The Repsol rider will face from tomorrow 2,660 kilometres on the dunes of Egypt divided in six days to try and achieve his fifth victory in this round
Winner of the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010 editions of the Pharaons Rally, Marc Coma has already shown his ability on the Egyptian sand. The Repsol rider, who this year won at the Dakar, in Abu Dhabi and Sardinia, will try to obtain a new victory this season in the round that will bring the Cross Country World Championship to a close.
In the final stage of the preparations for the 2012 Dakar, Coma will start this Monday the first of the six days that until next Saturday will total the 2,660 kilometres of this year’s Pharaons Rally. After dedicating the last few weeks to prepare physically, the aim will be to recover the speed and the pace in a round that, taking into account the length of the stages and the kilometres held on open desert, is the most similar to the Dakar.
The particularities of this round lie in the different type of sand compared with other deserts. In this case, its specific features allow to ride faster than on other terrains, but they also require a different technique, not as difficult, for example, as the Dubai Rally. For this event, Coma will use again the KTM 450 Rally with which he will take part in the 2012 Dakar, the last evolution from the Austrian constructor that solves some teething problems of the Dakar 2011 winner.
Marc Coma,
“The Pharaons Rally, together with the Morocco Rally, is the final preparations of the Dakar. This is the last round of the World Championship and, considering that we missed Tunisia, we know that it will be almost impossible to win the title again, but we arrive, as always, with the aim to do our best. Our objective will be to do our own race, see which pace we have without looking at what the others are doing and then fight to be in front. During the year we worked in some small modifications for the KTM 450 Rally; mainly some teething problems we found last year and that will allow us to face the final stage of the Dakar preparations with everything ready”.
