The Speedbrain Rally Team enlarged its podium subscription at the fifth stage of the Rally dos Sertoes in Brazil. For the fifth time in a row Team rider Paulo Goncalves took the box by storm, today on the top step for the third time.
Today the stage was a marathon one of 487 km without any help from the team staff after the finish line. The terrain was provided several different kinds of difficulties. Fast and slippery sections were followed by hard and stony tracks.
Goncalves entered the stage in third position and piloted his Speedbrain 450 Rally in a smart but fast way and caught up to the leaders Coma and Despres by the halfway point. By reaching the finish line Goncalves was able to increase his lead and won the stage in a superior manner. He moved up in the overall ranking to second position.
Paulo Goncalves: “I am really happy to grab the third victory for my team today at the Sertoes. My Speedbrain 450 Rally was running perfect. At the halfway point of the ten day race the overall win is clearly our focus. Nevertheless I will ride carefully tomorrow. Today it was not allowed to change the worn out tires so I will have to take care of that to reach the finish line safely.”
The second part of the marathon stage tomorrow is 424 km long going to Palmas. It is very likely that the leading trio Coma, Goncalves and Despres will make the racing exciting throughout the 355 km of special stage again.
Results Stage 5:
1. Paulo Goncalves (PRT, Speedbrain) 03:58:05 hrs
2. Coma (ESP, KTM) +00:01:02
3. Despres (FRA, Yamaha) +00:02:37
4. Metge (FRA, Yamaha) +00:04:47
5. Przygonski (POL, KTM) +00:04:54
Overall Standings after Stage 5:
1. Coma (ESP, KTM) 11:38:59 hrs
2. Paulo Goncalves (PRT, Speedbrain) +00:02:24
3. Despres (FRA, Yamaha) +00:03:14
4. Przygonski (POL, KTM) +00:23:16
5. Metge (FRA, Yamaha) +00:23:39