Home » Tough first part of the 48h stage for the bikes

Tough first part of the 48h stage for the bikes

The first part of the 48-hour stage was immediately a tough challenge. Stuck cars and buggies caused plenty of problems, and even Carlos Sainz ran into trouble, nearly writing off his car after a serious crash. Motorcyclist James Hillier had to be evacuated by helicopter with a broken nose. From the start, the first part of the 48-hour chrono was eventful.

Of the 127 motorcycles that began the 947-kilometer special this morning, spread over two days, only 21 have reached the final bivouac. The current leader in the Rally GP class is Daniel Sanders, who completed the 617 kilometers in 7 hours, 41 minutes, and 56 seconds. The close competition is evident from the gap between Sanders and the second place: Ricky Brabec, on his Honda, was only 40 seconds slower. The virtual third place goes to Ross Branch, who took 5 minutes longer with his Hero.

The virtual leader in the Rally2 class for this stage suffered a significant crash yesterday, resulting in a small fracture in his shoulder blade. Despite this, the South African rider, competing on a KTM provided by Bart van der Velden, has proven to be incredibly resilient. He is one of the few in the Rally2 class to have reached bivouac E.

When asked for comment, Bart, owner and team manager of the BAS World KTM Racing Team, said: “Yes, he’s a real fighter! We didn’t expect this either. Hopefully, he can keep this up and show what he’s capable of. Michael’s dream is to eventually ride for a factory team, and this way he’s certainly showing what he’s made of.”

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