Coma, Alcaraz take first in respective segments at Dakar

Polaris, KTM and Honda had a lot to celebrate after the 9,000-kilometer Dakar Rally. The following are releases from each of the OEMs.

Alcaraz wins fourth Dakar in Polaris RZR XP 1000 

Xtreme Plus’ Willy Alcaraz made it an unprecedented fourth time he’d win the Dakar and the third time riding solo, this time in a RZR XP 1000.

This year’s Dakar Rally was 9,000 Kilometers, spanning three countries with 140 competitors taking on some of the toughest geography offered in an off-road race. Alcaraz, similar to the bike riders, would run the race without a windshield and faced the heat, cold, rain, hail, salt, temperatures below zero, altitude and at the end of the race, a storm and mud. He would not only take his class but also finish in 46^th place out of the 67 remaining cars in the car category.

“I am exhausted! This Dakar was hard until the very end, but I am happy to get the fourth victory in T3 and the third in Solo,” said Alcaraz. “At the end, in spite of the bad weather, I was able to manage my distance and make it to the end. The Polaris RZR XP 1000 is a well-made machine that has been magnified by the preparation of one of the most professional workshops in Pont de Vaux. I want to thank Nico, Manu, Thierry, Francis, Sylvain, Alexis, you guys do an extraordinary work every night to make the RZR as new, and in a very friendly environment and good humor which makes me feel better when I get to the bivouac every evening. Also, I want to thank Marco Piana, Norberto Cangani and Steven Griener in the T4 truck (race truck), because we know that in case of a problem, they are not very far.”

Along with Alcaraz, Xtreme Plus’ Team Munk/Delaunay, also in a RZR XP 1000, would take second in the T3 category and 55^th overall.

For a race recap, Dakar fans can check out Polaris’ new Dakar race page at http://www.polaris.com/es-al/rzr-side-by-side/dakar.

Coma wins fifth Dakar title

Red Bull KTM factory rider Marc Coma of Spain on Saturday sealed his fifth Dakar title and presented KTM with its fourteenth win in this offroad classic. Paolo Goncalves of Portugal took second place and KTM rookie Toby Price of Australia took the minor podium place.

Coma, a Red Bull athlete, rode to the start of the final Stage 13 with a 17-minute lead over Goncalves however riders were unable to complete the 393 km of the final stage into Buenos Aires after heavy rain made the track surface slippery and too dangerous. The race was halted at CP2 and Coma was declared the winner. The win for Coma equals that of his former KTM teammate Cyril Despres and represents the domination of these two riders on the event for a decade.

Coma tackled the Dakar with his usual passion and attention to detail, true to his belief that the only result that counts was that in the final day. He took victory in Stage Five and was top three in six other stages. He also rode with care and prudence in the two marathon stages, nursing a damaged tire in the first and safely bringing his KTM 450 RALLY home across the salt flats of Bolivia in wet conditions that resulted in many riders having to exit the rally after salt clogged their engines and electronics.

Marc Coma: “I’m happy and proud. As usual it was a grueling rally. We had to overcome a problem on the second day that slowed us down a bit in the rankings. So from then on we had to change the strategy a little and push to recover that time. We knew that the marathons would be key stages and they were. I am happy with the team and the people we have around us. This fifth win says a lot about all of us.” Coma also congratulated his two rivals Joan Barreda and Paolo Goncalves who he said were tough opponents. “The level was very high and this also makes the win very valuable,” he added.

The 2015 rally was an emotional roller coaster for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team and the KTM-supported riders. Factory racer Sam Sunderland got things off to a brilliant start with a solid first stage win, only to get lost at the tail end of Stage Two in what was the longest stage in the 2015 edition. He then crashed out early in Stage Three and had to retire.

At the same time it was already clear that two young pretenders, KTM-supported Dakar newcomers Matthias Walkner of Austria and Australian Toby Price were out to impress. Both came to the Dakar with only one rally under their tires having raced the Morocco Rally in October. Both were also new to road book-style navigation.

Walkner drew attention early. After finishing 8-6 in the two opening stages he then won Stage Three. The rest of his rally saw him making great recoveries after difficult days until he finally succumbed to altitude sickness and stomach problems in Stage Nine and had to withdraw. It was an unfortunate end for a rider with great potential and as yet little experience and he exited after making his mark as a rider to watch in the future.

Price, a four-time winner of Australia’s Finke Desert classic said at the beginning of the rally that navigation would be difficult. He did have some difficulties in stages 4-6 but by the time he started in the final stage he had eight top five finishes and including a win in Stage 12. Price by then had moved up to third overall and was able to make it stick until the race was declared over.

Regular Red Bull KTM Factory rider Ruben Faria of Portugal finished sixth overall, which was a solid result given that Faria had broken his collarbone only six weeks before the rally. His teammate Jordi Viladoms was one rider who was unable to finish the difficult stage over the Bolivian salt flats. Villadoms was fifteenth overall when he retired from the race. KTM-supported rider Riaan van Niekerk also retired after Stage Seven left Bolivia. He was overall twelfth. Jakub Przygonski of Poland, a regular KTM-supported rider who competes for Team Orlen was eighteenth overall. He has had a difficult season after a serious injury in Abu Dhabi at the beginning of 2014. 

Line honors in the final shortened stage went to three KTM riders. Ivan Jakes of Slovakia won the stage. Countryman Stefan Svitko finished second and Price was third. Svitko finishes fifth overall and Jakes was eighth overall. KTM riders took seven of the top 10 places in the 2015 edition.

The Dakar 2015 was indeed a battle of attrition. Of the 168 starters in the bikes division only 78 were on the starting line for the final run into Buenos Aires.

***

Dakar Rally 2015
Final Overall Results

1. Marc Coma, ESP, KTM at 46.03.49 (5th Dakar title for Coma; 14th for KTM)
2. Paolo Goncalves, POR Honda at 16.53
3. Toby Price, AUS, KTM at 23.14
4. Pablo Qunitanilla, CHI, KTM at 38.38
5. Stefan Svitko, SVK, KTM at 44.17
6. Ruben Faria, POR, KTM at 1:57.50
7. David Casteu, FRA, KTM at 2:00.14
8. Ivan Jakes, SVK, KTM at 2:18.18

Other KTM

11. Hans Vogels, NDL, KTM, at 3:31.50
12. Paolo Ceci, ITA, KTM at 4:58.14
13. Jakub Przygonski, POL, KTM 6:21.12

Team HRC will be back

Seven stage victories, leaders for half the rally, overall runner-up place for Paulo Gonçalves and ninth spot for Laia Sanz, add up to a more-than-positive final report card for Honda and Team HRC at the Rally Dakar 2015. The team will be back next year to win.

Just one day after the end of the Rally Dakar 2015 and Team HRC already have their sights on the 2016 edition. Important conclusions drawn from this year’s event will form the backbone of work to be carried out in preparation for Dakar 2016.

After an almost twenty-five year official absence from the race, Team HRC have retaken the world’s most grueling rally by storm, scoring the greatest number of stage victories. The ‘all for one’ work ethic, the ability to overcome every type of adversity, and the never-say-die approach, make it the team to be reckoned with.

It was a genuine challenge for the riders and the team responded accordingly with great competitiveness from both riders and machines. The Honda CRF450 RALLY passes the test with flying colors, with four of the five bikes making it to Buenos Aires over every type of possible terrain, at sea-level or at over 4,000 metres altitude, on route through Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.

Joan Barreda proved to be an unyielding leader throughout the first week of rally and only a highly controversial decision to race in perilous conditions robbed the Spaniard of final victory. Barreda collected more stages than any other in the Dakar 2015 and showed an unparalleled level of competitiveness, hunger for speed, dexterity at navigation, sharp strategy, and above all leadership for Team HRC.

Paulo Gonçalves, similarly to Barreda, was in the running against a tough rival. The Portuguese ace finished as an exceptional runner-up not far off the eventual overall winner in Buenos Aires.

Likewise, Hélder Rodrigues, two-time stage winner, and Jeremías Israel, put in fine unselfish performances and were always on hand whenever the team was in need.

A brilliant Laia Sanz shone throughout, surpassing all her own objectives and setting precedents by finishing higher than any other female in the entire history of the Dakar as she rubbed shoulders with the elite of the cross-country rally competition.

See you in the Dakar 2016!

Martino Bianchi, Team HRC General Manager said, “The final evaluation is, of course, good. We are on the podium, and we haven’t been on there for many years, so we deserve it. We have proved that we are very close to being the top in this race. We’ve shown everyone the potential of this project. The bike is very fast and the team is working very well, and our riders are very well-prepared to be able to win this it. We had a few unlucky situations, but we won seven out of thirteen stages and we won these with three different riders. So this is also something important, that we have shown our potential. I wish to thank everyone for the great work that they have done so far, and let’s do a bit of fine-tuning to reach the target in the next edition of the Dakar.”

Taichi Honda, Team HRC Technical Director, added, “I’m pleased with the results, but a bit disappointed because we had a few setbacks during the race. Fortunately, the team was able to work together in those moments as if it were one rider. Paulo finished second and Laia ninth and that’s really good. The bike’s performance was better than last year’s, and we have discovered some issues that we will be able to work on before next year, and we will be back at the Dakar with the highest expectations.”

Wolfgang Fischer, Team HRC Team Manager said, “So the 2015 Dakar is over, with a smile in one eye and a tear in the other. Of course, we didn’t achieve our main target to win the race. We tried everything. We had the tools for it. We had the team for it. We had the bike, but in the end it wasn’t the race for us to make it all happen. On the other hand, we can be really happy to have the second place.

“Achieving that with Paulo Goncalves is really the spirit of the team. It shows the quality of the team and its teamwork together, and we are really proud of this. Now we can build a really strong team, and are now looking forward to coming back at the next one even stronger. Next time we will do it in the second week, the way we did in the first week. Thanks to everybody in the team, and thanks for the great cooperation and for the strong belief in our commitments.”