|
 | Sertoes 2010: Casteau, Coma and Sonik finish rally as world champions.
|
Since 2005 the Sertões Rally got international status to claim points for the World Cross Country championship for bikes and quads. And this Friday (20), in Fortaleza (CE), after 4486 kilometers traveled in ten days from Goiânia (GO), the world’s second largest off-road race and the greatest Brazilian off-road adventure made three riders world champions.
It was the fourth title of Marc Coma in the bike category above 450 cc, the first victory from the Frenchman David Casteu at 450, and from the Polish Rafal Sonik, the "Super Sonik", in quads.
With his KTM 690, Spaniard Marc Coma has come full circle in style. Already three times world champion and two times winner of the Dakar, the 34-year-old rider only missed Sertões Rally victory. And he also got the fourth world championship. In this season, he won the Rally of Sardinia, Tunisia, and Abu Dhabi.
His closest competitor for the title, the Polish Kuba Przygonski followed Coma to Brazil and placed third overall in Sertões, having accumulated 20 points for the World Championship. However, with only the Rally of the Pharaohs in Egypt, to be completed, he can only reach 75 points. Coma has 100 points and thus confirms the fourth time world championship.
"Competing Sertões as a valid round for the World Championship is extremely important because while counts points, it also prepares for the Dakar. The other stages that we have in the championship are shorter, equivalent to one special in Brazil. And here, if you want go well in the World Championship, you have to do well in ten days. It is the longest round of the championship," said Coma.
Despite being placed fourth overall in the 18th edition of the world’s second largest off-road race, Frenchman David Casteau has won the FIM (International Motorcycling Federation) Cross Country Rally World Championship in bikes up to 450 cc category, scoring 88 points against only 25 of the Italian Andrea Mancini.
Rafal Sonik made his debut in Sertões in great style. He won and added 25 points in the table of the Cross Country Rally World Championship and even one stage from the season's end, he can no longer be reached by Russia's Dmitry Pavlov, who did not come to Brazil. The Polish accumulates 90 points against 57 of the runner.
2010/08/24 | 15:55 CET | Editor: MR/HS/SERTOES
|
|
