2012 FIM Cross Countries Rally
The man who won the Sardegna Rally five times, MRW Repsol KTM’s Marc Coma, returned to the top of the time sheets Tuesday following a Special 5 win during the third of five stages.
With his win, the first of this rally, Coma remains in second, but shaved over two minutes off his time, the Spaniard now trailing KTM’s Jordi Viladoms by 02:27 minutes in the overall classification.
Coma took over the first stage, which consisted of 69 kilometers, and finished two minutes ahead of Stephane Peterhansel. The Sardegna Rally riders were supposed to participate in another special on Tuesday, but race organized canceled it due to safety reasons.
Marc Coma (MRW Repsol KTM 450 EXC-F) says: “On one hand I am happy, because today went well. I tried to make the most of us starting further back and pushed to the maximum to recover the gap. The problem was the anulation of the second special stage, when in theory we had another chance to cut more time off.
“In any case, I’m happy, because I began to feel more comfortable riding and had more confidence. On the other hand, it was a pity that they cancelled the second part. You never know what might have happened -we might even have lost time in the end- but we didn’t even have the chance to try. We have two days to go and we will have to do the best job possible.”
Wednesday’s penultimate run is a circular route that starts and begins in Arbatax, with a total of 260km in distance and a timed 180km stage -the longest of the rally.
2012 Sardegna Stage 3 Results:
Special 5 – 69 km.
1. M. Coma 1:20:31
2. S. Peterhansel +00:02:12
3. R. Faria +00:02:22
4. A. Botturi +00:02:50
5. H. Rodrigues +00:02:57
11. J. Pedrero +00:04:18
Overall classification
1. J. Viladoms 7:22:43
2. M. Coma +00:02:27
3. A. Botturi +00:05:49
4. H. Rodrigues +00:06:04
5. G. Farrés +00:07:52
