Paulo Gonçalves (; 5 February 1979 – 12 January 2020) was a Portuguese

rally racing Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sports ...

motorcycle rider. He won the

FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship The FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship was the premier championship of Rally raid racing, organized by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme The International Motorcycling Federation (Fédération Internationale de Motocycli ...

in 2013.

Early life

Gonçalves was born on 5 February 1979, in Gemeses, a civil parish in the

Braga District The district of Braga ( ) is a district in the northwest of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Braga, and it is bordered by the district of Viana do Castelo in the north, Vila Real in the east, Galicia (a Spanish autonomous commu ...

city of

Esposende Esposende () is a city and a municipality in Braga District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 34,254, in an area of 95.41 km2. The city itself (the parish Esposende, Marinhas e Gandra) had a population of 9,197 in 2001. It gained city ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Rally biking

Gonçalves won 23 titles in motocross, supercross and enduro, and won the

in 2013, before being a runner-up in 2014. He started participating in the

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally () or simply "The Dakar" (), formerly known as the Paris–Dakar Rally (), is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). It is an off-road endurance event traversing terrain much tougher than convent ...

in 2006, and participated in thirteen of them. He raced on African, South American and Asian continents and won three stages. He finished among the top ten competitors, and was the runner-up in 2015, Marc Coma being the only competitor ahead of him. Between 2006 and 2009, and also from 2013 to 2019, Gonçalves raced for the

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

team in the Dakar Rally, before moving to the Hero MotoCorp team in 2020. From 2010 to 2012 he was with the BMW-owned

Husqvarna Motorcycles Husqvarna Motorcycles GmbH (; marketed as Husqvarna) is an Austrian motorcycle company with Swedish origins. It is co-owned by Indian Motorcycle manufacturer Bajaj Group and Pierer Industrie AG, Pierer Mobility AG. The company began producing m ...

team outfit. He was also a member of the KTM team during his career. During the 2020 edition of the Dakar rally the engine stalled in the third stage, and its withdrawal was announced, which was corrected about three hours later, as Gonçalves was trying to repair his vehicle at the same time as he was waiting for his team to arrive for assistance. Due to his taste for high speeds, he was nicknamed "Speedy", which was a reference to the ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' character

Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast ...

Death and tributes

Gonçalves crashed during the seventh stage of the 2020 Dakar Rally in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, at 276 km. He was found unconscious, resuscitated at the scene, and then flown by helicopter to a hospital in Layla, where he was pronounced dead. He was less than a month away from his 41st birthday. After his death, the municipality of Esposende issued a note of regret, highlighting his career as a racer, and regarded him as an Esposende ambassador to the world. His death was also mourned by the President of Portugal,

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa (; born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic who is the president of Portugal since 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended his party membership for the ...

, who stated that Gonçalves "died trying to achieve the dream of winning one of the hardest and most dangerous rally events in the world, in which he was always a worthy representative of Portugal, reaching second place in 2015".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goncalves, Paulo 1979 births 2020 deaths Portuguese motorcycle racers Enduro riders People from Esposende Off-road motorcycle racers Dakar Rally motorcyclists Motorcycle racers who died while racing Sport deaths in Saudi Arabia Sportspeople from Braga District