Cyril Despres Wins Rallye d'Orient 2005 - News - Dirt Rider Magazine

Cyril Despres Wins Rallye d'Orient 2005David Casteu was delighted to take the final special ahead of his team mate Michel Gau, but overall nothing changed for the top five. Cyril Despres rode a smart race—his only upset being a crash on the second day—to add the Rallye d'Orient to his list of victories.

Fourth overall behind David Casteu and Michel Gau, Carlo De Gavardo won the 450 category, with the Czech Jacek Czachor second and the Frenchman Tixador third.In the quads, Christophe Declerck broke down with electrical problems on the start line, allowing the Portuguese rider Ricardo Santos to win ahead Jean-Philippe Caillet, who rides with an artificial leg.Cyril Despres (1st overall): "The result is very positive. Last year Richard Sainct and myself promised to race this event as we liked Rene's attitude. I really enjoyed myself—the tracks, the navigation and the atmosphere were the best in rallye-raid. I am also very satisfied with my prototype KTM . Thanks to better fuel distribution, and the fact that it consumes less, it is much easier to throw around than the 660. Although it is 10 kph slower, I think it is a good compromise."David Casteu (winner of the special): "The navigation was tricky today but I didn't make any mistakes. I knew that I had a margin in relation to third place overall, so I decided to enjoy myself. In Morocco I finished 3rd, here I finish 2nd, and at the moment lady luck is shining on me. Now I am going to concentrate on preparing for the Dakar."Carlo De Gavardo (4th overall): "I am happy to have finished this rallye without having had any problems with the bike, but I nevertheless feel I was a little unlucky not to have finished better."Ricardo Leal Santos (1st quads): "Today it was my day to get lucky."Stage result
1 CASTEU David KTM SP +450 01h42:30
2 GAU Michel KTM SP +450 01h44:48 00h02:18
3 DE GAVARDO Carlo KTM SP 450 01h47:02 00h04:32
4 DESPRES Cyril KTM SP +450 01h47:08 00h04:38
5 DABROWSKI Marek KTM SP +450 01h51:53 00h09:23
6 CZACHOR Jacek KTM M +450 01h52:22 00h09:52
7 LICHTENSTEIGER Jacques KTM M +450 01h55:15 00h12:45
8 TIXADOR Gilles KTM PR 450 01h57:07 00h14:37
9 PALMER Lee KTM SP +450 01h59:06 00h16:36
10 ROBIN Dominique KTM M +450 02h15:36 00h33:06Overall & final standing after 7 stages
1 DESPRES Cyril KTM SP +450 20h39:39
2 CASTEU David KTM SP +450 21h13:50 00h34:11 00h05:00
3 GAU Michel KTM SP +450 21h39:55 01h00:16
4 DE GAVARDO Carlo KTM SP 450 21h45:04 01h05:25 00h12:30
5 DABROWSKI Marek KTM SP +450 22h06:18 01h26:39
6 CZACHOR Jacek KTM M +450 22h18:16 01h38:37
7 PALMER Lee KTM SP +450 22h30:20 01h50:41
8 TIXADOR Gilles KTM PR 450 23h04:22 02h24:43
9 LICHTENSTEIGER Jacques KTM M +450 23h44:15 03h04:36 00h31:00
10 POLLI Oscar KTM M 450 23h47:50 03h08:11
11 ROBIN Dominique KTM M +450 24h08:32 03h28:53 00h15:00
12 BENEKE Christian KTM M +450 24h40:11 04h00:32