Rally dos Sertões: Marc Coma wins SS01 in front of Rodrigues and Goncalves / in car ; Second victory of Overdrive´s Varela/Gugelmin in stage 01.

KTM´s Marc Coma made a solid start in his bid for victory in the Rally dos Sertoes in Brazil on Sunday when he finished fastest in the opening stage of this 2600 km event.

The Spanish rider completed the stage of 216 km, of which 155 km was timed special between Goiania in central Brazil traveling southeast to Caldas Novas in 01:55:28 hours. He finished with a narrow 1:22 minutes ahead of second placed Helder Rodrigues (Honda HRC) of Portugal. Honda-rider Paolo Goncalves, winner of the prologue, was third, two minutes off the leader´s time.

Sunday´s stage required a lot of concentration according to Coma: "It was only quite a short stage but we can say the terrain was quite tricky. You have to pay close attention because there are a lot of animals and fences and other obstacles and also we were flying all the time because there were many jumps. Every time you have to judge how and where to land. I am happy though that we found the good rhythm today," the Spaniard said.

Coma´s official KTM factory teammates were also well placed after the opening stage with Jordi Viladoms of Spain in fourth place 00:02:32 mins off the pace, Briton Sam Sunderland in sixth at 00:04:31 and Ruben Faria finishing seventh only two seconds behind Sunderland. The KTM factory riders compete on the KTM 450 Rally machine.

Coma entered the competition with a six-point lead in the FIM World Cross Countries Rally Championship on Joan Barreda and Goncalves is looking to consolidate that lead this week.

The three times Dakar Rally winner was second in the "Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge", the "Sealine Rally Qatar" and the "Sardegna Rally Race", which has more a characteristic of an enduro event than a classic rally. Factory riders did not compete in the scheduled Round 3 in Egypt (Pharaons Rally) due to the instability in the country at the time. 


The 22nd edition of the Brazilian "Rally dos Sertões", the largest off-road competition in Brazil, started with a strong pace on Sunday (24th) in the 1st stage of the dispute between the towns of Goiânia and Caldas Novas.

There were 216 km in total and a special test with 155 km. Among the cars, at the category T1-FIA, the duo Reinaldo Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin (Overdrive Toyota Hilux) were the winners, with the time of 01:50:17 hours.

Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti (NWM Ford Ranger), who had finished second, were punished with five minutes (by losing a waypoint during the displacement) and dropped to fourth overall. Guilherme Spinelli and Youssef Haddad (Mitsubishi ASX) and Marcos Baumgart and Kleber Cincea (NWM Ford Ranger) are in the second and third place, respectively.

"In Sunday's special test, even a kangaroo would want out, the car was kicking so much," said the winner Rainalo Valera. "But it was very good. It was possible to compare our performance with the other competitors. This is only the beginning and we have to be carefully all the time."

Among the 45 cars in the entry list, 44 started the special test this Sunday and four did not finish within the maximum time for the test. Besides the T1 FIA, cars are also disputed in the categories T1 Prototypes, Pró Brasil, Super Production, Production T2 and Production T2 / TR4.

In the Super Production category, the victory on the day was with the defending champions Glauber Fontoura and Minae Miyauti (Mitsubishi Ralliart Brasil). In Pro in Brazil, Mauro Guedes and Neurivan Calado (MS Rally) were the best. Sylvio de Barros Neto and Eduardo Bampi (Mitsubishi Ralliart Brasil) were the winners in the T1 Prototypes. And the duo Wagner Roncon and Joselito Melo Jr. (Dudu Rally Team) won in the Production T2.

Current champion in the truck category, Edu Piano and the co-drivers Solon Mendes and Antonio Carlos de Sales (Ford Racing F4000) were the fastest on the trucks, with the time 02:24:09 hours - even without working brakes.

The trio Kenner Garcia / Rafael Dal Bello / Raphael Bettoni (Ford F4000) were first runners-up with Felicio Tadeu Bragante / Ricardo de Paula Costa / Paco Corder (Ford F4000) in third, and six-time champion Guido Salvini and co-drivers Flavio Bisi and Fernando Chwaigert (Mercedes Atego) in fourth.

On Monday (25th), the competitors depart towards Catalão in the dispute of the 2nd stage of the Rally dos Sertões 2014. There will be 260.36 km in total on the second day (39.54 km of initial liaison, 202.23 km of special and 18.59 km of final liaison).

Between Goiânia and Belo Horizonte, Sertões will cross five more cities. Three will host the rally for the first time: Catalão, Paracatu and São Francisco. Caldas Novas and Diamantina complete the route.