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Jalapão Rally 2023: Emotion will take over Tocantins
The event happens next week, from June 19 to 24, with a start and finish in Palmas. The teams will start arriving on Sunday at the Convention Center and will go through inspections on Tuesday, June 20, when there will also be a promotional start at Capim Dourado Shopping.
Next week, attention turns to the 9th edition of the Jalapão Rally, five days over 1,280 kilometers. The Brazilian Cross Country Championship will arrive in the city of Palmas, in Tocantins, where the activities take place (boxes, assistance, inspections, official openin, competition vehicle exhibition, briefing, and ceremonial start) on Monday (19) and Tuesday (20), and the preparation for the prologue start (which defines the start order) and the stages on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - June 21 to 24 - will begin.
Ricardo Martins, three-time champion of the Jalapão Rally, guarantees that he is ready for the conquest of the four-time champion. "I have been racing cross-country rallies since 2011, and the Jalapão Rally is special for me because I like to ride the type of terrain that the race provides and also because of the number of times I have won the event," he says.
"I've been training hard since the last rally I took part in. The training has been continuous because I am recovering from a knee injury and surgery, but now I am feeling well-prepared and very strong for this race. Due to the amount of sand, we will face, it was necessary to make some adjustments, so I changed the bike's setup to have more security in the engine. The bike is perfect and ready for the challenges of the Jalapão desert", says the Palhoça (SC) pilot.
Ricardo's teammate on the Yamaha IMS Rally Team, Gabriel Bruning, the winner among the motorcycles in 2022, wants another Jalapão Rally title. "The expectation is great, there will be long days, and one of the goals is to complete all the stages to repeat what was done last year", said the pilot from São Ludgero (SC).
The Honda Racing team will have Julio Cesar Zavatti, Tiago Luiz Wernersbach, Diego Martin Duplessis, and Gabriel Lucas Soares fighting for the ninth edition title. "This year, we will have on the first day a little different terrain than in previous editions, there will be gravel like what we are used to in our day-to-day here in our state. From the second day on, we will enter Jalapão, where the wheater will be very hot and the ground made of soft sand. But we managed to find very similar places to train in," said Bissinho.
"So the expectation of the race is very good, Jalapão is always a great challenge. It is a nice route to accelerate, but it requires a lot of technical and physical preparation, and certainly a lot of navigation as well. So, this is an edition that I'll be very well prepared for, and I want to have a great rally", added the pilot from Monte Alto (MG).
The current UTV champions, Cristiano Batista and Robledo Nicoletti, from Transmáquinas Racing, will defend their titles. "The expectation is good, well-trained, and well-prepared equipment to seek another victory. We want to ride steadily and safely throughout the entire route. We are ready and excited!", says the pilot from Pato de Minas (MG).
Among the Cars, the pilot Marcos Baumgart and the navigator Kleber Cíncea are also ready for the challenge: "Another year in Jalapão is too good. I've already raced motorcycles, UTVs, and cars, with good opportunities to be in these categories and have good results. With the new car, another podium may come, but I'm not even thinking too much about the results, because it will be a laboratory of tests. I like Jalapão and I hope it teaches us much more than it can teach us every time we've been there", says Marcos Baumgart, from São Paulo.
So far, there are 111 vehicles, 18 cars, 30 motorcycles, and 63 UTVs. The complete list of competitors for the 9th edition of the Jalapão Rally can be found at http://arenarally.com.br/.
Automatic translation
Source Rally do Jalapãpo
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