Gonçalves wins stage 4 of the Morocco Rally, Coma 2nd

Rider Paulo Gonçalves has claimed victory in the fourth stage of the Morocco Rally, while Honda remains very strong and is showing all of his potential, completing the day in 3h01’49, and with this result he once again takes the lead in the general classification.

For his part, second place went to Marc Coma, who finished +02’26s behind the winner, while Hélder Rodrigues completed the top 3 of this fourth stage with his Honda, but more than five minutes behind the leader.

Coma finished this fourth stage in second place, and is two minutes and 40 seconds behind Paulo Gonçalves, the stage winner and new leader, and just 30 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, fellow AMV rider Joan Barreda. The Torreblanca rider, who was responsible for opening the trail, finished this fourth day in seventh place after making a small navigation error. A mix-up that dropped him to second place in the overall standings, two minutes and 10 seconds behind the new leader.

After winning the third stage, Barreda was responsible for opening the trail. Despite navigating without reference points, the AMV rider tried to minimize the time lost to his rivals by setting a strong pace and getting through very complicated navigation sections. But at the end of the stage, Barreda made a small navigation error by failing to find a waypoint, completing the 295 timed kilometers, the second-longest special of the rally, in three hours, 11 minutes and 26 seconds, nine minutes and 37 seconds behind Gonçalves, who took advantage of Barreda’s confusion to take the lead of the race.

Meanwhile, Marc started the special from fifth place and was able to take advantage of this more delayed position to set a good pace. The Catalan rider completed the timed section in three hours, four minutes and 15 seconds, surpassed only by Gonçalves, who started behind him, by two minutes and 26 seconds. Even so, the Avià rider managed to cut the gap to the head of the race.

Today the riders will face the longest stage, with 310 timed kilometers, plus two liaison sections of 14 and 25 kilometers, respectively.

Statements from Marc Coma:

It was a very fun stage, and also demanding. We maintained a good pace throughout the whole stage and managed to make contact with the front riders around kilometer 210 of the special. The feeling with the bike is good after the small changes made during the first two stages. We know it won’t be easy, but we will give our maximum to cut the differences. Tomorrow will be a very hard stage in which our main goal will be to neutralize the distances with the front riders.

Source | AMV