“Imagine hell. It was today’s stage. 200 kilometers of soft sand, but ok. Big climbs in soft sand, ok. An infernal heat, ok. But to hit a log, lose two tyres at the same time and then had to drive 340 km in a very long stage, without any spares, that now one deserves. We had to take all precautions possible to arrive and we couldn’t take any risks. The final 57km had stones, stones and even more stones, and some sections like off-road trial. It was hard but we finished. Now only two days remain until the end.” said Luiz Facco, 5th overall after the stage in a Mitsubishi ASX Racing
Overall, Cristian Baumgart (Ford Ranger) kept is lead safe from any attacks of Sylvio Barros (Ford Ranger), still retaining 8m13s advantage over his rival after the 5th stage. For the moment, and in a moment that only two stages remain to be raced, it looks like those 2 Ford drivers will be the ones discussing the final victory, as the third classified Rafael Cassol (Giaffone Buggy V8) is 52m59s away.
In the motorbikes, it was finally the day for Ricardo Martins to score a stage victory in 2018 Sertões Rally. The Yamaha rider needed 5h22m45s to reach the finish line, 3m33s faster than Gregório Caselani (Honda) who finished second. Tunico Maciel, also in Honda finished third, 5m05s from the winner.
The the overall motorbike classification, Tunico Maciel is still the race leader, with 21h08m11s of total racing time. The Honda rider has 28m19s advantage of Ricardo Martins who is actually the second. Gregório Caselani is third with 25h08m42s total time.
In the SxS (SSV/UTV) Cristiano Batista in Can-Am Maverick won the stage, after 5h19m01s racing across the amazing Brazilian landscape. Marcelo Gastaldi (Can-Am Maverick) finished second, only 2m30s down on the winner. Closing the stage podium, in third finshed Denísio Nascimento, also driving a Can-Am.
This 5th stage saw some changes in the leaderboard, as Denísio Nascimento climbed to the 1st place, with 21h56m02s. But nothing is decided yet, as Enrico Amarante (second place) is just 22 seconds away. In third is Gabriel Cestari.
Has for Reinaldo Varela, former race leader before the start, was a “victim” of the stage and fell to 7th overall, almost losing any chance to recover the lead and win the race.
In the quads, this stage also caused troubles and changes to the participants. The day’s winner was Giovanni Filho, crossing the line with 6h29m30 seconds. In second finished Wescley Dutra, while Hélio Pessoa finished third.
But the biggest loser of the day was George Ximenes, that needed 9h50m to reach the end of the stage, and not even is huge 1h24m lead before the start was enough to prevent in to vanish down on the leader board.
With Ximenes now in third but without any chances to fight back to recover the lead, is now Wescley Dutra who leads the race, with Giovanni Filho in second.
After a well deserved rest for the participants and the necessary mechanical interventions on the racing vehicles, the rally heads now to Juazeiro do Norte, in Ceará state. The 602 km long route will have only 226 against the clock.
Fast and sinous, this is considered the fastest stage of this year’s race until almost to the end. The final kilometers will be technical and hard until the finish line.
Source: Rally-Raid Network adaptation from Vipcomm’s official press release