All the work NWM Motorsport have done since the last Rally dos Sertões is being paid off. This Tuesday, the third day of Brazils largest off-road competition, the sun set with all the three NWM-Ford Performance Ford Rangers V8 placed in the first three overall positions.
Victory today came once again with a X Rally Team Ford Ranger. This time, the #303 of Marcos Baumgart and Kleber Cincea, with Sertões leaders Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti finishing second, almost three minutes behind the 4h42min04s mark.
NWM team principal Neil Woolridge described the feat as "really satisfying". "To win all the stages so far shows that all the work weve done between last years race and this years had really paid off. The cars are good, they are reliable, and the drivers are very happy with them, saying the performance is fantastic. This is good to hear, because we had done a lot of work to improve the cars. We knew he had to, and the race is a lot rougher than last year - more than we thought it was going to be. It is still very early in the race, so we must get ahead of ourselves, not get too excited, but for sure we are in a good position. We have to keep our heads down, concentrate and make sure everything is running a hundred percent", he said.
For Lance Woolridge, Neils son, racing the NWM-Ford Ranger for the first time out of South Africa, it has been a long and difficult day. "Indeed it was. The car was going well, and I stalled the car into a corner we overshot, so it wouldnt start again. We had to ask someone to tow and pull-start us, and then 30 kilometers away I did the same thing again", he described.
"We had to wait for someone else", he continued, "so we lost a lot of time because not everyone stopped. Thankfully, Fabricio Bianchini and Michel Terpins were the two drivers who helped us, and it was really nice of them. For the rest of the stage I tried to keep it smooth and clean not to lose any more time, keep the car alive. It was a very long and rough stage, but it was good", Lance concluded.
Woolridges co-pilot Marcelo Haseyama said it wasnt easy not to keep the right foot down the throttle. "It was a lot faster than yesterday", the Brazilian stated. "We had to incidents that had cost us some time - 30 minutes at least -, but the help Bianchini and Terpins provided was crucial. Two loyal competitors and great people that stopped their cars to pull us out of the ditches we fell into", he thanked.
This Wednesday, Brazils Independence Day, competitors go from Posse to Luís Eduardo Magalhães, already in Bahia. There will be 362 staged kilometers of a 560 total of the fourth day.
DAY 3 - Results:
1º) Marcos Baumgart/Kleber Cincea (FORD X RALLY TEAM, 4h42min04s;
2º) Cristian Baumgart/Beco Andreotti (FORD X RALLY TEAM), 4h44min51s;
3º) Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad (MITSUBISHI), 4h54min08s
6º) Lance Woolridge/Marcelo Heseyama (NWM-FORD PERFORMANCE), 5h13min08s;
OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 3:
1º) Cristian Baumgart/Beco Andreotti - 11h16min01s
2º) Marcos Baumgart/Kleber Cincea - 11h31min52s
3º) Lance Woolridge/Marcelo Haseyama - 12h01min23s
WHAT THEY ARE UP TO THE NEXT DAYS:
07/09 - Round 4
Posse (GO) - Luís Eduardo Magalhães (BA)
Stage: 361,94 km
Total: 560,15 km
08/09 - Round 5 - Marathon Stage
Luís Eduardo Magalhães (BA) - Mateiros (TO)
Stage: 425,67 km
Total: 461,14 km
09/09 - Round 6 - Marathon Stage
Mateiros (TO) - Ponte Alta (TO)
Stage: 514,98 km
Total: 520,95 km
10/09 - Round 7
Ponte Alta (TO) - Palmas (TO)
Stage: 191,54 km
Total: 243,61 km
NWMs Facebook official page: Neil Woolridge Motorsport
Instagram Account: @nwmsport
FURTHER INFORMATION IN BRAZIL
P1 Media Relations
CLEBER BERNUCI, Press Officer
+55 (19) 992 222 517
cleber@xrallyteam.com.br
FURTHER INFORMATION IN SOUTH AFRICA
Mileman Media
+27 (82) 897 6145
COLIN MILEMAN, Press Officer
colin@milemanmedia.co.za
