Victory for Despres in Tunisia

From KTM Racing

Cyril Despres triumphed over fellow KTM factory teammate Marc Coma in the 11th and final stage of the Tunisia Rally to steal overall victory in the second round of the 2009 World Championship and level the score at 1-1 between the two rivals.

Right from day one of the 4500km route it was clear that the two KTM riders were going to be each other's toughest rivals.

Despres crossed the final finish line with a margin of five minutes, 57 seconds after the race that started back on March 22 and took competitors on a loop through Tunisia, into Libya and then back to Tunisia for the finish.

After Coma's win in Round One of the championships in the Desert Challenge Abu Dhabi, the Frenchman was happy to even up the score.

"I am especially pleased as my first rally was here back in 1998," Despres said. "A few years later I am still here with a great bike and a great team. To win here on a technical route where navigation takes on a real importance makes victory even sweeter. With Marc it is always extremely close but up until now it has all gone his way this year."

"Even if I missed the win it was important to finish second so I could take as many points as possible for the World Championship," Coma said. "I am very happy to have participated in the Tunisia Rally where I felt good on the bike and navigated well. It was a big rally with 11 days of racing and very varied terrain and it's always something special to return to Africa."

The second half of the Tunisia Rally delivered plenty of drama with strong winds causing organizers to cancel Stage Six, which saw Coma have the slimmest of leads at three minutes, 41 seconds. Riders travelled by road to the bivouac but were in for a restless night.

"We were all sleeping in three tents when at about 3:00 in the morning they all took off with a huge gust of wind. It was chaos as everybody tried to gather up their things and find somewhere to sleep," Despres recalled.

The turning point for Coma came in Stage Eight when his mousse melted and he had to ride to the line on his rim. Meanwhile, riding to preserve his own tires, Despres won the special and advanced to take an overall lead over his Spanish rival of just shy of nine minutes.

Drama continued on the 10th stage when organisers called it to a halt at the 134km mark after an accident in the car category. Coma was the fastest to that point and had shaved Cyril's lead to a mere 3:57, leaving the race wide open for the two final loops of 81km and 73km in the final stage.

Despres prevailed to conclude a gripping rally with virtually nothing separating the two KTM riders at the end.

Overall Results
1. Cyril Despres, France, KTM
2. Marc Coma, Spain, KTM +5:57
3. Francisco (Chaleco) Lopez, Chile, KTM, +53:17
4. Jordi Viladoms, Spain, KTM +53:30
5. Pal Anders Ullevalseter, Norway, KTM, +1:22:43
6. David Casteu, France, KTM +2:10:31