The pilot Ricardo Cordero, who will start this Tuesday the sixth stage of the Carrera Panamericana as the new leader, assured that to run this competition it is necessary to be a little far from sanity, while still being intelligent.
“Sometimes they look at me like a crazy person and yes, it takes controlled madness to take on ‘La Pana’; however, it is important to be intelligent and practical when making decisions,” the defending champion told Efe this Tuesday.
Cordero and his navigator, Marco Hernández, have gone from strength to strength in the Panamericana, after having difficulties in the second stage, in which they lost more than two minutes in a tire change. Little by little they reduced the disadvantage with first place and yesterday they jumped into the lead.
Yesterday, on the route from Querétaro to Morelia, fifth stage, the duo of Cordero and Hernández broke their record in the legendary Mil Cumbres section, stopping the clock at 10:12.9 minutes in the 19.6 kilometers of the challenging mountain section.
“Our goal has been to recover about 25 seconds per day; this is a race that mixes resistance with speed and a little bit of everything. It is so long that it requires doing everything well,” added Cordero, who is seeking his seventh Pan American title and after this Monday’s performance, is close to achieving it.
“The seventh championship is not an obsession, it is a goal for which we work and it is possible to achieve it. It has been long-term work and a lot of patience because the race is once a year and you need to maintain good form for a long time,” added the pilot, originally from San Luis Potosí.
At 43 years old, Cordero feels he is in a great moment in sports form in a competition in which experience is needed.
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Pilot Ricardo Cordero affirms that the Panamericana can only be run with ‘controlled madness’
“This race is not so much for young people; it is a test in which experience, calmness and controlling your nerves are necessary. I feel like I still have a while left here,” he indicated.
For most of the year, the driver participates in rally competitions, which keeps him in good shape for a long time; He assures that the passion for speed blocks any thought of fear, although he takes the test with confidence.
The first four stages of the Panamericana were dominated by the French couple Hilaire Damiron and his Brazilian wife Laura Damiron, relegated yesterday by Cordero and Hernández, who are three seconds ahead of them and today they will start as favorites in the penultimate stage, between Morelia and Guanajuato, in central Mexico.
The Panamericana, which turns 75 years old, began on October 9 in Chiapas, and last Saturday, in the third section, it featured the guest participation of actor Gael García Bernal, who made his debut as a pilot.
“Driving has given me the same fear that I feel when I act. Before entering the stage, I am always nervous; during the filming of a movie the same; but it has been fun,” the film producer, who is also a film producer, revealed to a question from EFE.
In that stage and in the previous one, the competition included the presence, also as a guest, of the German Timo Berhnard, champion of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Today the Panamericana has a 469-kilometer route planned, after which the Cordero-Hernández couple’s chances of winning the ‘rally’ for the seventh time will begin to become clearer.
With information from EFE.
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