Alfambra
SS4: 184.8km
ALFAMBRA: The 184.8 kilometres of the fourth and last special stage of the 2016 Baja Spain Aragón, was held today at Alfambra. The Esponsorama driver, Xevi Pons, was able to get the final fourth place driving his DMAS South Racing Ford Ranger, after reducing the gap with Argentinian Orlando Terranova. When they arrived to the last sector, Xevi was ahead of Terranova, but the Argentinian driver went back in front of Pons after over speeding some restricted areas. Finally the organization imposed 7 seconds penalty to Terranova and Pons went back to his final fourth place.
Overall Xevi Pons is extremely happy with his performance over the three days of the round five of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. He could prove himself with the best Dakar drivers and this will be a boost of confidence ahead the next edition of the world famous rally. Pons finished 9 minutes and 57 seconds behind the winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah. “We are really happy. We did a great stage today and fourth was the maximum we could archive. I put my head down from the beginning and in the first few sectors I was very fast, even more than Sainz or Hirvonen who were fighting for the race with Al-Attiyah, and we were just 20 second behind Nasser!”, said Pons after completing his first Baja Aragón. “I caught Terranova and passed him, and then I relaxed a little bit because we already did our job. But I didn’t like what Terranova did in the final sector. He went over speeding in some restricted areas and passed me back in an asphalt road. Then with the dust coming out of his car, we lost almost one minute. The marshals penalized him, and we got our fourth place back. It’s a really positive result and I’m extremely happy with the pace we have shown during these three days. I want to say big thanks to Raul, Antonio and all our sponsors, also to the people from DMAS South Racing and Ford, because they made this possible.”
Pons’s support for the Baja Aragon comes from Air Europa, Power Electronics and King Regal. South Racing has also support from Rudy Project, OMP, TW Steel, Gold Nutrition and Michelin.
2016 Baja Spain Aragón
- N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 6:59’59”
- C. Sainz (ESP) Peugeot 2008 DXR 7:00’18”
- M. Hirvonen (FIN) Mini All4 Racing 7:02’29”
- X. Pons (ESP) Esponsorama DMAS South Racing Ford Ranger 7:09’56”
- O. Terranova (ARG) Mini All4 Racing 7:15’21”
