A terrific Paulo Gonçalves on the Honda CRF450 RALLY takes the Stage and the Leadership

Courtesy of Team HRC

TEAM HRC continues to lead the Morocco Rally. In a 298 km second stage, including 240 against the clock, ‘Speedy’ Gonçalves carved out an amazing victory that places hims at the top of the leaderboard. The other TEAM HRC riders put in fine performances too, with Sam Sunderland third and Joan Barreda in fifth.   Another day, another type of rally. After the sand and dunes of yesterday’s opening stage, today saw an entire day of rocky mountain terrain with a lot of navigation. Joan Barreda started out first and rode a fine race, although this allowed the other riders to follow his tracks and thus gain time. His colleague TEAM HRC rider Paulo Gonçalves, seemed at ease on his Honda CRF450 RALLY and kept up the consistency in the first leg, before pushing hard in the later stages. Around Zagora he was practically unbeatable. Gonçalves finds himself leading in the overall standings after two days of rally.   British rider Sam Sunderland also put in a fine performance, overcoming a slight navigational error early on in the special and finishing in third. Joan Barreda’s fifth place leaves him behind Gonçalves in the overall standings. A good all-round team effort.   The tough rocky terrain suited much less Argentine Javier Pizzolito, who is looking forward again to the sand and dunes, where he hopes to better today’s seventh place.   Finally, Hélder Rodrigues, who set out from fourth position suffered an electronic failure some fifteen km from the end of the stage.

Paulo Goncalves 1st 2:50’22 TEAM HRC It was a mountain and rocky stage with a lot of navigation. I think I did well trying to stay on course. The Honda CRF450 RALLY never ceases to amaze me. In the hard terrain the traction is very important and it’s been great to see how it handles the curves. Let’s see how the next four days play out in this tough rally.

Sam Sunderland 3rd +2’09 TEAM HRC A very tough one today with loads of navigation and a lot of rocks. I kept up a great speed until the end after I had a small error near the start. I lost a little time but after was able to push hard. I navigated well and I’m happy.

Joan Barreda 5th +3’45 TEAM HRC I’m very pleased. Having two fast riders like Marc and Paulo behind pushing all day, means that I’ve got to be happy with the result. There was a lot of difficult navigation and I had to mark out the route up front. Tomorrow I start behind them so hopefully I’ll catch up and we can stay together.

Javier Pizzolito 7th +6’52 TEAM HRC We’ve finished a really hard, complicated stage with a lot of rocks. I’m getting used to that type of terrain now. It’s been a very positive stage and the idea was to not lose time. I think if I keep up this pace I should be able to make it up among the leaders.

Stage 2 Results 1 Paulo Goncalves 02:50’22 PRT HONDA TEAM HRC 2 Marc Coma +02’00 ESP KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory 3 Sam Sunderland +02’09 ENG HONDA TEAM HRC 4 Chaleco López +02’51 CHI KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory 5 Joan Barreda +03’45 ESP HONDA TEAM HRC 6 Ben Graham +06’31 AUS KTM KTM AUS Rally Factory 7 Javier Pizzolito +06’52 ARG HONDA TEAM HRC 8 Kurt Caselli +07’01 USA KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory 9 Alessandro Botturi +09’19 ITA SPEEDBRAIN Team Speedbrain 10 Ruben Faria +09’37 POR KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

Overall standings after Stage 2 1 Paulo Goncalves 5:19’30 PRT HONDA TEAM HRC 2 Joan Barreda +00’17 ESP HONDA TEAM HRC 3 Marc Coma +01’47 ESP KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory 4 Chaleco López +08’40 CHI KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory 5 Sam Sunderland +09’50 ENG HONDA TEAM HRC 6 Javier Pizzolito +13’56 ARG HONDA TEAM HRC 7 Alessandro Botturi +18’02 ITA SPEEDBRAIN Team Speedbrain 8 Alain Duclos +18’56 FRA SHERCO Sherco Rally Factory 9 Ben Graham +25’24 AUS KTM KTM AUS Rally Factory 10 Ruben Faria +28’46 POR KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

Event information TOMORROW STAGEStage 3 : Under the sun of MahmidLiaison : 65km Selective sector: 250km Liaison : 98km Back in the sand! The Cheggaga erg will be the playground of this third stage where co-pilots will have to keep an eye on the caps. The start will be on a rolling, fast track before the competitors descend into the valley via a simple but uneven track. On a sandy and undulated track, they will follow the Cheggaga Erg to reach Lake Iriki. Amateurs of speed will enjoy this fast portion on the lake, but co-pilots should keep an eye on their notes in order to reach the most Westerly point of the rally. The return takes place at the cap in order to cross the chott and access the dunes. Those who like the sand will be delighted! As these are the most beautiful dunes of the rally. Pilots must follow the caps to escape the erg via beautiful easy tracks with many parallels to reach the finish.

Valentino Rossi and Sky form Moto3™ team

Courtesy of MotoGP

From the start of next year, Valentino Rossi will be working alongside Sky Italia – the Italian MotoGP™ broadcaster from 2014 – in order to nurture new talents in the Moto3™ category of the World Championship.

Starting with 2014, Rossi will contribute towards a project which will focus on propelling the careers of young riders on international circuits. This comes after a deal was struck between Sky and VR46, the company owned by the nine-time World Champion.

The team, of which Sky will be the principal sponsor, will race with KTM machinery and has already forwarded an official entry application to MotoGP™ governing body the FIM and commercial rights holder Dorna Sports in order to participate in the Moto3™ class.

Romano Fenati will be a rider as he continues his quest of attempting to climb to the top of the World Championship. “We have joined forces with Sky in order to give the Italian riders the opportunity to be competitive and reach the highest levels,” says Rossi.

Earlier this year, it was announced that Sky Italia had acquired television rights to the FIM MotoGP™ World Championship starting with the 2014 season, offering coverage across all Sky platforms including FTA TV, pay TV, internet, mobile and Sky Go.