The final special in the Rally Tunisia followed the script foreseen by all involved, and although Marc Coma and Jordi Viladoms fought hard to win the race that had got very complicated, in the end they finished second and fourth respectively. In today’s special Viladoms was second, only beaten by “Chaleco” López, and so the latter snatched third place away from him, by just 13 seconds after more than 3 000 kilometres against the clock.
Today’s stage had two loops, one of 81 kilometres and the other of 73km, with a neutralisation of 30 minutes between them to carry out an assistance, after this the riders started in exactly the same order, using the difference that they had reached that point with. In the first part, Viladoms was the fastest, followed by “Chaleco” López at fifteen seconds. Marc Coma, who made a mistake with his navigation, saw how Despres caught him up and he could not shake him off until the end of the special, without being able to make up any time in the overall.
On the second loop the Repsol rider saw how the Chilean set a very fast pace and this relegated Viladoms to fourth place at the end of the rally. A result which in the end is more than positive after his fight back over the last few days, a couple of days ago he was sixth and the podium was several minutes away. Even so he was very close to finishing on the third step of the podium at the end of the rally, in the end he was just thirteen seconds away from third place.
The next date for the Repsol riders is the Rally of Sardinia starting on 25th May.
Marc Coma
“This was a stage without complications, and from the beginning I had the intention of attacking, but at a complicated point in the roadbook I made a mistake and there those behind me caught me up, so we rode together to the end. This has been a very positive rally, because finishing second means you get some very important points in the championship. I am pleased with the race we have done because I have been riding at a fast pace the whole rally opening the tracks and setting the overall pace. We have always been out in front, except when we had a mechanical problem, that did not let us wrap things up.”
Jordi Viladoms
“It is a pity because I did the first loop really well but on the second I was caught by Marc [Coma] and “Chaleco” López, and in the end he finished ahead of me. It is a shame because I have not managed to make up the lost ground and stay in third place which I had moved into yesterday. This was a very good rally, a tough one, where in spite of being a helper I was almost on the podium, the race only got away from us a couple of days ago. But even so we were able to fight back, not make any mistakes and be in with a chance right to the very end. I have finished the race very pleased with the performance and very motivated, so I hope we carry on along these lines and to put in another good race in Sardinia.”
