Barreda takes lead

Wednesday 8 October 2014
5th Stage: ZAGORA - MARRAKECH
Link section: 3 km – Special: 302 km – Link section: 208 km – Total: 513 km

The penultimate Special of the Morocco Rally linking Zagora and Marrakech offered a concentrated dose of stones, narrow winding mountain tracks and ups and downs.

To clinch the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship title, Marc Coma only needed to come 5th in the Rallye Oilybia du Maroc but, in the stony climb towards Marrakech today, 30 km before CP1, his direct rival, Paolo Gonçalves (Honda), suffered a heavy crash. His team mate Helder Rodrigues (Honda), who came up behind, stayed with him and accompanied him to CP1, finishing 3rd. As a precaution and once the stage was over, the doctors took the unfortunate Portuguese rider to the hospital at Ouarzazate for a check-up. He is suffering from a broken rib.

It was Joan Barreda (Honda) who again won the day’s Stage. The young Catalan had only this to say: “It was a good day for me but not for the team!”.

Marc Coma now has the title in his sights but he knows from experience that a race is not over till the chequered flag goes down. “It was not a slow Special”, said the KTM rider who was 8th in the Special, “but 60% into the course it was like Trial. At the refuelling stop, I learned that Paolo had crashed. After that I had a hard time striking a balance between speed and safety. Shortly before the finish I made a small mistake that cost me at least 1 minute.”

Juan Pedrero, who was struggling with his Sherco from the start of the rally, had a good day despite the terrain, coming second ahead of Rodrigues (Honda), Faria (KTM) and Price (KTM).

Chaleco Lopez, who finished 9th, was somewhat demoralised after a minor crash but also because he had ridden without a rear break throughout the Special.

In Quad, Rafal Sonik arrived at the finish with a beaming smile: “I loved every metre of this Special”, he said, “all 300 km of it. It’s on this kind of tough terrain that you see the good riders, and I had a ball. I love rocks and stones, so it was my day!”

Yesterday was a bad day for Camelia Liparoti who turned over twice after a mechanical problem and had to pass on the dunes she so loves.

Tomorrow, the participants will set out for a small Special of a hundred or so kilometres to reach the finish line of the Rally and the podium, not far from the La Palmeraie resort in Marrakech.