Marc Coma Wins Morocco Rally And World Title
Cycle News Staff | October 9, 2014
Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma wrapped up the 2014 World Cross Countries Rally Championship with a victory today in the Morocco Rally. The four-time Dakar Rally winner went into the final round with a narrow lead in the championship but the title was for all practical purposes his once rival Paolo Goncalves was forced out of the rally in the fifth stage due to injury.
Coma cruised to a seventh-place finish in the final stage today but that was enough for him to secure the overall win and the championship.
Coma finished the six-stage Morocco Rally with a stage score of 3-2-5-1-8-7. He took the overall lead in stage two and then again from the final three stages. In stage three he also successfully put behind him the memories of a crash in 2012 in this rally where he sustained an injury that kept him from defending his Dakar title January 2013.
“We know that the Morocco Rally is one of the toughest on the calendar so we came with tactics not to take any risks for the championship,” Coma said. “But the feeling is amazing and it’s been a special week full of emotions because I had my birthday, then I won the title and today the win in the rally. To be six-times World champion is not easy. There is a lot of work behind it.”
Today’s stage was won by Joan Barreda, the Honda factory rider beating Red Bull KTM’s Sam Sunderland by just over two minutes. Barreda ended up fourth overall with Sunderland climbing up the rankings to second overall behind his teammate Coma.
Stefan Pierer CEO of KTM Sport Motorcycles AG: “Victory for Marc Coma and the KTM Rally Team in the World Championship is extremely important for KTM,” said Stefan Pierer, the CEO of KTM Sport Motorcycles AG. “Rally sport is and remains the core of our philosophy and represents the very essence of our activities. With Marc Coma, our winning rally bike and our entire team we have once again proven that we have the strongest structure. The World Championship title is not only the perfect incentive but also for our Rally Department, it signals the start of Dakar 2015.”
Coma won his fourth Dakar title in January, finished second in the first three rounds of the World Championship in Dhubi, Qatar and Italy, won the Rally dos Sertoes in Brazil and rounded out his championship with a victory in Morocco.