Sardinia Rally: Alessandro Botturi And Husky Win
Cycle News Staff | June 12, 2014
CF Racing Husqvarna’s Alessandro Botturi wrapped up the Sardegna Rally Race off the coast of Italy today, the Italian finishing in the top two on all five days of the rally.
At the end of today’s fifth stage, Botturi was some seven minutes and 44 seconds ahead of Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma, the Spaniard taking over the in the World Rally Championship with his runner-up finish.
“Here in Sardinia the navigation is rather amazing because of the special terrain and the incredible number of entries in the road book – for example 560 entries just for the fourth stage,” Botturi said. “I think the secret to success is to maintain a very high level of concentration and to do this you have to forget about high speed and focus on the pace. The rhythm is the secret. My best day was day four where I managed to gain some time. The opponents were very strong but they were also a bit unlucky. Marc [Coma], for example, had some problems with his navigation device, and here in Sardinia you cannot give this advantage to your opponents.”
Botturi started the rally by finishing second on day one and day two before winning the final three stages.
Coma was pleased with snatching the championship lead from Honda’s Paolo Goncavles.
“It was not a perfect rally,” the KTM 450 EXC-mounted Coma said. “But we are concentrating on the World Championship title and I am happy to now be in the points lead before going to the next round in Brazil at the end of August. I had a good feeling this week and the bike was fantastic.”
Third overall went to Gas-Gas’ Gerrard Farres, with Goncalves finishing fourth.
