The race was held from 19 to 24 June and ran 1,280 kilometers inside the Tocantins and Maranhão states, in Brazil. Marcos Baumgart and Kleber Cincea in the cars, Adrien Metge in the motorcycles, Rodrigo Varela / Matheus Mazzei in the SSVs, secured the titles.

The Rally Jalapão marks another major race of the Brazilian Rally Cross Country Championship, held this week from 19 to 24 June, in the states of Tocantins and Maranhão, passing through Japão. The fourth and final stage held on Saturday, 24, had a roadmap of pure adrenaline on 398,78 kilometers, with 200,08 kilometers of timed stretches and displacements for cars, bikes and UTVs.

The great villains have been the heat and dense sand since the start of the 9th edition of the event, which returned to its origins with the start and arrival in Palmas (TO), and kept the adrenaline high in another challenging stage of the contest in the desert of Jalapão. The essential elements for a good performance, were physical endurance, competitor entrosement and the dominance of their vehicles.

The great highlight of the 2023 edition was the Frenchman, living in Indaiatuba (SP), Adrien Metge (#1/MT1) – champion of 2020 – ( #1/MT1), who won the bicampionate of the competition with the Yamaha WR 450 F, of the Yamaha IMS Rally Team, with the accumulated time of 09h39m04s12, having won the four stages. Second was Martin Duplessis (#3/MT1), Honda CRF 450 RX, from Honda Racing Brazil Rally and third Gabriel Bruning (#8/MT2), Yamaha WR 450 F, teammate of Adrien Metge.

“I am very happy. It was a cool test, we had plenty of sand and a bit of land in a place favorable for off-road sports. I’m very happy and want to congratulate the Yamaha team for all their support for this achievement,” Metge celebrates.

The paulist duo formed by Marcos Baumgart and Kleber Cincea (#302), Hunter of the X-Rally Team, was the fastest in the Car category in the combined four stages of the competition, which crossed the Jalapão and became champion, with a time of 09h25m15s60. Following were the teammates, composing the first six placed, Cristian Baumgart / Beco Andreotti (#301), who won the first and fourth stages; Rodrigo Ache / Luis Felipe Eckel (#327); Gunter Hinkelmann / Daniel Spolidório (#388), Dan Nacif / Fred Budtikevitz (#318) and José Silmar / Alyson Antunes (#332).

Marcos Baumgart four years ago was in the Jalapão Rally on motorcycles and won in the Marathon category, then two years ago he won the title in Cars, last year he repeated the achievement and, now, is one of the biggest winners of the race with the conquest of the tricampeonato as a driver (categoria T1M). The navigator Kleber Cincea is the bicampion of the test. “Jalapão is always incredible. Never a title and a more vitpoti here, really has no price. It’s over and we’re already wondering when the next one will be,” he said. “They say that the Jalapão beast exists, but I’ve never seen it,” he jokes.

Among the SSVs, Rodrigo Varela and Matheus Mazzei (#110/T1/ Can-Am Maverick X3 – Monster Energy) secured the unprecedented title after dominating the last stage. “We are very happy with the goal achieved and the evolution we have had every day. The UTV was balanced, the pilot and browser set synchronized and we had a very good pace preserving the equipment. The achievement encourages us for the next tests, such as the Sertões”, celebrates the pilot paulista.

The 2023 edition broke the record of registered vehicles with 103 vehicles, 178 competitors, among cars (14), motorcycles (28) and SSVs (61). In total, in five days of disputes (prologue and four stages) a total of 1,280 kilometers were travelled, with disputes in the Tocantins and Maranhão States.

The Rally Jalapão is a performance of Arena Promotions and Events, sponsored by the C6 Bank, support from the Government of Tocantins, Municipality of Palmas, through the Sports Foundation, Municipal Security and Urban Mobility Secretariat, Tourism Agency of Palmas; Municipality Municipality de Mateiros, municipality of São Félix do Tocantines, Capim Dourado Shopping, Divino Fogão, FF Motorsports, Grandtec Polaris, Unicom and Anube Sport. CBM is the Brazilian Motorcycle Confederation (CBA).

Automatic translation from the original Brazilian Portuguese version
Source Arena Produções / SIG Comunicação
Photos: DFotos | PhotoAction