Title is written in sand for Casteu!
By TMX Archives on 15th Nov 06
TWELVE months is a long time in any form of international motorsport, but Frenchman David Casteu had to wait a year to reverse the roles on his Spanish rival Marc Coma.
Casteu, riding a Gauloises Team KTM, had missed out on the FIM Cross-Country Rallye World Championship title to Coma – the reigning Dakar champion – in the UAE last November. But the tide turned in the energy-sapping heat, sporadic fog and punishing desert terrain of the Middle East last weekend, when Casteu finished fourth in the UAE Desert Challenge and duly clinched his maiden world title.
Last year's FIM champion, Coma, took his first ever win in the final round of the series and the traditional last shake-down test before January's Dakar Rallye.
Casteu arrived in Dubai – one of the world's fastest growing cities – knowing that a finish inside the top five would be sufficient to secure the world title. The Frenchman's strategy was in place and he was able to sit back and watch Coma battle for victory with four-times winner and Gauloises team-mate, Cyril Despres, and fellow Spaniard Jordi Viladoms.
"After four days of this event, I knew I was getting closer to the title,'' said an ecstatic Casteu at the finish. ''Over the last 50km, I just wanted to reach the end. It seemed an eternity to the finish of the last stage. To win the world title is an amazing feeling and it sets me up for a big push on the Dakar.''
Coma was gracious in his defeat and heads to Lisbon for the start of the Dakar as a firm favourite to take a second successive win: ''I knew winning the world title here would be a long shot,'' admitted Coma. ''It was never going to be easy. The stages here are fantastic and we had to put up with foggy conditions on three mornings out of five. Now I must look ahead to winning the Dakar again.''
Coma's winning margin was a comfortable 14 minutes and 19 seconds over arch French rival Despres – winner of the UAE Desert Challenge in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005. Despres was his closest challenger on several of the stages, although Viladoms was also a man in form for the Repsol KTM team and established himself as one of the top five riders in the sport with an impressive run to third place. His job was made that much easier when 2004 winner, Isidre Esteve Pujol, was forced out of the race at the mid-point.
WORLD CROSS-COUNTRY RALLYE CHAMPS
Final Rd – UAE Desert Challenge
OVERALL: 1 Marc Coma (E - 660 KTM LC4) 18 hours 2 minutes 17 seconds, 2 Cyril Despres (F - KTM LC4 M3) 18:16:36, 3 Jordi Viladoms (E - 660 KTM LC4) 18:26:10, 4 David Casteu (F - 660 KTM LC4) 18:32:48, 5 Chris Blais (USA - 660 KTM LC4) 18:33:21, 6 Pal-Anders Ullesvalseter (N - 660 KTM Rally) 18:34:15, 7 Frans Verhoeven (NL - KTM) 18:37:36, 8 Sean Linton (GB - 450 Honda CRF) 20:19;46, 9 Janis Vinters (LV - 660 KTM) 20;34:16, 10 Oscar Polli (I - 450 KTM Rally) 20;51:46,...
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX News, Friday, November 17, 2006