If he has not yet won the OiLibya Rally of Morocco, Joan Barreda is a stage winner today! The Spaniard had his moment, he left well behind this morning gaining as much as twenty nine competitors in a tricky special, a mix of fast tracks, navigation and the first dunes. Teammate Paolo Goncalves, defending champion took second position. Marc Coma finished third.
RACE MOVIE
It was at 6:45 am when the first competitors left the hotel Bélère in Erfoud for the start of the first stage of this OiLibya rally of Morocco 2014, twenty-seven km away. A 276 km long special awaited , navigators expertise and fast driving were key in winning this leg .. Honda knew it This land, is a second home they like it, they train here, they know….
Joan Barreda was quick to overtake his contenders and made his own mark. Only one had a similar run: Chaleco Lopez on KTM. Behind him the forces regrouped. Coma, Goncalves, Helder Rodriguez, Ruben Faria … together in the dunes, then they scattered when they came back on the fast track. Paolo Goncalves fought back back hard .But the Portuguese had a scary moment towards the end , “a little dangerous.” He says…
So Barreda won the stage, 1’49 ‘ahead of teammate Goncalves. Marc Coma, third only 2 ‘behind the Portuguese, at 1’51’ from Barreda. Helder Rodriguez, the fourth is a little less than 4 ‘. Behind Jordi Viladoms. he experienced some technical problems that made him lose time. He is sixth at 6’53 ‘. Chaleco, did not have a good day. He lost almost 10’ Sam Sunderland lost 15 ‘, as for Alain Duclos, a delay of 23’30’ because of fuel supply problem.
