ES2 Fafe Rally 2023 standings
Live Text (to be uploaded in the future)
Highlights
In difficult conditions with rain (for the top contenders) and several muddy sections, the first special of the day allowed Mads Østberg to take the lead in the general classification.
First on the road, the Norwegian has logically taken advantage of this advantage to widen a good gap against many of his opponents. Starting with Craig Brian. Author of Friday’s best qualifying time, the Irishman made the odd choice by opting for fourth on the road. With 14 to lose, the penalty was immediate.
Behind the Norwegian, Martin Siskes and Hayden Paddon finally got away with it. Despite his disappointment with his leadership, the Latvian lost just 2 5 while the New Zealander was down 4 1.
On the French side, the day started right for Yoann Bonato who managed to climb to the top 15. For Mathieu Franceschi, the beginnings were more complicated as the contact leaned on the bridge which thankfully proved to have no consequences for the mechanics of his Skoda Fabia.
Rider reactions
| M. Ostberg | “We had to survive, I tried to keep up the pace even though I didn’t have a grip. We couldn’t do much more than that.” |
| Mr Marczyk | “We stopped at the starting line, it was the first time it had happened to me. The finish was very muddy.” |
| Mr. Heikle | “It was easy in the end to make mistakes in these very difficult circumstances.” |
| Jim Brain | “I made a stupid mistake yesterday choosing my starting position. Like that.” |
| G. Linnamäe | “It’s really very slippery, I got into a couple of big heats, and then the pace slowed down.” |
| M Comus | “It’s a dangerous stage, it was really slippery.” |
| Mr. Franceschi | “In the path, there is a lot of water, Joker blew us away. We’ll see what happens on the next one.” |
| H. Paddon | “The last part is really muddy. The fist is hard to read.” |
| T Christenson | “We did a special clean job. Everything is going as planned.” |
| Mr. Siskes | “I thought I was driving really bad. I think you have to be happy.” |
| R Teodosio | “Very slippery, the last three kilometers are really dangerous, the track is not clean.” |
| E Case | “It’s not bad, I just tried to be careful. I didn’t want to do stupid things.” |
| E Larina | “It was tough. In the first corner of the special, I almost ended up in a tree.” |
| Way Bonato | “Doing Portugal in these conditions is like sleeping with a pretty girl and turning out the lights… The roads are beautiful but the conditions are complicated.” |
| P. Tidemand | “Don’t worry, no big attack, I have to learn the materials at hand.” |
next special : SS3- Boticas / Senhor do Monte 1 (15.05 km) from 09:59 (Saturday March 11, 2023)
Class SS2 / After SS2 (9.64 km)
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