The Pharaohs Rally of thirty years was won by Joan Barreda, who thus enters the exclusive club of champions of the Great Rallyes. The young Spaniard, 29, (was born in Torreblanca), Castellon, leads to success for the first time the brand that runs, Husqvarna, and the team that launched him, Speedbrain.
Barreda won three of the six stages played and was in the lead from the first to the last day of the race, finishing with a lead of almost twenty minutes on the Polish Jakub Prygonski. In third place Jordi Viladoms, who, with the victory at the Sardegna Rally Race and the podium in Cairo is vice-champion of the World Cross-Country Rally for 2012. The Catalan of the Bordone-Ferrari Racing Team has won the second stage of the rally, and was forced to slow down during the next for the failure of its engine. In the same stage, trying to recover, Viladoms fell suffering a badly bruised chest, but this did not prevent him from continuing to run in pursuit of a result and in defense of the world rankings gained after an excellent season. In the most delicate moment of the race, with low morale and severe pain in the cracked ribs, Viladoms fielded the character of the fighter, succeeding in the final two fractions to straighten a result that seemed hopelessly compromised.
Upon arrival on the esplanade in front of the Giza pyramids, Viladoms found waiting for him Alessandro Botturi, that flew to Egypt to celebrate yet another excellent result obtained by the Rider and his Team.
Jordi Viladoms:
“To see Botturi at the finish of a rally so hard was a great happiness. It was a thought that has sealed the sense of the great team work, that’s necessary to achieve this level of results. The last leg of the Pharaohs was once again difficult. Although I tried to forget the pain in my chest I was facing the fatigue accumulated in six days of competition and in the nights when it was difficult to sleep. In no time I felt surrendered. In fact, I have fixed in the mind the figure of the tennis champion, that does not give up until the last match ball and that is able to overturn an unfavorable course of the competition. Similarly I have never given up, ready to suffer but decided to go all the way in the search for what I felt he deserved. The third-place finish in these conditions is a tremendous achievement, and even more is to be vice-World champion in a hard-fought season. “
Jordi Arcarons, Sport Manager Bordone-Ferrari Racing Team
“Jordi Viladoms has proven to be a great champion, victory in Sardinia has increased even more the determination he display in Egypt. Viladoms fought until the last meter of the rally, and was good at handling a very difficult situation. If it was not for the engine failure on the third day, probably Jordi could fight for the win, but to avoid recriminations that are never appropriate, you have to be happy with the result, which is very important. In his first year with the Bordone-Ferrari Racing Team, Viladoms was able to hit many of the goals that he dreamed early in his career and had never been able to achieve. I’m happy also because it is clear that behind the success of the Rider is the work of an entire Team, with the achievement of its ambitious objectives while. Now back in Spain, and next week we are already in Italy to establish programs for the rest of the season. “