Goncalves triumphs in the third special of the Qatar Rally

A great day and a fine special today. I started out from eighth which was a good position and I did pretty well as I managed to catch up with the riders who had started out before. I pulled back quite a bit of time. I’m now ten minutes off the top-position in the general with the chance now to choose which of the first six positions I’d like for tomorrow’s start. I’m pleased for me and for the team which is running really well. There’s still a couple of days to go, so let’s see how it turns out.

I’m very happy. I worked really hard all stage long. I arrived at the refuelling first at kilometre 200 with a real fast pace. I was really paying attention to the navigation that was really complicated. I found the right path and was confident and thought that everything was going right. But towards the end I took a route a bit out of the way, which I then thought I could make up, but it didn’t turn out that way. In the end I had to double back some fifteen kilometres. It was a shame, but I had to give it a try! Still, it’s one of those days that you feel pleased with the job done.

Today I’m a bit demoralized. Even though I had the arm problem and was in a lot of pain, I had the chance to push and help the team out. I did what I could but I couldn’t really do that much. I gave it a try, but it didn’t turn out. Right now I’ll have to start thinking about getting back into shape for the next race.

Paulo Goncalves was able to make the most out of his starting position coming from the rear and taking a nice stage victory. It helped him to recoup valuable minutes that he hadn’t been able to do over the previous days. Joan tried to make the impossible possible starting from first position and showing impressive navigation. He did everything at the start of the race, opening the track with very tricky navigation and tried to change the game-plan to his advantage, but of course, in these conditions just one little mistake can mean that you lose minutes. He tried everything but it didn’t work out. In the end we don’t have such a bad starting position for tomorrow. Anyway, there are still two days to go. Let’s see what we can fight for. It wasn’t such a good day for Jeremias. He was trying to help the team and was pushing from the beginning despite his injured arm from yesterday. But in the end it didn’t work out and he had to give up. He was in too much pain and was not physically able to control the bike. So it’s the end of the race for him.