Marcos Baumgart and Kleber Cincea celebrate the Sertões 2020 victory
(Victor Eleutério/FOTOP)
The duo raced with the very same Toyota Fernando Alonso raced the Dakar
(Vinícius Branca/FOTOP)
Their first overall title in the Sertões
(Victor Eleutério/FOTOP)
X Rally Team dominates Sertões with a 1-2-3 final result
(Vinícius Branca/FOTOP)
Those who followed Sertões 2020 had the chance to see one of the most disputed rallies in recent times. The two pairs of the X Rally Team, onboard the Overdrive Toyota Hilux IMA, started this Saturday's special (7) with a difference of 1min26s between them. In advantage, Marcos Baumgart and Kleber Cincea were chasing the unprecedented title and knew that their teammates were coming strong to try to discount the gap. Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti, three times Sertões champions, reduced that difference to just 14 seconds in one of the partials within the 223km stage, but in the Lençóis Maranhenses dunes, Marcos and Kleber managed to recover and win their first title in the biggest rally of the Americas. Sylvio de Barros and Rafael Capoani closed the overall top-3 with the NWM-X Rally Ranger.
The organization of the event has already released a preview of the 2021 edition. Next year, the event should be done in nine days, between August 13th and 21st, and about 5,000 kilometers, still to be defined. The tendency is for the opposite route to be taken, starting in the Northeast and arriving in the Midwest or Southeast.
In this edition, Sertões did not see another team in the leadership besides the X Rally Team. Cristian and Beco won the prologue and the first stage. In the second stage Marcos and Kleber assumed the leadership of the competition and kept themselves in front until their arrival in Lençóis Maranhenses. The team won all five stages raced in this edition (Cristian/Beco won one, Marcos/Kleber won two and Sylvio/Rafael won the last one), which had two stages cancelled due to poor weather forecast.
“It hasn’t clicked yet, but it will sometime”, said Marcos shortly after getting out of the car. “When it does it will be very rewarding. Knowing that it was years of work, dedication and effort... knowing that if you dream and want something, you can achieve it. I've been dreaming for a long time and it came, nothing is by chance. It came at the right time and at the best time. Another title for the X Rally Team”, celebrated the youngest of the Baumgart brothers at 43 years of age. The duo raced with the very same Overdrive Toyota Hilux IMA that two-time Formula 1 champion and two-time Le Mans winner Fernando Alonso raced the Dakar 2020.
Co-driver Kleber Cincea was also moved by the dream. “This is a victory for dedication, persistence, resilience. There is a lot of work involved in that title, nothing fell on our lap ”, defined Cincea at the finish line. “We worked hard wishing for today. I can only thank this team, my family, all the mechanics… everyone. Sertões is incredible”.
Cristian Baumgart also celebrated his brother's victory. “Their title was deserved, I am very happy for them. It was really cool to have this one-two and Sylvio and Rafael closing the podium. I didn't expect anything else ”, said the three-time champion of Sertões. Beco also highlighted: “I wanted to win, but seeing them winning was also a dream come true to me”.
Sylvio de Barros was another one to finish Sertões with a big smile on his face. The driver won the day's special and came out with such a long rally without ever leaving the car. “This was the cleanest Sertões I did, the car arrived here in one piece. I did not have to get out of the car during the stages. It doesn't have a scratch, I didn't have a tire puncture… the BFGoodrich endured everything. I won the special today, Lucas came after me, but we gave everything from the car ”, evaluated the driver of car #315.
In addition to being a three-time navigator for Sertões, Beco Andreotti is also the team leader on a daily basis. “This is the result of an intense work of passion. Seeing Marcos and Kleber win is a dream come true, I was cheering for them, my wife was cheering for them… ”, revealed Beco. “This result of P1, P2 and P3, shows our professionalism, that we are a top team and we are not here to play. We race by the rules, with respect and dignity. We have an excellent team, excellent people. We are a family and sometimes those who are outside do not understand, or do not believe, but the result is there ”, he added.
Last year the navigator of car # 304 suffered a serious accident during a rally in the south of the country. “I learned a lot this past year. It was a serious accident, a slow recovery, we are still working on it… the doctors talk about two years of total recovery and today I was here fighting for the title. I am very happy with all this ”, said Beco.
The fierce brother fight was the mark of a Sertões that needed to reinvent itself to be able to happen in this time of pandemic. Traditionally played in the winter, in the dry season, this year spring has given rise to a new competition. Specials canceled due to rain, caravan moving to isolated ‘bubbles’ and an even bigger social mission. The legacy that Sertões 2020 leaves is the same that champions Marcos and Kleber carried to the top of the podium: with the will to win and believing in the goals, it is possible to make dreams come true.
Result of the final stage of Sertões 2020 between Bacabal (MA) and Barreirinhas (MA):
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