Sealine Rally : UNE NOUVELLE VICTOIRE DU POLARIS RZR 900 XP XTREME+ !

 Le Sealine Rally, qui se déroulait au Qatar, s'est terminé aujourd'hui. L'équipe Xtreme+ de Marco Piana peut s'enorgueillir d'une nouvelle victoire en T3 grâce à Yassir Saedan, navigué par Sébastien Delaunay.
L'équipage franco-saoudien s'est également offert une très belle 14e place au général malgré les pistes 100% cailloux et les crevaisons difficilement évitables.
Aujourd'hui, Yassir Saedan est en tête du championnat du Monde en T3 et prévoit de courir une Baja en Europe et le Rallye des Pharaons.

Sealine Qatar Rally : Troisième étape.

Sealine Cross-Country Rally, Qatar - April 22nd-26th, 2013
2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 3

2013 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Cup, round 2

For immediate release
Friday, April 26th, 2013



SCHLESSER, COMA AND SONIK SEAL VICTORY

IN QATAR'S SEALINE CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY



Second places for Holowczyc, Gonçalves and Al-Kitbe
Gonçalves and Coma provide grandstand finish to thrilling bike race
Fourth selective section wins for Schlesser, Lopez and Sonik
Broken brake disc sidelines Qatar’s Faisal Al-Attiya
DOHA (Qatar): Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser, Spaniard Marc Coma and Pole Rafal Sonik claimed outright victories in their respective car, motorcycle and quad categories of the four-day 2013 Sealine Cross-Country Rally, which finished in southern Qatar on Friday.



The trio held on to their overnight advantages in very different circumstances to clinch the wins after a punishing all-desert route of over 1,500km had tested both man and machine to the limit. Schlesser, Chilean rider Francisco Lopez and Sonik were triumphant on the fourth and final stage.



Schlesser and his Russian co-driver Konstantin Zhiltsov started the final selective section with an advantage of 25min 46sec over the Polish driver Krzysztof Holowczyc and Schlesser surged into the lead of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies with his first win of the new season by the eventual margin of 31min 18sec.



“Yes, very happy, a nice but difficult race,” said Schlesser. “It was not so easy and I catch my finger in the steering wheel in a hole today, but the win has put us in a good position.”



Holowczyc reached the finish in second overall with his Mini All4 Racing and the Overdrive Racing Toyota Hiluxes of Venezuelan Nunzio Coffaro and Kazakh Aidyn Rakhimbayev were third and fourth.



“Second place is the first loser,” reflected Holowczyc. “This race was ideal for the Buggies, fast, open and bumpy. With the new regulations, we don’t have the power and have to rely on reliability. We see with Nasser, like on the Dakar, he was fast but the car was not reliable. If the rules are not changed the future is for the Buggy!”



Coma needed a very different strategy to claim his second successive victory in the motorcycle category. The factory KTM rider started the final stage with a 2min 04sec advantage over Portugal’s Paulo Gonçalves and knew full well that the Speedbrain team rider would be playing catch up over the early kilometres.



But the Portuguese lost his way a little early on and Coma was able to extend his lead into the passage control. Thereafter, there had been some overnight rain and the Spaniard was a little more cautious to ensure that he kept to the correct route. Gonçalves began to close and Coma saw his rival behind for the first time after around 190km.



The much-vaunted grandstand finish ensued over the closing kilometres and the pair crossed the finish line inseparable, with Gonçalves gaining two minutes but Coma winning the race by just four seconds.



“Phew, that was tough. A very tough race, very difficult in all areas, but I am very happy,” said Coma. “The long distance, the navigation, the weather – this race has really gone to a high level. I lost some time in some loose sand after the passage control, but I saw Paulo after about 190km and it was exciting all the way to the finish.”



“I gave it a good try and I am happy with second position,” said the Portuguese runner-up. “It was a really close few days and a hard race with four long days. I lost my way a little by not looking at the road book at the start but I was able to come back strong. In Abu Dhabi, the gap to Marc was 32 and here it was just four seconds.”



Pole Jakub Przygonski finished third and stage winner Lopez was fourth.



Sonik began the final stage with a massive lead of 1hr 33min 49sec over the UAE’s Obaid Al-Kitbe in the quad class. Last year’s champion made no mistake for the second year running and the quickest time ensured that he maintained his 100% success rate in Qatar. Al-Kitbe claimed the runner-up spot and local rider Mohammed Abu Issa was third.



“This rally was much more difficult that any of us expected,” said Sonik. “It was physically demanding, but also we had the strong winds, the rocks and the navigation. I am so happy to finish the last stage with no mistakes and make sure I get the win. After each of the first three days we thought that it would get easier, but it did not. This rally is a fantastic lesson to anyone who wants to learn about cross-country rallies!”



Day 4 – as it happened



Instead of tackling the full 275.50km selective section used by the cars, bike and quad riders crossed a shorter 238.49km stage, after taking a different course from PC1 to rejoin the main route at the second passage control for the cars.



The big question was whether Gonçalves could catch Coma and manage to squeeze into at least a four-second lead on the drag race to the stage finish. He began the stage two minutes behind the Spaniard on the road and needed to beat the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Cup leader by 65 seconds to win the event.



But Coma has seen this tense situation before and the Spaniard attacked hard from the start to maintain the gap between the two. He reached PC1, after 112.52km, with his overall lead increased by a further 2min 08sec. Nearly half the stage was completed and the Portuguese had not been able to make in-roads into Coma’s lead at all. He was also caught by Przygonski.



Coma stayed hard on the gas through the next crucial kilometres, but Gonçalves, Prygonski and Lopez grouped closer together and the Speedbrain rider managed to close in on the leader en route to the Inland Sea. The Portuguese was putting on a late charge as the media waited anxiously at the finish line to see if it would indeed be a ‘motocross-style’ shoot-out to decide the outcome.



The duo did not disappoint and they crossed the finishing line together. Gonçalves had managed to take exactly two minutes from the Spaniard, but those four vital seconds were a bridge too far and Coma held on to take the narrowest of victories in thrilling circumstances.



Sonik had been the quickest quad rider to PC1 from Al-Kitbe and Pablo Copetti and the Pole held on to take a comfortable win in the category. Al-Kitbe and Qatar’s Mohammed Abu Issa were third.



Schlesser settled cosily into third position on the stage behind Holowczyc and Rakhimbayev and just needed to stay out of trouble to conserve his 25min 46sec lead and seal a maiden Sealine win. Faisal Al-Attiya started from third position on the road but the Qatari’s topsy-turvy rally ended 33km into the stage when he broke a brake disc and retired.



Schlesser reached PC1 with a virtual stage lead of 34 seconds over Holowczyc and extended that advantage to 56 seconds at PC2, as he closed in on the Sealine title. The Frenchman shadowed the Pole to the finish to seal victory by the margin of 31min 18sec and claim the stage win into the bargain.



Russian Alexander Barenenko almost lost his chance of claiming the T2 category win on the final stage. Peruvian Raul Orlandini claimed the stage win, but the Russian finished high enough to confirm the class victory in his Toyota and take sixth in the overall standings.



Positions on SS4 – 275.50km (238.49km for bikes) -unofficial @ 11.20hrs:

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 2hr 49min 15sec

2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            2hr 54min 47sec

3. Peter van Merksteijn Jnr. (NLD)/Eddy Chevallier (BEL) Ford                  2hr 57min 32sec

4. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   2hr 58min 55sec

5. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyanenko (RUS) Toyota Hilux     3hr 01min 37sec



Bikes

1. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          2hr 31min 56sec

2. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              2hr 33min 46sec

3. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             2hr 34min 38sec

4. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              2hr 36min 38sec

5. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) Honda CRE F 500 X                  2hr 40min 59sec



Quads

1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                3hr 14min 39sec

2. Adel-Hussain Abdullah (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   3hr 35min 26sec

3. Pablo Copetti (ARG) Yamaha Raptor 700                                3hr 35min 45sec

4. Mohammed Al-Shamsi (ARE) Honda TRX 700                          3hr 36min 18sec

5. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                3hr 44min 05sec

6. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   3hr 44min 45sec

          

Overall positions after SS4 (unofficial @ 11.20hrs):

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 16hr 11min 33sec

2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            16hr 42min 51sec

3. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   17hr 30min 45sec

4. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyanenko (RUS) Toyota Hilux     17hr 47min 15sec

5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Maciej Marton (POL) Hummer H3 Evo             18hr 09min 22sec



Bikes

1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              17hr 09min 57sec

2. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             17hr 10min 01sec

3. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              17hr 13min 13sec

4. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          17hr 17min 42sec

5. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) Honda CRE F 500 X                  18hr 47min 02sec

6. Quinn Cody (USA) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             19hr 35min 31sec



Quads

1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                21hr 28min 41sec

2. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                23hr 31min 56sec

3. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   24hr 50min 11sec

4. Pablo Copetti (ARG) Yamaha Raptor 700                                24hr 55min 03sec

5. Mohammed Al-Shamsi (ARE) Honda TRX 700                          25hr 52min 13sec

          

Ends

Sealine Qatar Rally : Troisième étape, le communiqué de presse !

Sealine Cross-Country Rally, Qatar - April 22nd-26th, 2013
2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 3

2013 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Cup, round 2

For immediate release
Thursday, April 25th, 2013



HOLOWCZYC, COMA AND ADEL HUSSEIN RECORD STAGE

THREE WINS IN QATAR'S SEALINE CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY



Schlesser, Coma and Sonik maintain race leads after three days
Norwegian Ullevalseter loses gears and then falls and breaks his leg
DOHA (Qatar): Poland’s Krzysztof Holowczyc, Spaniard Marc Coma and Qatar’s Adel Hussein Abdullah recorded the fastest selective section times in the car, motorcycle and quad categories on the third and penultimate day of the 2013 Sealine Cross-Country Rally in southern Qatar on Thursday.



Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser, Coma and Poland’s Rafal Sonik retained the overall category leads. Schlesser, who lies second in the FIA World Cup standings after two rounds, will start the final leg with a comfortable unofficial lead of 25min 46sec over Mini driver Holowczyc, who lost vital time changing two flat tyres near the end of the stage.



Kazakh Aidyn Rakhimbayev recorded the second quickest time in his Overdrive Toyota Hilux and Qatar’s Faisal Al-Attiya (Hummer) was third, despite losing a lot of time stuck on the ridge of a sand dune near the finish. Venezuelan driver Nunzio Coffaro holds third overall in the second Belgian-built Toyota.



“We lost our chance to gain the time back today,” said Holowczyc’s disgruntled co-driver Andreas Schulz. “Schlesser was waiting for us not far from the end on a dune. He did not want to open the road tomorrow. That is the game. But we also had two punctures and that cost us a lot of time.”



Coma will start the final leg with a 2min 04sec lead over Portugal’s Paulo Gonçalves in the motorcycle class and the pair could be set for a thrilling ‘motocross-style’ showdown over the closing kilometres to determine the winner on Friday.



“For three days now we have been finishing the stages together,” said the Portuguese. “I will try hard tomorrow, but even if I catch the two minutes, it will be difficult to finish four seconds in front of him to take the win. I must also make sure I finish to get the points for the Speedbrain team.”



Coma was upbeat about his chances on the factory KTM: “You know motocross at the end perhaps, maybe even a sprint finish like a cycling race. We will see!” Poland’s Jakub Przygonski holds third position and Chile’s Francisco Lopez is fourth.



Norwegian rider Pal-Anders Ullevalseter started the day in fourth overall, a mere 14 seconds behind Coma, but he fell and broke his femur shortly after the second passage control and was airlifted to hospital for medical attention. He had fallen back with gearbox problems before the crash.



Sonik maintained his quad category lead heading into the final day. The Pole, winner in 2012, has a massive advantage over the UAE’s Obaid Al-Kitbe, although he was pushed hard for the day’s stage win by the resurgent Adel Hussein Abdullah and the Qatari claimed the stage win when Sonik incurred a 20-minute time penalty.



Day 3 – as it happened



A mere 14 seconds separated the top four riders at the start of the third stage, although leader Coma had the slight benefit of following his main rivals into the desert and the onus was on Lopez to perform accurate navigation from the outset.



By the first passage control, at 109.56km, the leading quintet had been locked in a fascinating tussle for supremacy and Coma had the slight edge. He was running just seven seconds quicker than Gonçalves, but the pair had begun to catch Lopez, Przygonski and Ullevalseter. The Norwegian was caught and overtaken by the Portuguese and he lost over two minutes to his rival.



At refuelling, after 193.33km, Coma had begun to press home his advantage and the Spaniard was running just behind Gonçalves. His virtual stage lead was 2min 15sec. Przygonski and Lopez were riding close together in third and fourth, but Ullevalseter had dropped behind after losing three gears. He dropped seven minutes to Coma and any chance of winning the Sealine event had gone.



Al-Kitbe continued his excellent run of form after his day one set back to take the early lead in the quad category from Mohammed Al-Shamsi and Sonik. But the Emirati and the Pole regained the upper hand by PC2 and Al-Shamsi was the virtual stage leader heading to the third checkpoint.



Coma’s plan of attack was on full song through the third PC after 286.72km and the Spaniard manage to pass his four rivals and edged into a 2min 31sec virtual stage lead over Gonçalves, as the leading duo and Przygonski and Lopez arrived together at the control. Ullevalseter had been running with crippling gearbox issues but he fell after the refuelling point, broke a leg and personally summoned immediate medical assistance by telephone.



Coma held on to his lead to seal the stage win by 2min 01sec to ensure that he took an overall advantage of 64 seconds into the final leg on Friday. Gonçalves was second and Sonik maintained the overall lead in the quad section, despite a useful ride by Adel Hussein Abdullah to claim the stage win.



Car driver Schlesser began day three with a comfortable 35min 34sec advantage over Holowczyc and headed off into distance once again. Coffaro and Rakhimbayev took up the pursuit once Toyota team-mate Martin Kaczmarski stopped near the stage start. The rookie had been feeling ill overnight and was given medical permission to restart after an examination.



Schlesser was 15 seconds in front of Rakhimbayev at PC1, but the revelation of the morning had been Qatar’s Faisal Al-Attiya in his Hummer. After feeling unwell on Wednesday, the local driver restarted in eighth position on the road and he was well ahead of Schlesser at the first checkpoint. Holowczyc reached the PC 46 seconds in front of the Frenchman in second position.



Al-Attiya continued his charge through the middle part of the stage and had overtaken everyone except for Schlesser by PC2. He was 12min 33sec in front of the Frenchman as the route meandered north through the southern Qatar wilderness. He soon passed Schlesser as well and reached PC3 with a lead of 23min 10sec over Schlesser.



Al-Attiya stopped after the third passage control and the chasing pack moved in front once more, but Holowczyc also ground to a halt on the run north with two flat tyres and still finished the special in first position after Schlesser and Coffaro lost time trying to find the correct track and Al-Attiya got stuck on the crest of a sand dune.



Tomorrow



Competitive action draws to a close on Friday with the fourth selective section in the southern Qatar desert. The stage begins 1.04km from the Sealine bivouac and runs for 275.50km to a finish 6.19km from the service area and podium, where the finishing celebrations will take place at 16.00hrs.



Positions on SS3 – 407.10km (unofficial @ 13.30hrs):

Cars

1. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            4hr 23min 55sec

2. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyaneko (RUS)    Toyota Hilux     4hr 26min 37sec

3. Faisal Al-Attiya (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Hummer                        4hr 29min 25sec

4. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   4hr 33min 34sec

5. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 4hr 33min 43sec



Bikes

1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              4hr 40min 35sec

2. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             4hr 42min 36sec

3. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              4hr 46min 37sec

4. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          4hr 48min 36sec

5. Quinn Cody (USA) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             5hr 14min 59sec



Quads

1. Adel-Hussain Abdullah (QAT) Suzuki ATV                                6hr 08min 59sec

2. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                6hr 23min 40sec

3. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                6hr 34min 48sec

4. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   6hr 43min 57sec

          

Overall positions after SS3 (unofficial @ 13.30hrs):

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 13hr 22min 18sec

2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            13hr 48min 04sec

3. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   14hr 31min 50sec

4. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyanenko (RUS) Toyota Hilux     14hr 45min 38sec

5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Maciej Marton (POL) Hummer H3 Evo             14hr 55min 09sec



Bikes

1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              14hr 33min 19sec

2. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             14hr 35min 23sec

3. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              14hr 39min 27sec

4. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          14hr 45min 46sec

5. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) Honda CRE F 500 X                  16hr 06min 03sec, etc



Quads

1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                18hr 14min 02sec

2. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                19hr 47min 51sec

3. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   21hr 05min 26sec, etc                  

Ends



To follow live tracking:

http://vulcain.iritrack.net/tdcom/eviewer/qatar2013

To follow live results/positions:

http://vulcain.iritrack.net/tdcom/posi/qatar2013/web/index.php/display/index/

SEALINE QATAR RALLY : 2e ÉTAPE POUR SCHLESSER ET CHALECO !

Sealine Cross-Country Rally, Qatar - April 22nd-26th, 2013
2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 3

2013 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Cup, round 2

For immediate release
Wednesday, April 24th, 2013



DAY TWO STAGE VICTORIES FOR SCHLESSER, LOPEZ AND

AL-KITBE IN QATAR'S SEALINE CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY



Schlesser and Coma maintain overall car and bike leads
Poland’s Rafal Sonik comfortably in front in quad class
Al-Attiyah retires with engine worries after damaging oil filter
DOHA (Qatar): Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser, Spaniard Marc Coma and Poland’s Rafal Sonik maintained their overall leads in the respective car, motorcycle and quad categories after the second and longest selective section of the 2013 Sealine Cross-Country Rally in Qatar on Wednesday.



But the day’s stage wins fell to Schlesser, Chile’s Francisco Lopez and Emirati Obaid Al-Kitbe. “Nice to get the stage win again but we had a problem near the end,” said Schlesser, who extended his lead to over 35 minutes. “I stopped about 20km from the end. There was a difficult dune and it caught me by surprise. I could not start the car, so I waited for a few minutes and we managed to get going again.”



His closest rival Krzysztof Holowczyc also stopped in the soft sand for several minutes on the run north to the stage finish after overcoming an earlier time-consuming puncture, but he maintained second overall with the sixth quickest time. Poland’s Martin Kaczmarski, Venezuelan Nunzio Coffaro and Kazakh Aidyn Rakhimbayev were second, third and fourth on the day’s stage in three Overdrive Toyotas.



Local hero Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah began brightly and was comfortably the quickest car driver until a stray stone damaged his Buggy’s oil filter after the first checkpoint and forced the disappointed Qatari out of the event.



“I hit nothing. It was just a stone that hit the oil filter and we lost the oil,” said a dejected Al-Attiyah. “We could do nothing other than to stop. On our Buggy the oil filter is low down and this can happen – on other Buggies, like Schlesser, it is higher up. Now we will try and carry out some testing while the team is here over the coming days.”



Marc Coma maintained an unofficial overall lead of just three seconds, despite being caught by his closest rivals on the tricky stage and running in convoy to the finish. Lopez won the special by 1min 39sec and retained fifth. Poland’s Jakub Przygonski and Norway’s Pal-Anders Ullevalseter were second and third and now hold fourth and third in the overall standings, with Paulo Gonçalves in second.



“It is never easy to push and make a lead when you are first on the road and you have difficult navigation,” said Coma. “It is easy for the riders behind to see the lines. I tried to push at one point and made an escape but I had to stop to fix a problem with my seat and lost about a minute. Tomorrow I start behind, so we will see.”



“It’s nice to win the stage but it was not so easy,” said Lopez. “This rally is much longer and more difficult than last year. It is a good test for me and the bike and good training with the navigation. The 30km of dunes at the end were nice but the pace was fast among the leading riders.”



Rafal Sonik was passed soon after the start by Obaid Al-Kitbe, but the Pole held on to take second among the quads on the day’s stage and he maintains a sizeable advantage heading into day three. Al-Kitbe duly claimed the stage win by over 34 minutes.



Reinaldo Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin, who had crashed their car heavily over a cut face dune near the end of Tuesday’s stage, were detained in hospital with both Brazilians suffering from compression fractures to their vertebrae. The incident bore an uncanny resemblance to the one that had injured Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Alex Winocq in the recent Ha’il Rally in Saudi Arabia.



Day 2 – as it happened



Faisal Al-Attiya suffered a miserable first day in his powerful Hummer. After sustaining a puncture, the Qatari was forced to wait several hours for support and was unable to finish the stage. He started day two from 19th overall with massive time penalties.



Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal had stopped to assist the Brazilians at the scene of the crash on Tuesday and, as per the regulations, clerk of the course Pedro Almeida gave the 34 minutes back to the driver that had been lost at the incident. Zapletal restarted in third position.



Overnight leaders Coma, Sonik and Schlesser were first on the road in the motorcycle, quad and car categories, but Aidyn Rakhimbayev was awarded a 30-minute penalty before the restart for missing a waypoint on Tuesday and the Kazakh slipped from third to eighth overall in the car section.



Emirati Obaid Al-Kitbe was also awarded a penalty of 1hr 20min for missing five waypoints and he slipped to fourth in the quad order behind Sonik, Paulo Copetti and Mohammed Abu Issa. Minor three-minute speeding penalties were also awarded to Kaczmarski and Coffaro.



Coma and Goncalves pulled away from the chasing group through the early section of the stage, as Ullevalseter, Przygonski and Lopez trailed in their wake. The Spaniard and the Portuguese were locked in a classic game of cat and mouse but Lopez reached PC1 after 83.63km with the quickest virtual time. Gonçalves had managed to reduce Coma’s overall lead by 1min 41sec. The top five were well clear of the rest of the field and Al-Kitbe passed Sonik to lead the quads.



By refuelling, after 197.57km, the top five were running close together in increasingly windy conditions and Lopez maintained the advantage from Przygonski and Ullevalseter. Coma maintained a tiny virtual overall lead.



Lopez kept his stage advantage into PC3 and sealed the stage win with a time of 4hr 46min 23sec. All five front-running riders arrived within seconds of each other at the flying finish and Coma was fifth but retained the overall lead.



Running first on the road meant the added burden of accurate navigation fell to Schlesser, while Al-Attiyah was reseeded to fourth and promised the flat-out attack in his bid to catch the Frenchman. Predictably, the Qatari soon passed Zapletal and closed in and overtook Holowczyc before reaching PC1 4min 06sec faster than his Polish rival.



But Al-Attiyah was forced to stop again before the second checkpoint after breaking the oil filter and all his hard work was undone. The Buggy was towed back to the Sealine bivouac and Al-Attiyah is hoping to carry out some testing in the coming days with a second Dakar-spec engine installed in the Buggy.



Schlesser was the quickest driver into PC2 and PC3 and reached the stage finish 8min 52sec quicker than Kaczmarski to extend his overall lead. Coffaro and Rakhimbayev finished third and fourth, but Holowczyz spent vital minutes trying to free a damaged tyre after the wheel got caught on a brake caliper.



Tomorrow



Competitors tackle the penultimate selective section of the event on Thursday – a 407.10km timed test that starts 3.93km from the Sealine camp and finishes just 1.13 km away. Again the route uses a vast array of different terrain, including dunes, fast tracks, rocky trails and sandy piste, with the emphasis on accurate navigation.



Positions on SS2 – 413.19km (unofficial @ 13.00hrs):

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 4hr 28min 12sec

2. Martin Kaczmarski (POL)/Bartlomiej Boba (POL) Toyota Hilux                   4hr 37min 04sec

3. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   4hr 39min 02sec

4. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyaneko (RUS)    Toyota Hilux     4hr 40min 42sec

5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Maciej Marton (POL) Hummer H3 Evo             4hr 45min 48sec

6. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            4hr 47min 02sec



Bikes

1. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          4hr 46min 23sec

2. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              4hr 48min 02sec

3. Pal-Anders Ullevalseter (NOR)   KTM 450 Rally Replica              4hr 50min 08sec

4. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             4hr 52min 01sec

5. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              4hr 53min 58sec



Quads

1. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                5hr 20min 49sec

2. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                5hr 55min 14sec

3. Mohammed Al-Shamsi (ARE)Honda TRX 700                                    5hr 56min 49sec



Overall positions after SS2 (unofficial @ 13.00hrs):

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 8hr 48min 35sec

2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            9hr 24min 09sec

3. Martin Kaczmarski (POL)/Bartlomiej Boba (POL) Toyota Hilux                   9hr 57min 37sec

4. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   9hr 58min 16sec

5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Maciej Marton (POL) Hummer H3 Evo             10hr 04min 49sec

6. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyaneko (RUS)    Toyota Hilux     10hr 19min 01sec



Bikes

1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              9hr 52min 44sec

2. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             9hr 52min 47sec

3. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              9hr 52min 50sec

4. Pal-Anders Ullevalseter (NOR)   KTM 450 Rally Replica              9hr 52min 58sec

5. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          9hr 57min 10sec

6. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) Honda CRE F 500 X                  10hr 49min 08sec

7. Khalid Khamis Ozair (UAE) Honda CRF 450 X                                  11hr 07min 56sec, etc



Quads

1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                11hr 50min 22sec

2. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                13hr 13min 03sec

3. Pablo Copetti (ARG) Yamaha Raptor 700                                13hr 59min 00sec    

4. Mohammed Al-Shamsi (ARE)Honda TRX 700                                    14hr 14min 03sec

5. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   14hr 21min 29sec                

QATAR SEALINE RALLY : SCHLESSER, COMA ET SONIK REMPORTENT LA PREMIÈRE SPÉCIALE

Sealine Cross-Country Rally, Qatar - April 22nd-26th, 2013
2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 3

2013 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Cup, round 2


Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013



SCHLESSER, COMA AND SONIK LEAD AFTER

FIRST DAY OF SEALINE CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY



Demanding Qatar desert route takes its toll on competitors
Brake problems threaten Al-Attiyah’s Sealine victory challenge
Varela crashes out; Holowczyc and Rakhimbayev second and third
DOHA (Qatar): Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser, Spaniard Marc Coma and Poland’s Rafal Sonik led their respective car, motorcycle and quad categories after a punishing opening 405.12km selective section of the 2013 Sealine Cross-Country Rally across the deserts of southern Qatar on Tuesday. 



Pre-rally favourite Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah may have lost his chance of retaining the Sealine car title after grinding to a halt with rear brake caliper issues before the first passage control. The Qatari holds seventh overall and ceded over 65 minutes to stage winner Schlesser, while he and Lucas Cruz Senra made emergency repairs and then faced further delays later in the stage. Al-Attiyah must now mount a fascinating fight back over the remaining three days.



“Not good, we had a problem with the brake, the left caliper, after 20km and we lost maybe one hour,” said Al-Attiyah. “Then, I push and we get back some time but the power steering was leaking fluid and we had a small fire. And we got lost. We have to see now what the problems are before we look to tomorrow.”



Schlesser, the ‘Desert Fox’, finished 16min 44sec in front of Polish Mini driver Krzysztof Holowczyc, despite the difficult navigation that placed an extra burden on his Russian co-driver Konstantin Zhiltsov.



Brazilian Reinaldo Varela lost third place near the stage finish after a front impact damaged his Toyota. This paved the way for the three other Overdrive Racing Toyota Hiluxes of Kazakh Aidyn Rakhimbayev, Venezuelan Nunzio Coffaro and Poland’s Martin Kaczmarski and Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Al-Shegawi (Nissan) to round off the unofficial top six.



“Once we passed Nasser it was difficult to open the road and still drive quickly,” said Schlesser. “The stage was not so hard on the car but we needed to concentrate all the time. I know that Nasser will push hard tomorrow but he can do his own race. My priority is to finish and collect points for the World Cup.”



Coma managed to snatch the early advantage from Portugal’s Paulo Gonçalves in a tense motorcycle contest. The leading riders were bunched together for long periods, but the Spaniard was able to edge the stage win from Gonçalves by the margin of 2min 04sec. Norway’s Pal-Anders Ullevalseter took third and Poland’s Jakub Przygonski was fourth.



“It was a big mix today with fast roads, stony, piste and very tricky navigation,” said Coma. “I tried to push a little and then they catch me back, but it was not easy. You had to be so focused. Tomorrow, I start first and the game changes again. But I have made a good start.”



Emirati Obaid Al-Kitbe lost his chance to secure the quad title on the last day in 2012 and his cruel luck struck again. He led for much of the stage before falling behind Poland’s defending champion Rafal Sonik and stopping short of the finish. Sonik, riding a Honda TRX700, will now take a 37min 06sec advantage into Wednesday’s second stage after Al-Kitbe managed to get going again. The UAE’s Atif Al-Zarouni and Qatar’s Adel Hussein Abdullah failed to complete the stage after technical problems.



Day 1 – as it happened



Twenty-four cars, 13 bikes and seven quads reached the start of the first selective section and Luis Calderay-Gonzalez was the first rider into the desert for the start of the day’s 405.12 competitive kilometres shortly after sunrise. Coma started from 10th position and defending quad champion Rafal Sonik was 14th of the 20 riders in the field.



Lopez started fourth and soon overtook his three rivals to reach the first PC at 83.42km with a virtual stage time of 57min 52sec, although Gonçalves and Coma later passed the checkpoint with a quicker time and the Portuguese held the early stage lead with an interim time of 53min 44sec. The UAE’s Khalid Al-Falasi was badly delayed with mechanical issues before the time control and returned to the Sealine camp.



Coma had edged 2min 16sec in front of Gonçalves at the second checkpoint after 180.33km and Al-Kitbe led Sonik in the quad class. The Spaniard increased his lead by a second through PC3 at 289.51km, with Gonçalves, Ullevalseter, Przygonski and Lopez staying in contention, although the leading group of five riders reached the stage finish together.



Coma recorded the fastest time in just under five punishing hours. Engine woes sidelined Adel Hussein Abdullah near Dukhan on the extreme west of the route, as Sonik snatched the quad stage win once Al-Kitbe was delayed in the final kilometres.



Al-Attiyah led 23 rivals into the car action in his Desert Buggy and was running in front of Schlesser until his car ground to a halt after 20km. This opened the door for a number of his rivals to take up the challenge and Schlesser reached PC2 with the quickest time. Faisal Al-Attiya’s ex-Gordon Hummer also stopped prematurely, although both he and Nasser managed to repair their cars and continue at a fast pace to try and claw back the lost time.



Schlesser used his vast experience to pull clear of the chasing pack and closest rivals Varela and Zapletal after Holowczyc and Peter Van Merksteijn Jnr. also stopped with technical trouble. The Frenchman was four minutes clear of Varela through PC2 and over 16 minutes in front of Zapletal. Al-Attiyah reached the checkpoint one hour behind Schlesser and in a virtual 10th overall.



The Qatari climbed to fifth through PC3 and eventually reached the stage finish in seventh after a dramatic morning when the car also caught fire and he suffered navigational woes. Schlesser won the special by 16min 44sec from a resurgent Holowczyc, but Varela stopped near the finish.



Tomorrow



Competitors tackle the longest section of the entire event on Wednesday – a 413.19km selective section that starts 5.6km from the bivouac and finishes at the same place as Monday. The stage offers a wide range of tracks and challenges to competitors and accurate navigation will be crucial across the myriad of winding desert trails. Bikes again take the stage start from 05.45hrs and cars follow from 07.00hrs.



Positions after SS1 (unofficial @ 14.00hrs):

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 4hr 20min 23sec

2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            4hr 37min 07sec

3. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyaneko (RUS)    Toyota Hilux     5hr 08min 19sec

4. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   5hr 16min 14sec

5. Martin Kaczmarski (POL)/Bartlomiej Boba (POL) Toyota Hilux                   5hr 17min 33sec

6. Ahmed Al-Shegawi (KSA)/Arif Yousef Mohammed (UAE) Nissan             5hr 24min 30sec

7. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Lucas Cruz Senra (ESP)    Desert Buggy    5hr 25min 08sec



Bikes

1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              4hr 58min 46sec

2. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             5hr 00min 50sec

3. Pal-Anders Ullevalseter (NOR)   KTM 450 Rally Replica              5hr 02min 46sec

4. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              5hr 04min 48sec

5. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          5hr 10min 47sec

6. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) Honda CRE F 500 X                  5hr 30min 01sec

7. Khalid Khamis Ozair (UAE) Honda CRF 450 X                                  5hr 49min 33sec

8. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (UAE) KTM 450 Rally Replica                  5hr 50min 53sec, etc



Quads

1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                5hr 55min 08sec

2. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                6hr 32min 14sec

3. Pablo Copetti (ARG) Yamaha Raptor 700                                7hr 22min 13sec

4. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   7hr 40min 34sec

5. Mohammed Al-Shamsi (ARE)Honda TRX 700                                    7hr 42min 14sec

SEALINE QATAR RALLY : LA CERISE SUR LE GÂTEAU !

On avait tout eu sur le Sealine Rally au Qatar... ou presque : pas de briefing avant le départ, quatre jours pour enfin faire 4 km de SS, arrivés au bivouac situé sur la route, grillagé et avec vue sur une raffinerie, pas d'eau dans les douches ni les wc, pas de douches pour les femmes (de toute façon y'avait pas d'eau mais bon, on est au Qatar quand même et le mercredi, elles fonctionnaient !), le PC Course, la salle de presse et tout le saint tremblement à 2 bornes, dans un 5 étoiles... et les voitures média NON autorisées à rentrer au bivouac. Mais la bouffe était très bonne ! Bon début... on rentre quand?

 Enfin, un briefing, le soir de la Super Spéciale (même pas avant) et là, on découvre un directeur de course moto très gentil mais qui n'y connaît rien — heureusement que nos potes d'ERTF et TDCOM étaient là pour répondre aux questions sur les waypoints et à faire la formation... oui, oui, après la SS.
La course démarre enfin... mais consternation : les deux premières spéciales sont les mêmes ! Oui, oui, je n'ai rien bu ni fumé : LES MÊMES ! Même pas eu l'imagination de mettre la 2e le troisième jour ou encore mieux, d'en inverser le sens peut-être, non ! SP1 et SP2 : pareilles !!
De toute façon, outre ces deux spéciales, ils ont parcourus également parcouru 80 km 4 fois...
Et les dunes? Ben, y'en avait mais ils ne passaient pas dedans... Il n'y a que le directeur de course moto, toujours le même, très gentil qui nous a mis de jolis panneaux pour les douches et toilettes Femmes, qui a eu un peu peur quand il est allé au seul CP dans les dunes en voiture avec un chauffeur car, bien entendu, il ne roule pas en TT. Les ouvreurs, Stéphane Lebaille et Pierre Lartigue, eux ont fait les trois SP avec 2.5 dans les pneus (à Abu Dhabi, ils avaient 0.5 kg).
Oui, mais y'avait la mer ! Et que non car il y a des serpents vénimeux et des méchantes méduses !
Revenons à la course, ou plutôt à la fin de la course : le podium et là, regardez bien les photos et surtout les coupes des motards et celles des équipages autos ! Ah bon, font pas la même course, ce n'était pas une manche du Championnat du Monde FIM mais une course de kermesse pour les motos?
Et puis, grand dîner de gala dans le 5 étoiles ! La bouffe, toujours excellente et les officiels ont le bon goût de ne pas alourdir les discours car déjà qu'on a même pas droit un petit coup de blanc ou rouge... Mais, la cerise sur le gâteau : à peine terminé les discours, sur les quatre écrans géants kekysonpassé???? DU FOOT pardi ! Wellcome to the Sealine Rally !

PS : le Media Center a très bien fonctionné ! MERCI NEUS ET NIEL !

SEALINE QATAR RALLY : VILADOMS, PÉNALISÉ, PERD LE PODIUM !

Alors que tout le monde attend la remise des prix moto, il y a un changement de drapeau sur le podium : la bandière espagnole laisse la place à la polonaise !

Jordi Viladoms, troisième au classement général, reçoit une pénalité de deux heures pour CP manqué. Il passe donc en treizième position mais le team Bordone Ferrari porte réclamation. "Cela fait quatre jours que nous passons sur les mêmes pistes, raconte Jordi, le CP était tenu par un gars tout seul et n'avait pas de panneau jaune... J'ai été induit en erreur car il y a aussi sur la piste des postes "radio" avec seulement deux panneaux avec un zigzag et qui ne sont pas des CP. Je ne me suis pas arrêté et donc, il me manquait un cachet..."

On peut comprendre pourquoi le catalan qui en plus était le premie
r à passer et à fond car il prenait vraiment de l'avance sur ses adversaires, a pu penser que ce n'était pas un CP mais la réclamation n'avait pas vraiment lieu d'être... un CP, sur le Road book, se marque comme un danger 3 au moins. Jakub Przygonski est donc monté sur la troisième marche du podium. "Mais nous n'aimons pas gagné comme ça, confie Filip Dabrowski, team manager du team Orlen. Viladoms était plus rapide que Kuba et c'est affreux de se retrouvé déclassé. C'est ainsi mais nous n'en retirons aucune satisfaction.

Une autre réclamation à tenu le jury en réunion pendant 6 heures, celle de Joan Barreda qui a raté un way point la veille alors qu'il roulait avec Marc Coma. Difficile à défendre également quand la flèche ne s'ouvre pas et que tu as raté un WP, tu fais demi-tours pour le valider...

 Hier soir, alors que le dîner de gala se terminait devant les écrans géants diffusant le match de foot Barcelona contre... Madrid je crois (si si vous lisez bien, ils passaient un match de foot pendant le dîner de Gala !), ces deux sympathiques pilotes avaient déjà intégré leur erreur comme une leçon de course.



RÉSULTATS GÉNÉRAL
1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica            13h 54m 43s
2. Helder Rodrigues (PRT) Yamaha YZ 450            14h 00m 48s
3. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally             14h 14m 06s
4. Ruben Faria (PRT) KTM Rally Replica                14h 16m 49s
5. Gerard Fares Guell (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica        14h 38m 45s
6. Paolo Ceci (ITA) KTM 450 Rally Replica            14h 41m 00s
7. Francisco ‘Chaleco’ Lopez (CHI) KTM 450 Rally Replica     14h 42m 07s
8. Matthew Fish (AUS) KTM 450                    14h 59m 55s
9. Paolo Goncalves (PRT) Husqvarna TE 449 RR            15h 14m 39s
10. Sean Gaugain (ZAF) Honda CRF 450 X            15h 35m 05s

13. Jordi Viladoms (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica            16h 08m 54s*
Includes two-hour penalty for missing a control point

SEALINE QATAR RALLY : VICTOIRE DE COMA EN MOTO, SONIK EN QUAD ET DE L'ÉQUIPAGE TOYOTA OVERDRIVE AL-ATTYIHA/CRUZ

Sealine Cross-Country Rally, Qatar - April 15th-21st, 2012
2012 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 3
2012 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship, round 2

For immediate release
Saturday, April 21st 2012

AL-ATTIYAH, COMA AND SONIK CLAIM OUTRIGHT
VICTORIES IN QATAR’S SEALINE CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY

·    Final day stage wins for Al-Attiyah, Barreda Bort and Sonik
·    Spain’s Marc Coma seals second successive World Cup win for KTM
·    Poland’s Rafal Sonik snatches quad win from troubled Al-Kitbe

SEALINE BEACH RESORT (Qatar): Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, Spain’s
Marc Coma and Poland’s Rafal Sonik claimed outright victories in their
respective car, motorcycle and quad categories after the final
208.63km special stage of the Sealine Cross-Country Rally on Saturday.

Stage wins on the final day fell to Al-Attiyah, Spain’s Joan Barreda
Bort and Sonik in the three respective categories.

Al-Attiyah began the stage defending a massive lead of 46m 09s in his
Overdrive Toyota Hilux and there was no way that the Qatari was going
to throw away a crucial home victory by taking unnecessary risks. He
judged his pace over the final stage to perfection to confirm a 49m
23s win.

“This is a fantastic win for me and a chance to win another event in
another car,” said Al-Attiyah. “The Toyota was impressive, so much so
that I would like to continue in the championship in places where
there are no clashes with the MERC and WRC.

“After winning the Bajas here, the Sealine event was totally
different. It was a proper cross-country event. The stages were rough,
challenging and never easy. It was a superb effort by the team at the
QMMF to make such a good rally so soon after entering the
championship.”

Argentina’s Lucio Alvarez benefited from Khalifa Al-Mutaiwei’s last
stage delays to confirm a fine second overall in another Toyota and
Al-Mutaiwei managed to stay in front of FIA World Cup rival Jean-Louis
Schlesser to clinch the final podium position in his Mini All4 Racing.
The Toyota one-two was the biggest result in the history of Overdrive
Racing and a first win for the Japanese manufacturer on a
cross-country rally.

Coma headed Portugal’s Helder Rodrigues by 5m 59s at the start of the
day and needed to run quickly with the leaders to avoid losing too
much time to the Portuguese on the day’s special. He started in third,
with Rodrigues in eighth, and reached the finish with the second
quickest time to record a comfortable 6m 05s victory over Rodrigues,
the defending FIM champion.

Jordi Viladoms finished third on his Bordone-Ferrari Team KTM,
Poland’s Jakub Przygonski was fourth and Portugal’s Ruben Faria
rounded off the top five, but the results were provisional pending an
investigation into a missing stamp on a couple of time cards.

Emirati Obaid Al-Kitbe started the final stage with a 6m 58s lead over
Poland’s Rafal Sonik in the quad category, but mechanical problems
wrecked the UAE rider’s chance of lifting the title and Sonik powered
through to the finish, with Uruguay’s Luis Henderson finishing second
and Qatar’s Adel Hussain Abdullah taking third place.

Stage four – 208.63km

X-raid mechanics worked into the evening to repair the extensive panel
damage on Yazeed Al-Rajhi’s Mini All4 Racing after the Saudi’s
accident on Friday. The defending Ha’il Baja champion was permitted to
start in ninth position, with Al-Attiyah, Schlesser and Al-Mutaiwei
leading the cars away.

Mubarak Al-Hajri’s American mechanics needed to identify the
electrical problem that had plagued his Chevrolet LS3 on day three
before the Qatari could restart from a lowly 15th overall.

Husqvarna also took the decision to permit a shaken Joan Borreda Bort
to restart after his crash on Friday morning. The Spaniard had
finished the stage badly bruised and with broken handlebars on his
bike, but started the stage from 29th position.

Goncalves led the surviving bike and quad riders into the 71.64km
liaison to the start of the final stage, with leader Coma slotting
into third behind Jordi Viladoms. Quad leader Obaid Al-Kitbe was
running in 17th place on the road, three positions behind the previous
stage winner, Lukasz Laskawiec.

Viladoms swiftly caught and passed Goncalves as Coma shadowed the pair
to the first control point. Australian Matthew Fish was also running
well and held the virtual stage lead at PC1 under Barreda Bort stormed
through to set the fastest time. Al-Kitbe headed the quad contingent
from Sonik and Laskawiec.

The first bikes reached PC2 before the cars had arrived at the first
checkpoint and Coma regained the stage advantage from Viladoms and
Goncalves, but Barreda Bort set the fastest time to that point.

Coma held on without problems to claim his second successive outright
FIM World Cup victory, with Rodrigues finishing the stage in third
position to consolidate second overall. Barreda Bort ended a troubled
rally with the fastest time of the day, a scant consolation for his
obvious pace on the Husqvarna during the event.

Al-Attiyah reached the first PC in under 52 minutes and was followed
by Schlesser and Russian Boris Gadasin. Al-Mutaiwei lost a valuable 8m
14s to his French rival for the World Cup after losing his way.

Vladimir Vasilyev was in storming form with his G-Force Proto after a
troubled event: the Russian was quickest overall to the first control
point, as Alvarez settled into a fast pace and Al-Mutaiwei’s problems
meant that he was secure in second place. Yazeed Al-Rajhi punctured
and had a small fire near the brakes and decided to stop his rebuilt
Mini in the stage.

Al-Attiyah reached the last passage control in 1h 26m 43s, where
Vasilyev saw his virtual stage lead whittled down to 20 seconds. The
Qatari held on to finish the stage in a quickest time of 1h 53m 21s
and Lucio Alvarez confirmed second overall at the expense of
third-placed Al-Mutaiwei.

Positions on SS4 (208.63km) - unofficial @ 11.45hrs
Cars
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Lucas Cruz Senra (ESP) Toyota Hilux    1h 53m 21s
2. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Vitaliy Yevtyekhov (RUS) G-Force Proto    1h 53m 38s
3. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zlitstov (RUS) Schlesser
Original 1h 56m 32s
4. Lucio Alvarez (ARG)/Bernardo Graue (ARG) Toyota Hilux        1h 56m 35s
5. Boris Gadasin (RUS)/Dan Shchemel (RUS) G-Force Proto        1h 57m 05s
6. Khalifa Al-Mutaiwei (UAE)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing    2h 03m 32s
7. Ilya Kusnetsov (RUS)/Roman Elagin (RUS) BMW X3 CC        2h 04m 21s
8. Faisal Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota HiLux        2h 18m 00s
9. Mubarak Al-Hajri (QAT)/Arif Yousef Mohammed (UAE) Chevrolet LS3    2h 21m 30s
10. Reinaldo Varala (BRA)/Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) Nissan Patrol    2h 26m 15s

Bikes
1. Joan Barreda Bort (ESP) Husqvarna TE 449 RR        1h 54m 24s
2. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica            1h 56m 30s
3. Helder Rodrigues (PRT) Yamaha YZ 450            1h 56m 36s
4. Jordi Viladoms (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica            1h 57m 54s
5. Ruben Faria (PRT) KTM Rally Replica                1h 58m 51s
6. Matthew Fish (AUS) KTM 450                    1h 58m 54s
7. Paolo Goncalves (PRT) Husqvarna TE 449 RR            1h 59m 00s
8. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally             2h 00m 55s
9. Alessandro Botturi (ITA) TM 450 Rally                2h 02m 12s
10. Francisco ‘Chaleco’ Lopez (CHI) KTM 450 Rally Replica     2h 02m 25s

Quads
18. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                2h 25m 03s
21. Lukasz Laskawiec (POL) Yamaha YFM 700 R            2h 29m 55s
23. Adel Hussain Abdullah (QAT) KTM 525            2h 33m 18s   
24. Luis Henderson (URY) Yamaha Raptor 700            2h 37m 54s

Overall positions after SS4 - unofficial @ 11.45hrs
Cars
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Lucas Cruz Senra (ESP) Toyota Hilux    11h 20m 59s
2. Lucio Alvarez (ARG)/Bernardo Graue (ARG) Toyota Hilux        12h 10m 22s
3. Khalifa Al-Mutaiwei (UAE)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing    12h 18m 07s
4. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zlitstov (RUS) Schlesser
Original 12h 21m 48s
5. Faisal Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota HiLux        13h 02m 48s
6. Boris Gadasin (RUS)/Dan Shchemel (RUS) G-Force Proto        13h 03m 02s
7. Ilya Kusnetsov (RUS)/Roman Elagin (RUS) BMW X3 CC        13h 23m 37s
8. Yayha Al-Helai (UAE)/Khalid Al-Kendi (UAE) Nissan Patrol        16h 26m 40s
9. Reinaldo Varala (BRA)/Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) Nissan Patrol        16h 43m 23s
10. Vadym Nesterchuk (UKR)/Laurent Lichtleuchter (FRA) Toyota LC200    20h 30m 41s

Bikes
1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica            13h 54m 43s
2. Helder Rodrigues (PRT) Yamaha YZ 450            14h 00m 48s
3. Jordi Viladoms (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica            14h 08m 54s
4. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally             14h 14m 06s
5. Ruben Faria (PRT) KTM Rally Replica                14h 16m 49s
6. Gerard Fares Guell (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica        14h 38m 45s
7. Paolo Ceci (ITA) KTM 450 Rally Replica            14h 41m 00s
8. Francisco ‘Chaleco’ Lopez (CHI) KTM 450 Rally Replica     14h 42m 07s
9. Matthew Fish (AUS) KTM 450                    14h 59m 55s
10. Paolo Goncalves (PRT) Husqvarna TE 449 RR        15h 14m 39s

Quads
16. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                17h 20m 20s
19. Luis Henderson (URY) Yamaha Raptor 700            17h 40m 07s
20. Adel Hussain Abdullah (QAT) KTM 525            18h 08m 53s
21. Dennis Nikitopoulos (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700        18h 30m 36s
22. Camelia Liparoti (ITA) Yamaha Raptor            19h 01m 53s

Ends

Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, International Press Officer,
2012 Sealine Cross-Country Rally, Qatar Mobile: + 974 554 79937,
E-mail: NDPPublicity@googlemail.com, www.ndp-publicity.com (press
releases). Facebook group for information: 2011-2012 MERC.

Results: http://timing.sporttraxx.com/races/

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SEALINE QATAR RALLY

Quelques photos d'une journée passée dans le désert qatari... sous un soleil de plomb et ensuite plombé par un vent de sable.

SEALINE RALLY : Jes Munk termine en 15e position mais une ancienne blessure le contraint à l'abandon

Mercredi 18 avril : 1ère étape
Liaison : 3,01 km – Spéciale : 334,16 km – Liaison : 3,01 km – Total : 340,18 km




Depuis le Dakar, Jes Munk attendait avec impatience de se retrouver dans le désert, seul pour de longs kilomètres à traverser  les dunes et à respirer le vent de la liberté que seule la moto peut offrir au passionné.
Aujourd'hui, le Sealine Rally prenait enfin son envol avec une première vraie spéciale de plus de 300 km. Jes termine en 15e position, belle place vu le plateau prestigieux, mais à l'arrivée, la douleur à la main droite est vive et il ne peut tenir la moto. Il est contraint à l'abandon.

« Quelques semaines après le Dakar, commente-t'il, j'ai découvert que j'avais le scaphoïde de la main droite cassé. Le médecin m'avait dit trois mois avant de reprendre la moto mais j'avais trop envie de me retrouver en rallye... J'ai essayé mais c'est impossible, je ne peux tenir la moto tant ma main droite est douloureuse. Je vais donc rentrer au Danemark et m'occuper sérieusement de soigner ce poignet pour être en forme pour la Classic Aveyronnaise !

C'est dommage, car j'étais bien sur la moto. J'avais décidé de courir tranquillement ce rallye et de me faire plaisir. La spéciale du jour était assez rapide et sur une longue piste droite, j'ai pris 168 km/h... avec ma 450 !! Le début et surtout la fin étaient sympa, avec du sable mais trop de passage entre les dunes sans les franchir... Le reste n'était pas très intéressant, de la pierre, tout droit. »


CLASSEMENT PROVISOIRE SPÉCIALE
1.    Marc Coma (KTM) en 3h47'54
2.    Joan Barreda (Husqvarna) à 0.8
3.    Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) à 3'11
4.    Ruben Faria (KTM) à 5'48
5.    Jordi Viladoms (KTM) à 6'17
    15.JES MUNK (KTM) à 40'52

CLASSEMENT GÉNÉRAL PROVISOIRE
    1. Marc Coma (KTM) en 3h50'41
    2. Joan Barreda (Husqvarna) à 0.6
    3. Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) à 3'10
    4. Ruben Faria (KTM) à 5'52
    5. Jordi Viladoms (KTM) à 6'23
    15.JES MUNK (KTM) à 41'16