The second race that scores in the Raids World Championships, the Rally Tunisia, has finished with a hard-fought victory for Marc Coma, who put in a flawless second half of the race, overcoming the tyre problems he had on the second day.
The Repsol rider lost 25 minutes in the second special stage and finished first in the over 450cc category, second in the overall standings behind Chaleco López, closing the gap with him by 17 minutes over three days.
After 1,848 kilometres, 1,331 of them timed, Marc Coma has taken a new victory in the Raids World Championship. The Repsol rider asserted his talent in the African dunes to recover after the tyre problems he had on the second day, at the end of which he was eighth in the overall standings, more than 28 minutes behind the leader, Chaleco López. Winner the next day, Coma also won the fourth stage and yesterday, despite breaking a wheel rim 40 kilometres from the end, he managed to finish second, climbing up to the third provisional position.
In today’s stage, a strong sand storm that affected the participants yesterday significantly complicated the special stage. Despite having barely 132 timed kilometres, Coma took his third stage victory in this Rally with authority, climbing a position in both the overall standings and in his category – bikes over 450cc-. The Repsol rider thereby completed a low to high Rally, in which, demonstrating his talent on the dunes, he made an enormous comeback to take victory.
The Repsol rider’s next race will be in Italy, where the third race that counts towards the World Champion, the Rally of Sardinia, will be held between 27 May and 1 June.
Marc Coma says: "Everything went very well. It was a very complete Rally, with many dunes and navigation, and weather conditions that, over the last few days, have made things very complicated. I’m pleased with this win in my category, second in the Rally, because they are important points towards the World Championship. We had another good race, with a good pace and despite the problems of the first few days, we fought to the end, doing a very good job. Today was particularly tough because, although the special wasn’t very long, the sand storm made it very difficult".
