Sherco’s Juan Pedrero has won the most recent round of the 2016 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship, the Sardinia Rally, 43 seconds ahead of second place finisher, Yamaha rider Xavier de Soultrait.
Xavier de Soultrait was Holding on to the overall lead for the first three stages of the race with Pedrero close behind, but when the Frenchman frustratingly suffered technical issues with his road book during stage four Pedrero capitalised on the mistake and moved into the lead. Attacking the last stage of the rally in the hope of regaining the lead Xavier made a small navigational mistake in special stage two, eventually earning a strong runner-up position in the Sardinia Rally 2016.
For Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team rider Alessandro Botturi a return to the 2016 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship and the Sardinia Rally were marked with success. Using his home round of the 2016 series as the perfect opportunity to return to competitive action following wrist surgery the Italian made good use of his experience to wrap up the event in fourth position, less than one-minute from the podium.
Attacking the event’s final stage in order to try and reduce his gap to the riders at the top of the provisional standings, Alessandro’s Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team partner Adrien Van Beveren posted the fifth fastest time in both special stages. Eventually earning seventh in the rally’s final standings the Frenchman importantly gained valuable navigational experience, which will be put to good use in coming events.
With yesterday’s mistakes reducing Helder Rodrigues’ chances of battling for a final top three result, the Portuguese rider posted the ninth fastest time in both special stages during the final day of competition. Bringing his WR450F machine to the finish of the rally without any problems Helder earned ninth in the event’s final standings.
Sardinia Rally 2016 Overall Classification
1. Juan Pedrero (ESP), Sherco, 14:31:15.00
2. Xavier de Soultrait (FRA), Yamaha, 14:31:58.71, +43.70
3. Armand Monleon (ESP), Husqvarna, 14:33:32.34, +2:17.33
4. Alessandro Botturi (ITA), Yamaha, 14:34:11.94, +2:56.93
5. Olivier Pain (FRA), Beta, 14:35:13.90, +3:58.89
6. Kevin Benavides (ARG), Honda, 14:39:13.13, +7:58.13
7. Adrien Van Beveren (FRA), Yamaha, 14:40:45.80, +9:30.79
