Marc Coma still in the race despite a breakdown in the first liaison of the day
Great performance of Jordi Viladoms in the first leg of the 2006 Baja España Madrid-Aragón, allowing him to enter the fight for the final victory after finishing the two stages of the day as third fastest in the overall standings, three minutes behind the leader and biggest favourite for the final victory, Isidre Esteve.
The Repsol rider, on a KTM EXC 525, is now 3’00” behind Esteve after the first two special stages run between Santa María de Huerta and Almenar (86 Km.) and Aldealpozo-Epila (114 Km.).
The leg took participants through the areas of Soria and Zaragoza under different conditions than expected. A very strong sun shone throughout the day, but the rain showers that fell yesterday over the Spanish area turned the typical dusty terrain of the Baja into wet ground covered with puddles.
Viladom’s team mate in the KTM Repsol team, Jordi Durán, performed also a good leg finishing fifth, 6’45 behind the leader. Durán’s performance has a special merit considering the fact that he is participating in the Baja only short time after undergoing surgery in order to take off the pins and plates he still had since the serous crash he suffered two years ago.
Less luck for Marc Coma and co-driver Nacho Salvador. A bearing of the front wheel broke and they had to retire from the Baja although they will continue in the race contesting the “11 Trophy Baja Aragón”. Thus Marc will be able to continue enjoying driving the car in the race in order to achieve the only aim he had set himself from the beginning.
Jordi Viladoms: “I lacked a bit of pace because I had no experience in these kinds of races. It’s my first Baja and my intention is to find the right pace without making mistakes in order to be able to reach the finish”.
Jordi Durán: “I’m happy with how things are working out so far, because I got here without hardly any time to prepare. The stages today were complicated because there were wet areas that slowed down the pace and other very fast sections, quite similar to enduro.”
Marc Coma: “We’ve seen the negative side of racing today and it’s been a shame that mechanical problems have not even allowed us to take part in the start of the first special. But at least we will be able to start tomorrow to cover kilometres and gather experience at the wheel. This was the aim that took us to take part in the race”.
Overall standings Cars:
1. Blázquez (Nissan) 2h. 31 11
2. Sousa (Volkswagen) a 835
3. Sykora (Mitsubishi) a 1134
4. Monterde (BMW) a 1321
5. Zapletal (Mitsubishi) a 1348
Overall standings Motorbikes:
1. Isidre Esteve (KTM) 2h. 2552
2. José M. Pellicer (KTM) a 113
3. Jordi Viladoms (KTM) a 300
4. Dutto (Suzuki) a 619
5. Jordi Durán (KTM) a 645
