After two days of driving in the mountains close to Castelo Blanco, to the north-east of Lisbon near the Spanish frontier in Extremadura, the PAX Rally had two rounds of a 90km loop, on a much flatter and faster terrain. On this change of terrain the Repsol team lost a little ground in both the car and bike categories. Stéphane Peterhansel is now 2nd in cars, whilst Alphand has fallen two positions and is 4th, ahead of Joan “Nani” Roma, who stays 5th. In motorbikes, Marc Coma is 3rd, and his teammate Gerard Farrés is 11th.
The change of terrain was not too kind to the Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart, who found themselves punished on the long straight sections of today`s special. In the end after doing the first round of the loop, Stéphane Peterhansel was 3rd, Alphand, 6th, and Roma, 7th. After the second loop they were 5th, 6th, and 7th, respectively. This result means that Carlos Sainz is now the leader, followed by Stéphane Peterhansel at 2 minutes 21 seconds, Luc Alphand, 3rd at 3 minutes 19 seconds, and “Nani” Roma, 5th at 4 minutes 50 seconds.
In motorbikes, the change of terrain was also unfortunate, although in this case it was the experience of the local riders Rubén Faria and Hélder Rodrigues that marked the difference. On a totally flat special section, with alternating zones of a little sand and long hard straights, Marc Coma lost 3 minutes 51 seconds, and dropped one position in the overall to Cyril Despres. Gerard Farrés continued to learn and gain experience in this type of race, although a navigating error on the first special made him lose over 10 minutes. The Repsol rider is now 11th in the overall.
Stéphane Peterhansel,
“We went as fast as we could and our reward is the one position we have won in the overall classification, although we had a couple of frights. On the first special, around kilometre 35 I was on two wheels at one point, and the blow on the front right-hand tyre made it lose a little air. The tyre stayed inflated and I was able to continue, but I saw that it was still losing pressure and towards the end I preferred to slow down a little. The second time around the track was in much worse conditions and there was a lot of sand. We knew that these were not the best conditions for us, so I did what I could to make up for it. I almost paid the worst price when I hit a tree. I thought we had broken the radiator, but I was able to continue. Tomorrow we have starting order towards the back of the field and that might work in our favour.”
Luc Alphand,
“Today`s route was very frustrating. We started on a twisty section through a forest which was not bad. But most of it was long straights followed by 90º corners, which is where I think I lost most time. And it was a special with quite a few traps, trees close to the tracks, and I am pleased to say that I got out of it uninjured, with the car working perfectly. In the afternoon we changed the type of tyres and I felt much more comfortable. I set times similar to those of the other drivers. I also tried driving more gently and it gave some good results, although there is not a lot we can do about the time we lost every time we accelerated coming out of the tight corners.”
Joan “Nani” Roma,
“I do not know why, but I had big problems finding a comfortable pace. My car was working perfectly and it gave me no problems, but I never really got comfortable in the car today. We knew that the terrain was going to totally change and the the type of tracks would not really suit us. In fact it was exactly like this but I tried to push and so lose the smallest amount of time possible. There are two days left and we are going to try and win back the lost time.”
Marc Coma,
“Today thing went as we expected before the rally, that is that the Portuguese would be very fast. Perhaps the first couple of days were kind to us, and the result today a little unexpected. This special was faster than the others, and in theory it should have suited us, but it was just the opposite. The motorbike went well, I felt OK too, with a good pace but the others were just faster. The time I lost to Cyril [Despres] is more reasonable, since on the two loops I began before him and could recover some time. Tomorrow in theory we have a stage with a lot of sand, and even though I still do not have the details, it will be something similar to today`s, although with softer ground. It will be an important day to try and push the best we can, since the special on the Sunday is very short.”
Gerard Farrés,
“Unfortunately things did not go too well. I made a mistake reading the roadbook and as happens in these cases I lost a lot of time, 7 minutes. It is not only the time you lose going in the wrong direction, and the time retracing your steps, but once you are back on the right track, I caught three riders that had overtaken me when I was lost, and with all the dust it was impossible to overtake them again. I had to ride at a slower pace, and the time was ticking away. On the second loop everything was OK, no mistakes, and I gradually got faster and faster.”
