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 | Abu Dhabi DC: Coma regains lead in front of Barreda and Viladoms in SS03.
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KTM’s Marc Coma took a decisive step towards his sixth "Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge" title on Wednesday when he won the 3rd leg by 8:47 minutes to Joan Barreda-Bort (Husqvarna) and 11:32 mins to David Casteu (Yamaha). He reclaimed to overall lead in front of Barreda (Husqvarna, +8:27) and Jordi Viladoms (KTM, +10:42).
Coma powered home on his 450 Rally bike, the same KTM he took 1-2 in the 2012 Dakar Rally thanks to KTM’s factory duo Cyril Despres and Coma. KTM Factory teammate Ruben Faria of Portugal, who won Leg 2 yesterday, was 10th today and is currently 5th in the overall standings.
Coma came from 11th to snatch the lead once more and said it had been a tough day with plenty of challenges. "When you start from further back, you have to try and cut the distance with the best time possible. That's what we did" he said today.
"Tomorrow is another difficult day and I expect that we will lose a bit of our advantage, but I also hope that we have enough at the end of the day to continue to top the standings". Thursday there will be 522 kms with a liaison of 107 kms, a 318 kms timed special in the middle then an additional 97 kms at the end - were the most important of the rally.
It was also a good day for Polish KTM rider Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przgonski who finished 4th today and moved up to overall 6th on a day when the desert temperature was up to 39 degrees in the shade.
2012/04/04 | 21:01 CET | ARTICLE: MR/SY/KTM
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