Marc Coma takes the Sealine Rally and is undefeated through two rounds of the 2015 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship.
Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma of Spain rode the fifth and final stage of the 2015 Sealine Rally without incident in Qatar today to claim his third Sealine Rally victory in four years.
As he did yesterday, the reigning FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion and 2015 Dakar winner simply rode to a consistent third-place finish right behind closest rivals Joan Barreda of Spain and Paulo Goncalves of Portugal, and that was good enough to bring home the win. Coma’s Stage 5 time was 4 hours, 11 minutes and 8 seconds, and he won the rally with an overall time of 19 hours, 56 minutes and 48 seconds. Although he won only one stage in the Sealine Rally, taking the overall win makes Coma a perfect two for two in his FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship title defense.
“I am happy,” Coma said. “It was a tough race, one of the toughest we do in the World Championship. We had a high rhythm all rally, and all the guys pushed very hard. It was a nice fight. We have started the season well, with the Dakar and Abu Dhabi and now Qatar. Here, especially, it is a victory for the KTM team. We have the same goal, but one KTM is winning and all the riders are working for that.”
Team HRC teammates Barreda and Gonçalves battled hard for their place on the podium today with Barreda wining the stage and securing second overall while Goncalves finished second in the stage and third overall. The factory Honda men were just 32 seconds apart at the beginning of the stage, but Barreda was able to finish strong with a winning time of 4 hours, 7 minutes and 51 seconds, 1 minutes and 21 seconds ahead of Goncalves. Barreda rode well and cut nearly 4 minutes off of Coma’s lead at one point in the stage, but there was little he could do to break away with Coma keeping him in sight. Adding to Barreda’s difficulties, his rear brake pads failed 30 kilometers before the refueling point, and he gave back some time as he stopped to make repairs.
“It’s been a good week with a fast pace all through the rally,” Barreda said. “I pushed really hard, and I’m pleased. It was never an easy job, particularly the first day; we knew that it would be a complicated one. We were looking to change the strategy of the first day and we were just 6 seconds off winning the first stage. We’ve been battling with Marc all week, and in the end the difference has been minimal. I’m happy with the hard work that we’ve done. The consolation is that we can really believe in the right direction that we are taking.”
Goncalves noted that perhaps his second-place finish at the first round in Abu Dhabi was a setback that prevented him from being closer to Coma in the Sealine Rally.
“It meant that we had to start from the front,” he said. “The positive aspect is that we have never stopped fighting. That way, we have been able to win the last three stages and recuperate quite a lot. Barreda finished second, and I came third. With the new rules it was impossible to win, but the most important thing is to finish on the podium. The bikes performed perfectly. We are pleased. Now it’s time to look forward to the next goal and do everything possible to achieve it.”
The race was even closer for the spots just below the podium as Red Bull KTM’s Jordi Viladoms of Spain finished fourth in the stage to edge Warsaw Rally KTM’s Pablo Quintanilla of Chile for fouth in the overall standings by just 1 second. Red Bull KTM’s Sam Sunderland of Great Britain finished the rally sixth, 3 minutes and 10 seconds behind Quintanilla but well ahead of Red Bull KTM’s Matthias Walkner, whose Stage 4 issues dropped him well off the lead pace. He finished seventh, 1 hour 19 minutes and 8 seconds behind Sunderland. Armand Monleón (ESP), Jakub Piatek (POL) and Mohammed Al Balooshi (UAE) completed the top 10.
2015 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship
Sealine Rally
Qatar
Results: April 24, 2015 (Round 2 of 6)
Stage 5
1. Joan Barreda (SPA)-Hon/4 hours, 7 minutes, 51 seconds
2. Paul Goncalves (Por)-Hon/+00:01:21
3. Marc Coma (SPA)-KTM/+00:03:17
4. Jordi Viladoms (SPA)-KTM/+00:05:01
5. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-KTM/+00:07:24
6. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI)-KTM/+00:09:02
7. Matthias Walkner (AUT)-KTM/+00:27:53
8. Mohammed Al Balooshi (UAE)-KTM/+00:44:39
9. Jakub Piatek (POL)-KTM/+00:53:48
10. Mario Patrao (POR)-KTM/+01:43:18
Sealine Rally Final Overall Standings (After 5 of 5 Stages)
1. Marc Coma (ESP)-KTM/+19 hours, 56 minutes, 48 seconds
2. Joan Barreda (ESP)-Hon/+00:04:40
3. Paulo Gonçalves (POR)-Hon/+00:06:33
4. Jordi Viladoms (ESP)-KTM/+00:17:59
5. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI)-KTM/+00:18:00
6. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-KTM/+00:21:10
7. Matthias Walkner (AUT)-KTM/+01:40:18
8. Armand Monleón (ESP)-KTM/+02:42:33
9. Jakub Piatek (POL)-KTM/+03:55:00
10. Mohamed Alblaooshi (UAE)-KTM/+04:00:21
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