final round of the 2015 series. Walkner said the stage had been quite difficult with rather a lot of sand and very many dunes. “After 20 km I got lost but was quickly able to find my way back on track. But there was then a big gap to riders in front of me just before we went into the dunes at the 50 km mark. I tired to follow the tracks as best I could but I tipped over twice because the ground was unpredictably soft in places. I was able to catch up to the two in front of me by 110 km, and then they made a small mistake. I caught up to Pablo (Quintanilla) 300 meters from the finish and we rode in together. Today was a step in the right direction. It was a very cool stage but also quite exhausting.” Laia Sanz, the team’s only female factory rider, also made a very good recovery in Stage Three, moving up to eleventh place. The Spanish rider picked up a big 15-hour penalty in Stage One as a result of a technical difficulty but is using the rally as important preparation for the Dakar Rally in January. Laia said she had ‘eaten a lot of dust’ on Tuesday after having to start at the back of the field but was committed to putting in as much time a possible on the KTM 450 RALLY ahead of the Dakar. The KTM factory team did however take a knock on Wednesday with three riders, Jordi Viladoms, Toby Price and Antoine Meo all missing from the start because of a stomach bug that made it impossible for them to ride. Meo may be able to continue in Stage Four, however it is not yet certain if the others will be able to start. Riders face a long day in the desert on Thursday where they rider 641 km, including a timed special of 293 km in what is the longest stage in this year’s edition. They travel from Zagora to Agadir. The rally, which is an important part of the factory teams’ pre-Dakar Rally preparation, concludes on Friday. Rally of Morocco Stage Three Results 1. Paolo Goncalves (POR) Honda, two hours 47 minutes 20 seconds Overall after Stage 3 1, Barreda, eight hours 51 minutes 59 seconds |
