Next Monday, Team HRC begin what looks set to be one of the greatest challenges of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship: the Qatar Sealine. The buoyant HRC riders will have to tackle one of the most arduous tests in the rally calendar thanks to the colossal amount of navigation involved.
The preparations are over. Now, with the scrutineering out of the way and the technical checks easily passed, it’s showtime for Qatar’s Sealine Cross-Country Rally as the curtain goes up on the second round of the world championship. Paulo Gonçalves, Joan Barreda and Jeremías Israel will spearhead the Honda adventure.
In the latest edition of the Sealine, Team HRC will be looking to accrue more kilometres of experience as the quest for a second triumph – to add to that of Joan Barreda’s last year’s – continues. This year, after the setbacks of the world championship opener in Abu Dhabi, the team’s double-headed objective remains both the world championship title, as well as the continued development of the Honda CRF450 RALLY.
Tomorrow, riders can look forward to a total of 255 kilometres, of which 194 will be against the clock. The race’s particular characteristics and its heavy demands on navigational skills throughout the 1759 kilometres of the Sealine, will make Paulo Gonçalves and Joan Barreda two firm-favourites for top-spots on the final leaderboard.
here, the preview of the Sealine Cross-Country Rally.
Private: Wolfgang Fischer
Two weeks after Abu Dhabi, we are heading to Qatar for the second round and everything is all set to bring home what we didn’t manage to achieve in Abu Dhabi. Also, in Qatar we have last year’s victory to defend with Joan Barreda and Paulo Goncalves as motivated as ever. Jeremias Israel from Chile, who has just confirmed his new contract with Team HRC will be supporting our two guys in Qatar. We will try everything to secure the defence of last year’s victory and hope for a better race.
Paulo Goncalves
We are here in Qatar for the second rally of the World Championship. The expectations are high and we want a good race and should be in the running for the top positions. We will do our best and we will try and get the victory which is our main aim. It is also important to test out a few new things on the bike to get everything into shape for the end of the year.
Joan Barreda
We are really up for it here in Qatar. It’s a rally that we like, where we feel comfortable. After the scrutineering, everything is all set to go. We hope to be able to manage the race well, right from the first moment and be able to finish off the five days with a lot of kilometres under our belts and to enjoy ourselves on the Honda CRF450 RALLY.
Jeremias Israel
I’m really pleased to be in second round of the world championship. I’m looking forward to being back with Team HRC after the last Dakar and I believe that being here at the Sealine Qatar is another great step towards a more complete preparation. This is a very tough race for the navigation and I’ll have to pay a lot of attention to improve in this aspect.
Location Information
We have great pleasure in welcoming you to the desert landscapes of Qatar and we hope that our varied desert terrain of soft sand, of dunes, of hard and rocky terrain all provide suitable challenges for our FIA and FIM World Championship contenders and competitors over the five hard days… read more.
Losail International Race Circuit, Municipalidad de Al Daayen, Catar - View in Google Maps
Records
| 2017 | Sam Sunderland (KTM) |
| 2016 | Sam Sunderland (KTM) |
| 2015 | Marc Coma (KTM) |
| 2014 | Joan Barreda (Honda) |
| 2013 | Marc Coma (KTM) |
| 2012 | Marc Coma (KTM) |
