Atacama Rally: a fight until the finish line, Sonik one step short of full happiness

At the last stage of the Atacama Rally, Rafał Sonik once again arrived second at the finish line, giving way only to the winner of the race, Ignacio Casale. Moreover, he was only 5 minutes and 22 short to jump up to the third place and keep the leading position in the World Cup. However, this situation was like a red rag to a bull – and he already promised that he would fight for the trophy until the very last kilometre and the very last finish line.

Friday’s special stage had 156 kilometres and it seemed that it wouldn’t change the classification in any significant way. However, Kees Koolen had an accident only several hundred metres after the start-line. ‘He fell off his quad and got beaten up quite badly. He didn’t roll over, so his quad was undamaged and he could continue. Alexis Hernandez experienced a failure, like a day before. The Peru representative managed to repair it and he defended the third place on the podium by inches, and importantly, he became the leader of this year’s series,’ commented Sonik with slight bitterness.

Rafał Sonik was deprived of a place in top three by failure of the meter that displayed the distance incorrectly. As a result of a failure, the measurements did not agree with the information in the roadbook and the defender of the World Cup title drove too quickly into the restricted speed zone twice. Harsh time penalties reached 45 minutes. ‘There is frustration and dissatisfaction, because a small detailed made me drop to the second place in the general classification. I’m aware that this could’ve cost me much, much more. Had I faced a dangerous obstacle without being aware how close it is, the consequences would be much more severe than just losing a place on the podium.

Before the race, I was worried about the condition of my injured knee. The injury kept acting up throughout the entire five days of the competition, yet as we could see, “SuperSonik” has a higher pain threshold than others. ‘So long as I know that I won’t hurt myself, I’m going to fight until he very end. There are two more rallies ahead of us – in a week in Argentina and in two months in Morocco. I’m not giving up! I’ll fight until the last finish line and the last kilometre!’ he promised.

The Chilean round was concluded by a humorous incident. ‘I was driving completely along throughout the entire stage. No competitors in sight, and suddenly, as I was driving from beyond the corner of a famous huge dune, a quad rider appeared suddenly, like a jack-in-the-box. For a moment I thought that was one of my rivals, but it turned out that was a local fan of driving on Atacama who wanted to feel like a participant of the race,’ laughed Sonik.

Everything indicates that Desafio Ruta 40 in Argentina will be the key race in the fight for the World Cup title. There are as many as 33 quads on the starting lists, including many experienced Dakar participants. However, it will be Alexis Hernandez – the new leader of the general classification, who is two points ahead after Atacama Rally – and Kees Koolen – with only one point loss to the Polish rider, who is second – who will be the main rivals of Rafał Sonik. We are in for the most exciting finish of the season since 2012, when the win in the series was decided by a minute of difference during the last special stage of the last rally of the season.

Results of the fifth stage:
1. Ignacio Casale (CHL) 02:04.02

2. Rafał Sonik (POL) +6.01
3. Giovani Enrico (CHL) +18.02
4. Kees Koolen (NLD) +18.07
5. Alexis Hernandez (PER) +29.42

Final classification of Atacama Rally:

1. Ignacio Casale (CHL) 16.44.18
2. Kees Koolen (NLD) +47.50
3. Alexis Hernandez (PER) +1:22.44
4. Rafał Sonik (POL) +1:28.06
5. Luis Barahona (CHL) +2:49.38

World Cup Classification:

1. Alexis Hernandez (PER) 53
2. Rafał Sonik (POL) 51
3. Kees Koolen (NLD) 50
4. Fahad Al.-Mussalam (KWT) 28
5. Rodolfo Guillioli (GUA) 28
6.  Ignacio Casale (CHL) 25
7. Kamil Wiśniewski (POL) 23