DESPRES TAKES NARROW LEAD AFTER STAGE TWO OF RALLY MOROCCO

The two riders, both multiple Dakar Rally winners are using the final rally of the season to fine-tune their skills and KTM 450 Rally bikes ahead of the 2013 Dakar Rally that starts January 5 in South America.

The second stage took riders 359 km through the desert of which 315 km was timed and Cyril Despres, who finished third in Monday’s opening stage, crossed the line 1 minute 45 ahead of Spain’s Marc Coma.

Honda rider Helder Rodrigues was third Tuesday and is also third in the overall standings while the three lead riders have now distanced themselves from the rest of the field by a handy eleven minutes. Joan Barreda of Spain was fourth in both the stage and now in the overall.

It will now be up to Despres to open the track on Wednesday but he will certainly have difficulty shaking off the determined Coma, who took the 2012 World Cross Country Rally title in Sardinia after winning the first three of the four round competition.

Coma remarked after the race that it had been a very long stage crossing the Erg Chebbi dunes. He had first overtaken Rodrigues and all three riders stuck together throughout the stage.

Another prominent KTM rider was Chaleco Lopez of Chile who was both sixth in the stage and overall while Juan Pedrero of Spain, KTM factory rider and ‘water carrier’ in the Dakar Rally to his KTM factory teammate Coma trailed the leader by 12 minute 17 in the stage and is seventh overall.

Also performing better were KTM’s two South African riders Riaan Van-Niekerk and Darryl Curtis who are also here to put in the navigation and desert experience ahead of the 2013 Dakar Rally. Riding close together for this important trial run, they finished 15-16 in the stage and have moved up to 16-17 in the order.

Riders face another 357 km on Wednesday but only 291 km of timed section.  

Results Stage Two Morocco Rally
(Total distance 359 km, 44 km liaisons, times 315 km)
1. Cyril Despres (F), KTM, 3:34.14 hours
2. Marc Coma (E), KTM, +1:45 min
3. Helder Rodrigues (P), Honda, +3:11
4. Joan Barrera (E), Husqvarna, +3:26
5. David Casteu (F), Yamaha, +6:02
6. Chaleco Lopez (RCH), KTM, +7:12
Other KTM
9. Jakub Przgonski (P), KTM, +11:26
11. Juan Pedrero (E), KTM, +12:17
15. Riaan Van-Niekerk (RSA), KTM, +24:53
16. Darryl Curtis (RSA), KTM, +25:50
19. Jacek Czachor, Poland, KTM, +36:09

Standings after Stage Two
1. Despres, 6:36.24 hours
2. Coma, +0:37 min
3. Rodrigues, +0:51
4. Barreda, +11:47
5. Paolo Goncalves (P), Husqvarna, +18:29
6. Lopez, +24:39
7. Pedrero, +26:10
Other KTM
11. Przgonski, +40:01
15. Alessandro Botturi (I), KTM, +1:08.27 hour (30 min penalty)
16. Curtis, +1:10.12
17. Van-Niekerk, +1:10.30
18. Czachor, +1:23.17