Honda - Sardegna Rally Race, Cross Countries Rally Round 4, Stage 1 - Paulo Goncalves tops the table after first full stage

Team HRC’s Paulo Goncalves achieved a noteworthy start to the Sardinia Rally Race, after finishing the special stage with a second place finish on the day, which turns the Portuguese rider into the rally’s overall leader. The Sardinia Rally got off to a dream start for Team HRC with Paulo Goncalves establishing himself at the head of the leaderboard. Although initially finishing in third place, penalizations favoured the Portuguese rider who was able to move up into second final position. As had been previously anticipated, the first full stage was a demanding affair, full of navigation, which wound its way through narrow, rocky paths that proved a constant struggle to keep the bike under control. Nevertheless, the Portuguese rider astride the Honda CRF450, setting out from sixth starting position, was able to score a commendable time, finishing just six seconds adrift of Catalan Joan Pedrero after 160 kilometres of timed special. Paulo Goncalves now heads the overall table with a foursecond gap over second place Armand Monleón. Jacopo Cerrutti, the promising young Honda rider, took sixth final place and lies in fifth overall after the first stage. Tomorrow, the Sardinia Rally will offer up a double special stage with 100.2 and 102.2 kilometres respectively, starting out again from Pula, but this time finishing in Fordongianus. Paulo Goncalves STAGE: 2ND PROVISIONAL: 1ST Today, the first stage went fairly well: I stayed focused throughout the special which was really tough to navigate. Here in Sardinia the track is really narrow and rockfilled and we went down a lot of paths where the bike only just made it through. But in the end it turned out well and everything went according to plan. The bike was running perfectly too after we finetuned the suspension. Tomorrow, I will push hard and do my best to keep it up. Wolfgang Fischer Team HRC Team Manager Today was a very good first day at the Sardinia Rally – a very tricky one with 160 km in the mountains, very narrow trails, a lot of stones and intense vegetation. Paulo was able to push and find a good rhythm right from the beginning. Also, in the second part, after the refuelling area, he pushed even more and had a great final part. The bike was working great and everything was as it should be. It was very hot weather – over thirty degrees in the mountains. Tomorrow, we’ll have another stage with about 200 km special test and even more navigation so... let’s go!