Every experienced driver who races at Rally dos Sertões have heard about or met themselves a myth called The Monster of Jalapão. The semi-arid area in the south of the Tocantins state usually holds the most difficult stages - and always opening or closing the marathon. It is were the winners prove they can win the rally or they are caught by the monster. According to the myth, it is a car-eating creature.
"I think the Jalapão Monster ate a lot of cars today", Lance Woolridge joked after finishing second todays 515-km sandy stage. "The plan was just to travel together with Cristian and Beco for the rest of it, but we caught some slower UTVs in the way and we lost a bit of time helping Cristian to change the driveshaft of his car", he commented.
Although Woolridge had said he enjoyed the trip - a stage like the one he often races when he is in the Bostuana Desert - he remembered to keep it cool despite the high temperatures (above 40 degrees Celsius). "Unfortunately we lost the second place overall, but it is just a nine-second gap, so tomorrow we have to keep it smooth and make no mistakes", Lance told, referring to the arrival of Mitsubishis Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad to second place.
In front, Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti lost 25 minutes during refueling to change a part of the driveshaft, but overall the lost was just a little less than two minutes combined. "When I raced in Botsuana earlier this year, I thought that was three times harder than Jalapão. Today, Jalapão was three times harder than Botsuana. I think I finished the stage feeling my kidneys in my throat" Cristian joked. His co-pilot Beco felt dehydrated, but worked it out with lots of fluids, sugar and some salty snacks.
"I think we faced the monster of Jalapão and we won it. Not without some battle marks", Andreotti pointed. "We have a certain margin, so tomorrow we will cruise though a clean stage, smoothly, without any mistakes, hoping for everything to go perfectly well", he finished.
Team spirit ruled this stage. When the NWM-Ford Ranger #304 stopped on the refueling spot to change the CV Boot on the driveshaft, Lance and Marcelo pulled over to help their teammates. "It was fundamental. I think we could have lost even more time if there were only the two of us making the change", said Cristian.
"It is about the team. We work as a team. Lance has taken the right decision to stop and help. Of course, we want Cristian to win the Sertões, but it is the whole team that will collect the trophy with it. Unfortunately Lance lost some minutes, but its rally. Lets see what they can do tomorrow. This is motorsport, anything can happen around the corner. But the cars are in good shape", Neil Woolridge, NWMs director, stated.
This Saturday they leave the monster of Jalapão behind heading to Tocatins capital Palmas. There will be 243 kilometers, 191-km counting time to decide the Sertões 2016 champion among the T1 FIA cars.
DAY 6 - Results:
1º) Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad (MITSUBISHI), 5h11min03s
2º) Cristian Baumgart/Beco Andreotti (FORD X RALLY TEAM), 5h14min56s;
3º) Lance Woolridge/Marcelo Heseyama (NWM-FORD PERFORMANCE), 5h15min16s;
OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 6:
1º) Cristian Baumgart/Beco Andreotti - 19h45min01s
2º) Lance Woolridge/Marcelo Haseyama - 20h32min10s (+47min08s)
3º) Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad, 20h52min00s (+1h06min59s)
THE FINAL STAGE:
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
