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Marc Coma is 2014 FIM World Cross Countries Rally Champion Red Bull KTM’s four-times Dakar Rally winner Marc Coma of Spain wrapped up his 2014 Rally season in style on Thursday taking victory in the Morocco Rally, the final round of the FIM World Cross Countries Rally Championship and securing the world title. Coma, a Red Bull sponsored athlete went into the final round with a narrow lead in the points over Portugal’s Paolo Goncalves but had effectively settled the title issue after Wednesday’s fifth stage after his rival Paolo Goncalves crashed and had to retire. KTM Factory rider Sam Sunderland finished second overall for one of his best results since joining the team. Helder Rodrigues of Portugal was third. Stefan Pierer CEO of KTM Sport Motorcycles AG: “Victory for Marc Coma and the KTM Rally Team in the World Championship is extremely important for KTM. Rally sport is and remains the core of our philosophy and represents the very essence of our activities. With Marc Coma, our winning rally bike and our entire team we have once again proven that we have the strongest structure. The World Championship title is not only the perfect incentive but also for our Rally Department, it signals the start of Dakar 2015.” Marc Coma: “We know that the Morocco Rally is one of the toughest on the calendar so we came with tactics not to take any risks for the championship. But the feeling is amazing and it’s been a special week full of emotions because I had my birthday, then I won the title and today the win in the rally. To be six-times world champion is not easy. There is a lot of work behind it.” Coma and his KTM factory teammates compete on the KTM 450 Rally bike. Coma finished the six stage Morocco Rally with a stage score of 3-2-5-1-8-7. He took the overall lead in stage two and then again from the final three stages. In stage three he also successfully put behind him the memories of a crash in 2012 in this rally where he sustained an injury that kept him from defending his Dakar title January 2013. Victory in the final round concludes a great season for the KTM Factory rider. He won his fourth Dakar title in January, took second place in the first three rounds of the World Championship, the Desert Challenge (Abu Dhabi), the Sealine Rally (Qatar) and Sardinia Rally (Italy). He then won the Rally dos Sertoes in Brazil before bringing his season to a successful conclusion this week in Morocco. The Morocco Rally was also the rehearsal for the Dakar 2015 and KTM’s other factory riders finished with Ruben Faria in fifth, Jordi Viladoms in sixth and Chaleco Lopez in seventh. Also impressive were the debut rides in international rally by Australia’s Toby Price (eighth overall) and the factory team’s latest signing, Austria’s Matthias Walkner who finished eleventh. Their solid results indicates that the KTM factory team also has the next generation on its radar screen. Morocco Rally Stage 6 (Final Stage) Around Marrakesh Special stage of
113 km (Unofficial results) Overall standings after Stage 6 More at http://rallyemaroc.npo.fr/en/#
KTM factory rider Marc Coma of Spain allowed himself a few thoughts about the title fight for the 2014 FIM World Cross Country Rally championship on Tuesday after winning Stage 4 of the Morocco Rally and assuming a slender lead in the overall standings. Speaking after the stage from Zagora to Cheggaga, which included a timed special of 226 km, Coma, a Red Bull athlete described it as ‘short but tricky’. Coma finished just in front of factory teammates Sam Sunderland (UK) in second place and Australian Toby Price, riding in his first international FIM rally, took third in the stage. The result put Coma in the overall lead with a narrow one minute 35 second advantage over his rival for the title, Paolo Goncalves of Portugal. There are still two days of hard desert riding to absolve before the 2014 World Champion is crowned. Coma, who celebrated his birthday on Tuesday, said he felt increasingly comfortable in the desert conditions and on the KTM 450 Rally bike. “This was a short stage that was not exactly difficult or dangerous, but definitely tricky. For this you need a certain feeling and at the end of the day I felt I could start to think a bit about the title fight and to push a little.” The day’s special also included the battle with the dunes of Erg Cheggaga, always a challenge for the riders of this rally. Coma had already also overcome the psychological step on Monday of having passed through a similar area where he had crashed and was injured two years ago, a race incident that led to him being unable to compete in the 2013 Dakar Rally. Monday was the longest day and one where he had to open the track for more than 300 km of the long timed special. It was also an excellent day out on Tuesday for factory teammate Sunderland who with his second place in the stage has now moved up to third overall behind Goncalves. He trails Coma’s lead-time by just under twelve minutes. Other KTM factory riders Chaleco Lopez of Chile, Portugal’s Ruben Faria, and Jordi Viladoms of Spain are currently at 5-6-7 in the overall standings. Jakub Przygonski of Poland is ninth overall on his KTM and the two new KTM aspirants, Price and Austrian Matthias Walkner, are currently a very creditable twelfth and fourteenth place. Walkner, whose task in the rally is to concentrate on learning, finished Stage Four just 12 minutes 20 off the winning pace. Price, a winner of the Australian Desert classics but new to this type of racing did incur a 20-minute penalty on Monday for missing a way point. He said his rear tail-light had snapped off and shorted out his map-reader. “It’s all learning,’ he said. “I should have stopped and fixed it but I didn’t know the problem and I didn’t want to get lost. Day three was definitely scary with no map.” Riders go into the penultimate day with another long day in the saddle with the route from Zagora to Marrakesh to include 302 km of timed special. The rally concludes on Thursday. Morocco Rally Stage 4 Zagora - Cheggaga Special stage of 226 km Overall standings after Stage 4 More at http://rallyemaroc.npo.fr/en/#
Red Bull KTM factory rider Marc Coma of Spain made a solid start to the Morocco Rally on Saturday, the final rally in the 2014 FIM World Cross Country Rally Championship. He finished in third place just 1.51 minutes off Joan Barreda’s winning pace while Paolo Goncalves of Portugal was second fastest. The stage covered 321 km with a timed special of 276 km and was between Erfoud and Damia. Coma is chasing the world championship title and went into the final round with a narrow, 10-point lead in the title chase. With no prologue to define the starting order, riders started in the reverse order of the World Rally Championship points ranking and this put Coma back in fifteenth place at the start. He not only had to overtake a big number of other riders but also had to deal with very dusty conditions. KTM’s multiple Dakar winner, a Red Bull-sponsored athlete was nevertheless satisfied with his first day out saying: "The main difficulty of the day was that I went out at fifteenth place and I had to overtake a lot of riders, because it was very dusty and very easy to make a navigational error. I started calmly and tried to work my way past riders without taking too many risks. By the time we got to the dunes the field had already stretched out a bit and I was able to ride at my own pace. Today was a good step forward. The most important thing is to continue to gather pace as the race progresses here in the desert of Morocco and to gradually move forward.” The Morocco Rally also serves as a dress rehearsal for the Dakar Rally, which starts in Buenos Aires on January 3, 2015. To this end it was also a good day for other KTM factory riders. Portugal’s Ruben Faria finished fifth and is just under four minutes of the winning pace. Jordi Viladoms of Spain is in sixth place three minutes behind Faria. Chaleco Lopez of Chile, Poland’s Jakub Przygonski and Britain’s Sam Sunderland are well placed at places 7-9. South African KTM rider Riaan van Niekerk wrapped up his day with a solid fourteenth to be still in the mix for a good result. Two younger KTM riders, Toby Price of Australia and Matthias Walkner of Austria, the latest signing to the official KTM factory team are on a steep learning curve and are busy dealing with the complex navigation process, this time using GPS. They finished a respectable fifteenth and nineteenth place respectively. Coma and the other KTM factory riders are competing on the KTM 450 Rally bike Speaking of Walkner, KTM team coordinator Stefan Huber said: “Matthias has to learn the navigation and this is the first time he has been out with the GPS. But in the end he managed to get back safely and he now has a lot of respect for how fast the leading riders are going, especially while navigating.” Stage two of the rally takes riders from Erfoud to Merzane over a total of 248km, which includes a timed special of 211 km. More at http://rallyemaroc.npo.fr/en/# Please Note: KTM Results Service will be filed after each stage and there will be race reports at the beginning, middle and end of the rally. KTM Results Service Morocco Rally Stage 1 Erfoud to Damia 267 km timed
special
Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma on Saturday won the Rally dos Sertoes in Brazil by a margin of three minutes 23 second after seven hard fought stages. The win consolidates Coma’s lead in the FIM World Cross Country Rally Championship in the fifth of six rounds. Coma, a Red Bull athlete won the rally from Paolo Goncalves of Portugal while Brazilian rider Joan Azevedo took the minor podium place. Red KTM’s Spanish rider took three stage wins and led the overall standings from the end of Stage One to the finish. The rally was particularly tight but on Thursday Coma had finally edged ahead of Goncalves by a margin of seven minutes. He then had to open the track on the penultimate stage on Friday and his margin of lead dropped to four minutes. Friday, Coma said, was the key to the rally, a stage that required particular attention, as it was the second half of the marathon stage. At the end of Stage Six he said it had been important to control the race and deploy conservative tactics, because navigation was difficult. Coma finished second in the final stage but maintained the advantage in the overall standings, proving that conquering the event was not just about riding fast but also about riding smart. Marc Coma: “Today was a long had day, especially with the pressure of being in the lead. This is a very hard rally to win and the level of the riders is very high. Paolo (Goncalves) was pushing all the time so I’m very happy with the final results. I came into the rally with a lead of 10 points in the World Championship and it will be good to go to the final round in Morocco with a bigger cushion. Morocco is a very hard rally and we know that anything can happen there. It will be good to be going with confidence after this win.” Coma has only won the Rally dos Sertoes on one other occasion, in 2010. KTM factory rider and Coma’s teammate Jordi Viladoms of Spain rode a solid rally to finish fifth overall, some 26 minutes 37 off the winning pace. Britain’s Sam Sunderland, the factory team rookie finished sixth at 33.37, including a one-minute penalty. The third factory rider, Portugal’s Ruben Faria was eighth overall trailing by 46.36, including a 13-minute penalty and finished on a high note with a fourth place in the final stage. French KTM rider David Casteu finished ninth overall to give KTM five in the top 10 finishers. The KTM factory team riders compete on the KTM 450 Rally bike. Coma’s journey to victory in the Rally dos Sertoes: Stage 1 – first place - Stage 2 – third - Stage 3 – first - Stage 4
– second - Stage 5 – first - Stage 6 – third - Stage 7 – second -
Stage Seven Results From Diamantina to Belo Horizonte Final overall results after Stage Seven
Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma wrapped up the fourth stage of the Rally dos Sertoes on Wednesday just a fraction over one minute behind second placed Paolo Goncalves of Portugal to hang onto the overall lead by a margin of two minutes and four seconds. in provisional third overall after Stage 3 is local Brazilian rider jean Azevedo while Coma’s three KTM factory teammates Jordi Viladoms (Spain), Ruben Faria (Portugal) and UK rider Sam Sunderland finished 5-7 in the stage. The KTM riders hold the same positions in the overall standings. Viladoms is currently 14 minutes 20 off the lead pace of Coma, Faria trails by 16.22 and Sunderland by 19.32. the KTM factory riders compete on the KTM 450 Rally machine As the stage winner on Tuesday it was again Coma who had to open the track on Wednesday and he said he was quite satisfied even though the race continued to be tight. “This was not an easy stage,” Coma said. “It was the longest timed special of the rally but again we had a good rhythm. We had to sacrifice a bit of time while opening the track but that was to be expected. All indications are that this will be a race that will be decided on the last day so we must continue to concentrate hard because here it is very difficult to get an advantage.” On Wednesday riders were at the half way mark of the marathon stage and were not permitted any support from the teams before they reach Diamantina on Thursday. Coma is also a candidate for the title of world champion as the Rally dos Sertoes represent the fifth round of the six-round FIM World Cross Country Rally Championship. He went into Rd. 5 with a narrow six-point lead and is looking to extend that when the rally concludes on Saturday in Belo Horizonte. Results Stage Four (unofficial at the time of filing) Paracatu to Săo
Francisco 585 kilometers, 364 km of timed special – longest of the rally
Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma made a solid start in his bid for victory in the Rally dos Sertoes in Brazil on Sunday when he finished fastest in the opening stage of this 2600 km event. The Spanish rider, a Red Bull athlete completed the stage of 216 km, of which 155 km was timed special between Goiania in central Brazil traveling southeast to Caldas Novas in one hour 55 minutes 28. He finished with a narrow 1 minute 22 ahead of second placed Helder Rodrigues of Portugal. Paolo Goncalves was third, two minutes off the leader’s time. Sunday’s stage required a lot of concentration according to Coma: “It was only quite a short stage but we can say the terrain was quite tricky. You have to pay close attention because there are a lot of animals and fences and other obstacles and also we were flying all the time because there were many jumps. Every time you have to judge how and where to land. I am happy though that we found the good rhythm today.” Coma’s official KTM factory teammates were also well placed after the
opening stage with Jordi Viladoms of Spain in fourth place 2.32 off the
pace, Briton Sam Sunderland in sixth at four minutes 31 and Ruben Faria
finishing seventh only two seconds behind Sunderland. The KTM factory riders
compete on the KTM 450 Rally machine. Coma entered the competition with a six-point lead in the FIM World Cross Countries Rally Championship on Joan Barreda and Goncalves is looking to consolidate that lead this week. The three times Dakar Rally winner was second in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, the Sealine Rally in Qatar and the Sardinia Rally, which has more a characteristic of an enduro event than a classic rally. Factory riders did not compete in the scheduled Rd. 3 in Egypt due to the instability in the country at the time. The World Championship concludes with the Morocco Rally in October. Note: KTM Racing News on the dos Sertoes rally will also be filed on August 27 and after the final stage on August 30. KTM Results Service will be send out every day of the rally. More at www.sertoes.com Results Stage One (unofficial at the time of filing) 1, Marc Coma, ESP, KTM 1 hour 55.28 2, Helder Rodrigues, POR, Honda,
1:56.51 3, Paolo Goncalves, POR, Honda, 1:57.29 4, Jordi Viladoms, ESP, KTM,
1:58.01 5, Jean Azevedo, BRA, Honda, 1:58.04 6, Sam Sunderland, GBR, KTM
2:00.00 7, Ruben Faria, POR, KTM, 2:00.01 10, David Casteu, FRA, KTM 6.53 Share |
Coma
takes victory in Rally dos Sertoes
KTM’s
Coma hangs on to overall lead in dos Sertoes
KTM's
Coma wins opening stage of Dos Sertoes Rally