 
China Grand Rally 2016
2016 Sason Stage 9
Overall victory for Joan Barreda and Team HRC in China
Spanish rider Joan Barreda has been proclaimed the new champion of the
China Grand Rally after commanding the entire nine-day rally held in Inner
Mongolia and the Gobi Desert.
Joan Barreda raised the victor’s trophy today after having triumphed in
every single stage of the China Grand Rally. The final win came on a tiny
special stage of barely more than one and a half kilometres in Zuo Qi.
 The
final evaluation sheet for Barreda and the Honda CRF450 RALLY shows a total
of 3,974 kilometres completed, including some 1600 kilometres of special
stage. The result was a full hand of stage wins. Add to this the wins in the
Baja Aragón in July and the Las Vegas to Reno Race in September and Team
HRC’s Spanish rider has completed a near flawless pre-Dakar training
regime.
The Team HRC success story is further boosted with a third place podium
place for Michael Metge who has proved himself to be very quick over the
nine days of racing. A rear-brake problem and some fuel issues stopped him
from finishing even higher on the final leader board.
Joan Barreda - STAGE: 1st / 1'54 FINAL: 1st / 13:45'39
I’m very pleased to have been able to finish this race. We finished off
with a ‘show’ which they had prepared to round off the rally. It was
like racing on a motocross track. We were able to do a great job and I’m
proud and satisfied with the way the team has done things during these ten
days of racing. We are on the right path. Thanks to everyone that has
supported us over this period.
 Michael
Metge - STAGE: 2nd / +0'02 FINAL: 3rd / + 1:43'08
Today we had a very short special stage which was more of a ‘show’ than
a real rally stage. We started out alongside Joan and had a good time out
there in the sand and the motocross jumps. The bike went really well during
the whole of the rally. I’m very happy with the kilometres that we have
been able to put in during the race. I would like to thank the team for the
support over these days and congratulate them for the great job that they
have done.
 Taichi
Honda - Team HRC Rally Project Leader
It has been a very hard rally with nine very intense day which have been
a great experience for us. There was really good communication between the
riders and the team. The test went really well for both the riders and the
machines. We have taken very good conclusions away from this in preparation
for the Dakar. The project is going ahead in a very positive manner.
Finally, I would like to thank all the members of the team, the riders as
well as the mechanics for all their work over the last couple of weeks.
 Roberto
Boasso - Team Manager
The race finished today. It was just over a kilometre but we had to wait
until they made it over the finish-line to say that we had really won.
Everything went really well. The bikes went perfectly and the riders have
been fantastic. We will continue down this route until the start of the
Dakar with some training to keep the riders in shape and keep the rhythm of
the team going.
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