Red Bull KTM’s Matthias Walkner pulled off the overall victory in the Sardegna Rally – his career-first World Championship Rally win. Photography by RallyZone Bauer/Barni
The Sardegna Rally, round four of the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship, came to a close today, and after five grueling stages of complicated navigation through the rugged Mediterranean island, it was KTM Factory rider Matthias Walkner who stood atop the podium. The victory marked first-ever World Championship rally win for the young Austrian. Fellow KTM rider Armand Monleon finished a close second ahead of Yamaha factory rider Helder Rodrigues who collected third. HRC’s Paolo Goncalves and defending Rally World Champion Marc Coma rounded out the top-five after both riders struggled with difficulties.
From the start of the rally, Walkner put his motocross background to good use. The former MX3 World Champion got off on the right foot by winning the motocross-style prologue, but the race wasn’t all smooth sailing.
“I was very motivated after winning the Super Special on the first day, but I crashed twice the next day,” Walkner confessed. “From a riding perspective, the Sardegna Rally can’t be compared with desert riding. It has more the characteristic of an Enduro race.”
With complicated navigation and tricky terrain – made further challenging by tempestuous weather – the Sardegna rally took its toll on a number of riders including Factory Honda heavyweight Paulo Goncalves. Like Walkner, he got out to a good start early in the race, but soon felt the brunt of a small mistake. Goncalves led the way on day two and had opened up a gap on the field, but it all fell apart when a storm swept in a dumped rain in the afternoon. With limited vision, Goncalves missed a note in the roadbook and consequently took a wrong turn that cost him about 20 minutes.
From that point on, Goncalves set to work making up for lost time. After winning day three and putting in another respectable performance on day four, the Portuguese rider pulled out all the stops to top the final day of the rally, and ultimately finish fourth overall, just ahead of Coma.
Early in the rally, Coma had been running inside the top-three. True to form, he was biding his time before taking a steady grasp of the top spot, but the Red Bull KTM rider was hampered by a crash on day four. From that point, Coma was forced to nurse an injured wrist all the way to the finish. Although a little sub-par for the defending champion, his fifth-place finish has allowed him to hang on to his World Championship hopes.
Stage four was the scene of multiple plot twists in the race. Yamaha’s Alesandro Botturi, who had been leading, was forced to drop out of the race after suffering a destroyed rear mousse. Botturi was not the only rider lead to run into misfortune while leading the race. Sherco rider Juan Pedrero appeared to have won the first day of the rally, but was soon penalized for speeding and dropped to 15th place.
Other notable finishes in the race include that of American riders Scott Bright and Ned Suesse. The duo finished 22nd and 29th overall, respectively. Carlos Checa was not only the guest of honor, but the former World Superbike Champion made his rally racing debut at the Sardegna Rally. Checa earned the admiration of his fans and fellow racers by gritting it out through a number of challenges and small injuries to finish 28th overall.
Sardegna Rally – Final Results:
1. Matthias Walkner (KTM)
2. Armand Monleon (KTM)
3. Helder Rodrigues (Yam)
4. Paulo Goncalves (Hon)
5. Marc Coma (KTM)
6. Jacopo Cerruti (Hon)
7. Jordi Viladoms (KTM)
8. Ruben Faria (KTM)
9. David Casteu (KTM)
10. L. Vecci (KTM)
