Coma, second today, consolidates his advantage in the motorbike overall standings and Nani Roma wins the leg ousting Alphand from the lead in cars.
Excellent result for Repsol riders and drivers in the fifth leg of the Patagonia Atacama Raid in Chile. Nani Roma took the leg win in cars and his result allowed him to take over the leading position in the overall car standings with an advantage of 2’11 over team mate Luc Alphand. Marc Coma finished second behind Chilean rider Francisco López, but keeps his leading position in the motorbike standings.
Coma was very careful today and didnt want to take any risks, because as the days go by, he prefers to dose his strength. In addition, he made a navigation mistake that cost him two minutes on a route that was very complicated for orientation and quite broken, twisty, with a lot of stones and ideal for Chilean rider López to repeat the victory achieved last year. The terrain was also adequate for lighter bikes. However, Coma keeps an important advantage of 26 minutes over the second qualified in the overall standings, Frenchman David Casteu. Jordi Viladoms, team mate to Coma, also had some problems and the gearbox of his KTM made him loose several minutes. While this information was being written, he hadnt crossed the finish line yet.
The day was also exciting in the car class. Luc Alphand punctured a tyre trying to keep Romas pace who launched a strong attack, and arrived at the finish quite upset for having lost the leadership, although the difference is really small. Despite some problems with the brakes, Nani managed to win the special.
Marc Coma: Today has been a technical stage of 240 mountainous kilometres leading north. It wasnt very fast and you had to be very careful with navigation, because it was complicated. I made a mistake and lost some time, but Im happy. The bike is working well and so is the team, and we’re moving forward. The navigation mistake was a shame, but the most important is that we have the race quite under control.
Nani Roma: Its been a rally-like special, where I had some problems with the brakes. I also made a navigation mistake, which made me loose some time and then I had a puncture, but I didnt loose much. Im in the lead but theres still a lot of race left and the hard part is still ahead. The advantage I have in the standings is insignificant.
Tomorrow, Monday participants will cover the sixth leg between La Serena and Copiapó, 530.64 kilometres, 378.46 timed.
Results
Motorbikes
1. Francisco López 3:32’22”
2. Marc Coma + 48”
3. David Casteu + 3’48”
4. Zé Helio + 11’11”
5. Dimas Mattos + 21’32”
6. Rodolfo Mattheis + 23’50”
7. Andrés Tamm + 23’53”
8. Patrice Carrillon + 27”30′
9. Orly Terranova + 30’45”
10. Ludovic Boinard + 41’45”
Cars:
1. Joan Roma-Henri Magne 3:19’43”
2. Luc Alphand-Gilles Picard + 2’19”
3. Marlon Koerich-Joseane Koerich + 26’30”
4. Mario Hernández-Enrique Figueroa + 37’41”
5. Sergey Shmakov-Sergey Mishin + 45’46”
6. Luis Tudesco-Marco Almeida+ 52’22”
7. Patxi Otaño-Leo Monti + 54’19”
8. Eduardo Blanco- Marco Ferrán + 58’51”
9. Alejandro Briones-Mario Campillay + 1:29’14”
10. Gabriel Peschiera-J. Carlos Gajardo + 1:30’30”
Overall standings
Motorbikes
1. Marc Coma 17:50’09”
2. David Casteu + 26’10”
3. Francisco López + 2:08’19”
4. Zé Helio + 2:52’06”
5. Orly Terranova + 3:19’52”
6. Rodolfo Mattheis + 4:23’26”
7. Dimas Mattos + 4:33’40”
8. Andrés Tamm + 4:46’16”
9. Patrice Carillon + 4:59’00”
10. Alexander Shurch + 5:44’32”
Cars
1 Joan Roma-Henri Magne 17:49’41”
2 Luc Alphand-Gilles Picard + 2’11”
3. Sergey Shmakov-Sergey Mishin + 4:06’36”
4. Patxi Otaño-Leo Monti + 8:37’06”
5. Eduardo Blanco-Marco Ferrán + 14:08’12”
6. Marlon Koerich-Joseane Koerich + 18:39’20”
7. Luis Tedesco-Marco Almeida + 18:47’25”
8. Gabriel Peschiera-J. Carlos Gajardo + 25:17’03”
9. Alejandro Briones-Mario Campillay + 25:50’22”
10. Mario Hernández-Enrique Figueroa 33:50’02”
