Things couldn¢t have been any better for the new Honda CRF450 RALLY with a victory in the Morocco Rally and a World Championship title picked up by Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves sealing his fate in the final stage of the championship. Joan Barreda finished in third place. In doing so, Honda has won five out of the six stages disputed and has three riders in the overall first five standings.



A thrilling final stage saw Paulo Gonçalves win the Morocco Rally. It was a complicated affair with a lot of challenging navigation and many chances to make mistakes. The Portuguese rider was pushing hard and was able to handle the Honda CRF450 RALLY with great skill, and eased through the most high-pressure moments, arriving at the halfway point ahead of his nearest rival Marc Coma. Gonçalves takes the crown of World Championship FIM Cross-Country Rallies.


Three times Dakar Rally winner Marc Coma on the new Ktm 450 Rally bike, wrapped up his week¢s campaign in the OilLibya Rally of Morocco on Saturday, narrowly missing first place overall by three minutes 44 to eventual winner Paolo Goncalves of Portugal. Coma also placed second in the 2013 World Cross Countries Rallies Championship. Joan Barreda started the day from first position, but a fall a few kilometres into the race damaged his road-book. In spite of this setback and not knowing the correct route, he was able to continue, following in the tracks of the riders that had overtaken him. He finally came in ninth, finishing in third overall place on the championship podium.

Final results OiLibya Morocco Rally 2013 
1 Paulo Goncalves 17:08'59 PRT HONDA TEAM HRC 
2 Marc Coma +03'44 ESP KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory 
3 Joan Barreda +07'39 ESP HONDA TEAM HRC 
4 Chaleco López +32'58 CHI KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory 
5 Sam Sunderland +45'57 ENG HONDA TEAM HRC 
6 Ben Grabham +55'08 AUS KTM KTM AUS Rally Factory 
7 Kurt Caselli +01:04'32 USA KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory 
8 Olivier Pain +01:06'09 FRA YAMAHA Yamaha Racing 
9 Alessandro Botturi +01:08'58 ITA SPEEDBRAIN Team Speedbrain 
10 Frans Verhoeven +01:41'38 HOL YAMAHA Yamaha Netherlands Verhoeven