First day of “acclimatization”. That’s right, the Riders are still balanced between the harmful pre-race apathy and the desire to run. 69 riders, divided into three basic categories, up to 450cc, Open and Quad, facing the 326 kilometers of the first stage of the Sardegna Rally Race. Two special stages, 47 and 55 kms, over a path that connects the beaches of San Teodoro and … Arbatax, on the beautiful east coast of Sardinia. The first sector has clocked a total contribution of the landscapes of the island that hosts the Rally, the second was more technical. The navigation was not so difficult, except in a couple of areas. The Prologue of Olbia is now behind us, and the long journey of the Sardegna Rally Race has started.
The best place to begin is the first, and Marc Coma, the champion of 4 Dakar, won the first stage. A great start, one can not speak of significant gaps, but it is a fact that every day of the Rally Bike Village “advised” not to make mistakes and meticulously follow the road book. To stay on the axis of the thin balance between speed and accuracy. This is the key to solve in the best way the navigation difficult puzzle, wonderful constant of ‘”enigma” Sardegna Rally Race. In the first special stage, therefore, the KTM factory rider imposes a rhythm of absolute precision, winning ahead Alessandro Botturi and the World Champion Paulo Gonçalves. In the second, however, the Spaniard keeps a large part of his advantage gained by concluding the fraction behind the “countryman” Catalan Gerard Farres, Gas Gas, and before Monleon Armand, a young Spanish, Catalan too, that debuted at the Sardegna Rally Race.
Concluded in an exceptional glance over the bay of Arbatax, the first stage ends with the first podium of the Rally: Marc Coma, Alessandro Botturi, Armand Leon. A little behind the official Honda Joan Barreda and Paulo Goncalves, fifth and eighth, respectively, that “pay” the choice made after the Prologue to go in front of the group. But this is not a problem. The race is long, the gaps are still ridiculously low. In the second stage, also, Barreda and Goncalves can have returned the favor and focus more on a leg attack.
By June 9, the second day of the Sardinia Rally Race is scheduled for one special stage, drawn by the specialist Dario “Willi” Del Vecchio. A large loop of 170 km, starting and finishing in Arbatax, and an intermediate pit stop at little more than sixty kms from the start of the selective section.
