Fernando Rosset/Marcelo Haseyama, Michel Terpins/Fabrício Bianchini, Mauro Guedes/Edu Bampi and Pedro Padro/Patrick Prado are looking for a clean ride and to avoid problems
Starts this Friday (13) another edition of Sertões, the largest rally of the Americas and one of the largest in the world. The race, which is 2021 will go through only Northeastern states, starts in Praia da Pipa, in Rio Grande do Norte, and ends in Tamandaré, in Pernambuco, also going through the states of Piauí, Bahia, and Alagoas, in a total of almost 3,500 kilometers.
Among the classes in dispute in the car category, an octet of already experienced pilots and navigators seeks to improve their marks in this year's race. They form the Off Road Rally Team, a team formed by the duos Fernando Rosset/Marcelo Haseyama, Michel Terpins/Fabrício Bianchini, Mauro Guedes/Edu Bampi and Pedro Padro/Patrick Prado. The team uses the structure of the multi-champion X Rally Team.
Among the four duos, Rosset/Haseyama will compete in T1 FIA, the fastest in the competition; Terpins/Bianchini, Guedes/Bampi, and Prado/Prado will run in T1 FIA Brazil.
For Fernando Rosset, this will be his third Sertões. After completing the race in 2019, in his first participation, the pilot did not manage to get past half of the race last year. Now, he moves up a category with the X Rally Ranger, but keeps his feet on the ground when talking about his goals.
"I spent the year doing a lot of intensive training and piloting for the Sertões. The idea is to complete the rally and see how it goes like we did in 2019; in 2020 I already wanted to push a bit harder and we got by the wayside. The first objective is to finish the race, and even more now moving up the category, from T1 Brazil to T1 FIA, the car is very different and we'll get to know it better in the Sertões, even. The anxiety is great, and at least this time we don't have to wait a year between the last edition and the next one",
said Fefo, referring to the fact that in 2020, because of the pandemic, the race took place in November.
Mauro Guedes comes with a new navigator. After a successful partnership with Filipe Bianchini, which yielded a vice-championship in T1 Brazil in 2019, Mauro will now have the company of the also experienced navigator Eduardo Bampi.
"We always think about the best possible. We are well prepared. This year I'm going with Eduardo Bampi, a top navigator, experienced. The car comes with a new engine, and physically we are also working hard. The team has an excellent structure and we will always try our best. In the end, we talk about results", said the driver from Brasilia.
Pedro Prado goes to his eighth Sertões. After having won the Prototypes T1 class title in 2016 alongside Joá Bicudo, Pedro is going for his second Sertões having his son, and chef, Patrick as navigator. Last year, the duo suffered a terminal engine problem and did not go beyond the second day of the race.
Now, however, the duo exchanges the X10 prototype for the X Rally Ranger in the T1 FIA Brazil class. "
This year I will be with a new and completely different car for me. My main goal is to finish the rally because last year I had my son Patrick for the first time navigating for me and unfortunately we couldn't complete the race," he says, before detailing his goals. "The plan of action is to have a steady race, at a good pace, without going crazy, but keeping fast and focused on navigation with Patrick, who has shown plenty of ability. So, we are very motivated to do a clean Sertões and bring a good result home", he adds.
Michel Terpins returns to the Sertões after missing out in 2020. Aboard the X Rally Ranger, he will make his 12th Sertões and will have the experience of navigator Fabrício Bianchini, who is going to the race for the 22nd time.
"I haven't raced for a year and a half, so I'm a bit out of rhythm. Anyway, I trained a lot physically and also with the car. But I think after the first day the rhythm comes back, and it's a long race. If we ride reasonably well in the initial days, it may be that we can do something nice until the end, "said Terpins.
The race begins on Friday (13) with a prologue of 11 kilometers that will define the starting order for the first special of the race, on Saturday (14), which will have 235 kilometers of a total of 410, adding the displacements.
Automatic translation from Off Road Rally Team's official press release
