Silk Way Rally Stage 1. Finished the rally-marathon "Silk Way"-2016
On Sunday at the National Stadium "Bird's Nest" in Beijing, the rally-raid "Silk Way-2016", which started in the Moscow "Luzhniki" on July 8, officially ended. In fact, however, the results were summed up on Saturday, when the last high-speed special stage took place, since the final stage was only one liaison from the town of Hoh-Khuto to the capital of China.
For 15 days (taking into account the day of rest on July 15), the participants had to overcome 10,735 km, but in fact the distance turned out to be slightly less. The organizers had to cancel two special stages due to bad weather - the second stage Kazan-Ufa due to heavy rains that turned dirt roads into a swamp, and the 11th Dunhuang-Jiayuguan due to a dust storm. In addition, some SS had to be reduced. Nevertheless, the participants unanimously call this Silk Road one of the most difficult in history.
In the passenger car category, as expected, the Peugeot factory team car finished first. The surprise, however, was the name of the winner - it was the former motorcycle racer Cyril Despres, who noticeably lost to his teammates at the last Dakar. This time, however, Cyril acted very confidently, demonstrated high speed, and, unlike his colleagues, did not make mistakes.
Cyril Despres: “We came to complete the marathon, gain experience and experience an amazing journey from Moscow to Beijing. During these 17 days, I did everything I wanted - we achieved victory and received the Champions Cup in the form of the White Tiger. Therefore we are happy. I have known the race management for a long time, and Vladimir Chagin is an outstanding professional in organizing competitions. He went above and beyond to make the rally great and I can only imagine how difficult it was."
As for the 12-time Dakar winner Stefan Petransel, he had a serious accident while still in Kazakhstan - his Peugeot 2008 DKR hit a hole at high speed, after which it rolled over six times. The crew was not injured, the car was also eventually restored, but too much time was lost, so that Petransel lost any chance of high score. However, he made it to the finish line of the rally raid, losing nine and a half hours to Despres.
After Petransel's accident, his partner, nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb was considered the favorite of the race, but he was not destined to win the Silk Way 2016 either. At the 12th stage, Loeb finished first, reduced the gap from Despre to two minutes, but then he was punished with a four-hour penalty for missing two control points on the course. After that, Loeb lost his chances of winning - he got to Beijing, but only in seventh place. Interestingly, at the finish line, he lost four hours and two minutes to Depres.
Lacking two favorites, Yazid Al-Raji in a MINI moved up to second place, just 26 minutes behind Depret in a two-week race. The third place was taken Russian crew Vladimir Vasiliev - Konstantin Zhiltsov, also speaking at MINI. Their final backlog was 50 minutes.
Representatives of KAMAZ-Master were the obvious favorites in the trucks standings, but the race turned out to be very difficult for them too. At first, Eduard Nikolaev was the leader in it on a new bonnet version of KAMAZ, but at the seventh stage, Alma-Ata - Bortala, he broke through the engine sump and lost more than an hour. Marten van der Brink took first place in a Renault truck with a surprisingly fast pace. He was pursued by the KAMAZ-Master crews of Anton Shibalov, Airat Mardeev and Dmitry Sotnikov.
Even in the first half of the distance, at the fifth stage, Mardeev lost about 40 minutes due to a turbine failure. However, by the end of the marathon, thanks to stable and confident aerobatics, Airat managed to win back the gap and come close to van der Brink. And when he ran into problems, Mardeev took the lead. The KAMAZ-Master racer retained his advantage right up to the very finish line, having outstripped Dmitry Sotnikov, who took second place in the same KAMAZ, by 15 minutes at the end of the race. Van der Brink ended up finishing the rally raid in third place, 33 minutes from the winner.
Airat Mardeev: At the last stage, we slowed down a bit, rode calmly, because we did not see anyone behind us in the mirrors. There was an opportunity to admire the views of beautiful dunes. Believe me, such an opportunity falls quite rarely. Thanks to the mechanics for preparing a good car. Navigator Aidar Belyaev and mechanic Dmitry Svistunov worked flawlessly. This is our common victory. And it is a great joy that, despite the breakdown, when there was already such a backlog that they thought that everything was lost, we managed. The main thing is to never give up.
RESULTS:
1 place, crew No. 306 pilot A. Mardeev; navigator A. Belyaev; mechanic D. Svistunov
2nd place, crew number 300 pilot D. Sotnikov; navigator R. Akhmadeev; mechanic I. Romanov
ABOUT THE RACE:
ROUTE
3 crossed countries
15 stages
1 day of rest
PROGRAM
CARS / TRUCKS
Long-awaited rally-raid trophies Silk Road” received the crews of 306 Airat Mardeev and 300 Dmitry Sotnikov for winning the race. Now the Blue Armada collection will be replenished with bronze heads of white tigers. New symbol for the race is not chosen by chance. The white tiger is found in both Russia and China. In the mythology of the Celestial Empire, the tiger symbolizes courage and a strong inner spirit. And this talisman should inspire and protect the race participants throughout the exciting adventure.
The awards ceremony took place in Olympic park Beijing against the backdrop of the famous national stadium, known as the "bird's nest". A storm was predicted in the capital of China, so the organizers were in a hurry to congratulate all the winners and participants as soon as possible. But the ceremony dragged on for more than three hours.
By tradition, when the winner of the race in the truck category was awarded - the crew of Airat Mardeev (navigator Aidar Belyaev, mechanic Dmitry Svistunov) and the crew of Dmitry Sotnikov (navigator Ruslan Akhmadeev and mechanic Ivan Romanov), who took second place, the whole team joined them on the podium to congratulations and take a picture. In order for the crews of "KAMAZ-master" to become the leaders of the marathon, a lot of effort was spent.
It was a very difficult race for everyone - both for the crews and for the mechanics, - says team manager Sergey Savostin. - We had mistakes, but in general I appreciate the work of the team very well. The mechanics did a great job. During this race, due to long liaisons, there was almost no time left for sleep - we slept only 3-4 hours. The guys were tired, but they did their job flawlessly. Our cars rolled over several times during the marathon, and they were restored in one night so that the next morning the crews could start on a new stage.
Throughout the race in the truck standings there was a struggle for a place on the podium between the crews of the "blue armada" and the Dutch pilot Martin Van den Brink, who tested the new Renault bonneted truck at the race. And this confrontation had a good effect on the mood of the Russian team.
Brink has the third place, and this indicates that our opponent is very serious, - says Savostin. - He is well prepared, he has excellent technique. The hood is equipped with an automatic transmission, a new transmission. Previously, no one drove an automatic at a race. But he did it. When there are such rivals in the race, intrigue arises, there is a desire to conquer other heights.
During the Silk Road, the KAMAZ-master team also tested a new bonneted vehicle. The crew of 310 Eduard Nikolaev (navigator Evgeny Yakovlev, mechanic Vladimir Rybakov) rode in an unusually black "nosed" truck. Despite the fact that Eduard did not manage to climb the podium, the crew completed their primary task - to test the car in harsh conditions.
We tested it before, but not in such an extreme mode, - says Sergey Savostin. - We wanted to see its advantages and disadvantages, to compare with our previous cars. It is still too early to draw final conclusions about what we have succeeded and what has not. One thing is obvious - we still need to master the driving of a bonneted car. As Eduard says, he feels uncomfortable in the dunes due to the lack of visibility. Therefore, different approaches will have to be developed. I am sure that we will soon forget about this shortcoming.
This race was not so successful for the crew of 303 Anton Shibalov (navigator
Robert Amatych, mechanic Almaz Khisamiev) and crew 314 Andrey Karginov (navigator
Alexander Kupriyanov, mechanic Igor Leonov). Shibalov finished the race in 8th position, Karginov - in 16th.
At the last stage, Andrey Karginov, as the last one, had to help restore Eduard Nikolaev's car after a breakdown, after which Andrey's own car broke down. But the day didn't end there. Andrei saw how Anton Shibalov's truck lay on its side in the sand and helped to lift it.
Shibalov's crew went to the race in a new car, he had breakdowns that dropped him to eighth place, says the team manager. - After the upheaval in the sands, Andrey Karginov was given the mission to help the organizers rescue SUVs stuck in the dunes. To the detriment of his time, he helped the athletes, and returned to action only after the organizers, according to the regulations, allowed him to do this, imposing a heavy fine. Despite the results, neither Anton Shibalov nor Andrey Karginov retired, survived and completed this race, which will surely be remembered forever. It was a good experience for all our guys.
"It was not just a race - it was a real adventure," said at a press conference in Beijing Cyril Deprez, the new winner of the Silk Way Rally. The solemn drive on the catwalk was left behind, along with 10,735 kilometers, 15 bivouac cities, a sandstorm and sizzling heat, giant dunes in endless deserts.
“This is a great achievement for the whole team,” he said in turn. Airat Mardeev, truck winner. “Not everything went smoothly, but the team managed to overcome all the difficulties and win back the backlog that arose at the beginning of the race.” KAMAZ-master wins the Silk Way Rally for the fifth time, but this victory is not like the others, and the race itself marked the beginning of a completely new story.”
Peugeot and others
Even before the start of the race, Peugeot was called the main favorite of the rally. French armada on three prototypes 2008 DKR led by the most experienced Stefan Petransel opposed the whole five jeeps "MINI" - Yazid Al-Raji, Vladimir Vasiliev And Aidyn Rakhimbaev should have been the "lions" the main competition.
However, from the very start, Peugeot took the lead, and MINI had only to catch up with the French.
However, motorsport is unpredictable, and when Stefan Petransel got into an unexpected accident, only miraculously remaining unscathed, it became clear: nothing was determined until the last kilometer of the distance.
The initiative from his teammate was intercepted by Cyril Despres, while he was second behind him. Yazid Al-Raji attacked with all his might, but the Peugeot prototype swallowed the bumpy tracks, which were interspersed with sands and dunes, on the fly. Along with this, except for the accident of Petransel, there were no serious problems on French cars. “In principle, we are able to go at the same pace with them, but we have much more difficulties,” said Yazid Al-Raji after another puncture.
Al-Radzhi from time to time "shot" and won back for some time, but in the next stages the French buggies again went into the lead. Yazid took one step forward and then two steps back. A few stages before the finish line, it became clear that if the leaders did not have problems, Cyril Despres and would play the victory between themselves.
It would seem that the wards Bruno Famena will work “on the way”, having lost one of the cars in the leading group, Peugeot no longer had the right to make a mistake. But suddenly Sebastien Loeb began to attack. “I have no other choice, I have to push,” said the nine-time world champion.
With two stages to go, Loeb drove an outstanding stage: at 425 kilometers, he played seven minutes from Despres and reduced his backlog to just three. The whole bivouac followed the stage in suspense, which could become the turning point of the whole race. But after the finish, like thunder among clear sky the decision of the judges appeared: Loeb was fined four hours for missing two waypoints.
“This is a very high price for a mistake, but we really made a mistake. These are the rules and we have no choice but to accept the decision of the judges,” squeezed out the Frenchman, who clearly looked devastated.
At the end of that stage, the crews, before reaching the third "checkpoint", had to make a small loop and take two more marks. However, Loeb and Elena, seeing the checkpoint tower, went straight to it. “As we approached, we realized that something was wrong. We came back trying to find a waypoint,” Sebastian later explained. “In the end, we were only forty meters short.”
The fight was virtually over. Cyril Despres, an experienced motorcycle racer who only recently restarted his career behind the wheel of an SUV, safely reached the finish line without too much risk and scored one of the most important victories of his life.
“The main challenge for us was the rivals - we competed with the strongest pilots in the world,” Despres said at a press conference. “We tried to stay focused on our race and just not think about it, but it still put pressure.”
As a result, the second place was won by Yazid Al-Raji in the MINI, Vladimir Vasilyev in the car of the same brand became the third - this is the second consecutive finish of the Russian in the top 3 on the Silk Road. won the fourth position Harry Hunt- a rising star of the British rally-raids. Hunt, who was driving a MINI painted in the colors of the Union Jack himself, said that he did not even dream of showing such a high result in such a race. “This is the hardest rally of my life,” he admitted, as many others have said as well. Kazakhstani veteran Aidyn Rakhimbaev scored a good fifth place. The sixth was the most titled of the presented Chinese pilots Han Wei, but he left Beijing only on the seventh line of the general classification.
One for all
As Peugeot were the main favorites of the SUV category, so KAMAZ-master is by default the main contender for victory in any rally-raid. Defeat KAMAZ trucks, especially in Russian race, - the dream of every pilot who went to the start against the Chelny giant. “I played for Zhinaf for many years and when I finished sixth, the team leader was pleased, because we were second only to KAMAZ,” said van den Brink. - So I went to new project- with Renault. It is important for me to win KAMAZ.
Martin van den Brink on the new Renault Sherpa bonneted truck became the main competitor of KAMAZ, which also put up a novelty in this race - a black bonneted truck. According to the results of the first half of the distance, it was he who led the race under the control of Eduard Nikolaev. “It's a completely different car. I don't even get behind the wheel of the old one to get used to this one. It is controlled differently, it is configured differently, everything is completely different, ”said the pilot.
In Almaty, at the day of rest, Nikolaev shell was the first, but the second part of the distance began with problems. Having broken the crankcase and spent about an hour on repairs, Eduard lost the first line and van den Brink took the lead. Closest to him was Anton Shibalov, but already next step, having broken a wheel in viscous sand, the crew had to dig holes in order to put the truck on jacks and change the tire. Now Airat Mardeev is chasing van den Brink.
At the beginning of the race, Mardeev lost about half an hour due to a turbine failure in the fifth stage. “The race is long, we will not give up, we will continue to attack, everything is still ahead,” the driver said then and turned out to be absolutely right. With each stage, Airat pulled closer and closer to van den Brink and at some point Renault could not stand it. First, the Dutchman lost 15 minutes due to a cooling system failure, at another stage he “caught” a puncture, and at one of final stages electronics let him down.
According to the results of the penultimate stage, Mardeev was ahead of van den Brink by almost half an hour. The Dutchman himself was already third, behind Dmitry Sotnikov, who started the race as a "fast technical". It would be too naive to expect mistakes from Airat in such a situation. “I will go through the last stage calmly to make sure that we do not lose third place,” said the dejected Renault pilot.
And Mardeev, of course, did not disappoint. Moreover, Airat won the final special stage of the race: there was no need to attack, he passed the extra stage in his own rhythm and it was still the fastest. “We couldn’t relax for a second. We understood that we were delivering results. The most important thing was not to make a mistake and reach the finish line, - Mardeev said after the 14th stage. Thanks to everyone, thanks to the mechanics, thanks to the whole team that prepared the car. This is a great joy. When there was such a backlog, we thought that everything was lost, but we managed. The main thing is to never give up.
Rally-marathon "Silk Way" this year has become a real journey, which mixed sports and emotions, victories and defeats, triumphs and mistakes. fought like a lion, but lost everything due to a 40-meter miss in navigation. Stefan Petransel showed inspired aerobatics on any tracks, but a coup on the pit, which everyone knew about, which was noted in the road books, still looks like a mystery. But this only emphasizes how difficult - from a physical and emotional point of view - this sport is and luck here smiles only at the strongest.
Once again, bad weather interfered with the Silk Way Rally. “Due to a storm warning in the city of Almaty, emergency helicopters could not take off, so the organizers had to shorten the sixth special stage.
It was the final special stage, where the fate of the awards at the stage of the Russian Championship was decided. The information about a significant reduction in the special stage was most painful for those pilots who planned to recoup. First of all, this concerned the crew of Aldis Vilcans/Vladimir Makarenko (Mitsubishi), who, in order to win in the Raid-Sport category, had to close the gap of 21 minutes with Mikhail Kostrukov/Oleg Nezhnov (GAZelle NEXT). Despite the 2/3 shortened route, the Latvian-Russian crew attacked, as they say, "for all the money", but for such short distance managed to win almost only 10 minutes. When racers go to the start, they are wished good luck, today she was on the side of the crew of the GAZ Reid Sport team.
Winners of the Silk Way Rally in the Raid-Sport category
Mikhail Kostrukov/Oleg Nezhnov (GAZelle NEXT)
Aldis Vilcans/Vladimir Makarenko (Mitsubishi)
Alexander Kostrukov/Ramil Zamaletdinov (GAZelle NEXT)
No less interesting was the fight for the third place in the Production standings between the Italian Pietro Fogliani (Toyota) and the Australian-Russian crew Adam Martin/Aleksey Kuzmich (Ford). Before the decisive round, the rivals were separated by only 8 minutes in favor of the international duet. In such tense situations, as a rule, the one who makes the first mistake loses. This time, Fogliani, who had no co-driver, had stronger nerves - 25 minutes of advantage at the finish line - a significant result.
Few doubted the victory of Alexander Terentiev / Alexei Berkut (Ford). The champions of the country put a beautiful end to it by winning the final special stage, proving to everyone that at the moment they have no competitors in the serial SUV category.
Konstantin Ivanov/Alexander Gorkov (Toyota) should be satisfied with the second place - they won it in a fair fight, which was not easy to do, because the crew spends its first season in rally-raids.
Winners of the Silk Way Rally in the Production category
Alexander Terentiev/Alexey Berkut (Ford)
Konstantin Ivanov/Alexander Gorkov (Toyota)
Pietro Fogliani (Toyota)
In the overall standings, the World Cup winners Vladimir Vasiliev/Konstantin Zhiltsov (Mini) are out of competition in the recent history of domestic rally raids. Only reigning champions countries Evgeny Firsov/Vadim Filatov (Toyota), losing just over 23 minutes to them. Unfortunately, due to technical problems, Victor Khoroshavtsev/Roman Elagin had to stop for a long time today, which cost the fast crew the loss of third place, which they held throughout the rally. What Andrey Dmitriev/Dmitry Pavlov (Toyota) didn't fail to take advantage of, after running the race at a good pace. Due to errors and technical failures, it was not possible to show good result, pilots included in the top six of the national championship - Andrey Rudsky (G-Force Proto) and Dmitry Ievlev (Nissan).
Winners of the Silk Way Rally in the overall standings
Vladimir Vasiliev/Konstantin Zhiltsov (Mini)
Evgeny Firsov/Vadim Filatov (Toyota)
Andrey Dmitriev/Dmitry Pavlov (Toyota)
Despite the fact that the leader of the truck classification, Eduard Nikolaev, final stage had an impressive backlog of 20 minutes, today he made his fans worry, finishing only 12th. He lost to the stage winner Airat Mardeev over 11 minutes. It was all the fault of two wheels punched against the reinforcement, for which the organizers of the race fastened the restrictive tape. Andrey Karginov also broke the wheel on the same armature, the replacement of which cost him a lot - the crew lost not only the second place, but also the prize podium.
Winners of the Silk Way Rally in the Trucks category
Eduard Nikolaev/Evgeny Yakovlev/Vladimir Rybakov (KAMAZ)
Anton Shibalov/Robert Amatych/Almaz Khisamiev (KAMAZ)
Dmitry Sotnikov/Ruslan Akhmadeev/Ivan Romanov (KAMAZ)
Congratulations to the crew Maria Oparina/Alexander Terentiev (Polaris) is the only one to finish in the T3 category. It is not their fault that the rivals could not overcome the most difficult track, with whom they fought uncompromisingly.
The rewarding of the participants of the Russian Championship will take place at 12:30, July 15, on the territory of the bivouac in Almaty.
HUH-HOTO (China), July 23 - R-Sport, Sergey Smyshlyaev. Rally-raid "Silk Way"-2016, which did not start in the best way for Russian riders, as a result, ended with the victory of Airat Mardeev from KAMAZ-master in the truck category and the podium of Vladimir Vasilyev in the off-road category.
The Silk Way Rally-2016 started on July 8 at Red Square in Moscow, and the finishing ceremony will take place on July 24 at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. "Silk Road" was held from 2009 to 2013. The race did not take place in 2014 and 2015. In 2009 the race passed through the territory of Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan; in other years - only on the territory of Russia.
Prologue on Kazanka
The ceremonial start on Red Square in Moscow fully corresponded to the essence and grandeur of the upcoming rally-raid, all the crews drove through a special podium, heading for Kazan, where the first special stage, about two kilometers long, located on the banks of the Kazanka River, awaited the participants.
The winner of the prologue itself, which the racers still described as a show for spectators, was the French driver of Peugeot Stefan Petransel, the record holder for the number of victories in the Dakar, while Dutchman Martin van den Brink from Mammoet Rallye Sport took the lead in trucks.
Looking ahead, it can be noted that it is this athlete who will be the main competition for KAMAZ-master at the subsequent stages of the Silk Road. “Competitors are ready for everything,” Dmitry Sotnikov said at the time. “Everyone is progressing, both Renault and the MAZ team. They will be the closest competitors in this rally.”
weather corrections
However, the weather had its own plans for the next stage. Unfortunately for the Russian fans, the second special stage, located between Kazan and Ufa, was canceled - heavy rain made the track unsuitable for racing, so the riders went to Bashkortostan in an out-of-competition mode. “We are already used to this after Dakar 2016, where the first two special stages were canceled. This is a normal phenomenon,” Mardeev told reporters. “No one can guess the weather conditions, and safety is above all. We just support them."
Already from the first stages, it was clear that the mood of the crews was simply outrageous, at each finish one could hear dissatisfaction with the unsportsmanlike behavior of rivals or direct showdowns between the pilots. Ahead was a difficult path, so the nerves of the participants sometimes could not stand it. However, the rains continued to cool the ardor of the athletes, and already at the 4th stage they again influenced the plans of the organizers - the special stage was reduced by a third due to the flood of the river.
Minus Peterhansel
But then more serious problems began - during the fifth stage it became known that the leader of the race, Peteransel, had a serious accident, turning over on his buggy. The rider himself was not injured, but the car was, to put it mildly, battered. To the credit of the team, the car was restored overnight, but the incident itself deprived the Frenchman of all chances to fight for the podium.
“Yesterday there was a stupid mistake,” Peterhansel told reporters after the sixth stage, which, by the way, was also shortened due to weather conditions. “I made a mistake, the information was in the speed stuck in the track and rolled over two or three times.The car was destroyed.Not completely, of course, but we had to work on it for two or three hours, after which we moved very slowly to complete the special stage.This is the reality, and when we crashed, I I went first, and now I didn’t look at the results, because overall result already decided for me."
While Despres continued to confidently lead in the overall standings, KAMAZ-master began to have its first problems. By this time the race had moved to the territory of China, and Eduard Nikolaev had lost his leadership in the overall standings, having rolled back to the third ten of the table due to an oil leak and a broken bottom. Van den Brink came out on top.
"We drove fast and didn't make mistakes. Now we're in first place overall standings and really happy about it. The second week of the race will be very difficult and long, it's too early to guess anything. But we will attack and see what happens," van den Brink told reporters.
The scorching heat of the Gobi
In the SUV category, the main attention of Russian fans was riveted to the pilot of the G-Energy Team Vladimir Vasilyev, who closed the top three in the fight against Despres and Sebastien Loeb. The sweltering heat of the Gobi desert became another test of strength for all participants of the Silk Road, and the Russian had a hard time.
“Then (in Kazakhstan) there was a special stage of 560 kilometers, but it is not as hard as today, when we drove more than 200 kilometers,” Vasilyev told reporters. “Very hard, very hard, hot, the car overheats and the air conditioner does not work. In general, things like that. The special stage itself is not easy in the sands, and the air conditioners turned off at the very beginning. And it didn’t turn on anymore, I had to cool the engine, turn off the gas, go into coasting. I think that it was +45 overboard for sure, and the engine warmed up to 120 degrees.
Saudi Yazid Al-Raji from XRaid Team, also one of the leaders, ended up in the bivouac infirmary that day due to severe dehydration. But already at the ninth stage, Vasiliev's broken motor belt and Al-Raja's victory brought the Saudi to third place, dropping the Russian to fourth. In the meantime, in the standings of trucks, Mardeev was gradually breaking out into the lead.
“Exhausting heat, a lot of off-road, just like our extra, a lot of sand,” said Mardeev. “Renault was already rolled on the first ridge, they already drove around it on the second ridge, and that’s all. We drove and almost didn’t see anyone. Only standing jeeps drove around. We drove smoothly, steadily. It is difficult, of course, to assess the pace when you don’t see anyone. Physically, it was very difficult, in the end we drove like in a bathhouse. Outside, the sensor showed about 55 degrees, inside the cabin - even more. "
But here again the weather began to make adjustments. The strongest sandstorm that broke out in the area of the cities of Dunhuan and Jiayuguan led to the cancellation of the 11th special stage - the aircraft that provided the race could not take off. The bivouac was practically destroyed, and the journalists were evacuated to the hotel. But, fortunately, these cataclysms were the last in the rally-raid.
Mardeev's leadership
If in SUVs Despre went to the title with leaps and bounds, leaving no chance for competitors, then in the category of trucks the struggle was not for life, but for death. And after the 12th stage, the leading van den Brink, who faced a number of serious technical problems, rolled back to third place. But Mardeev led the overall standings, pursued by Sotnikov.
“Mardeev caught up with us, and up to the three hundredth kilometer, to the dunes, we walked together, and then we had a puncture (wheel). We lost time changing tires and while accelerating, we also gradually lagged behind. Today we were prey, but on Friday we will hunters and chase after KAMAZ-master. We lose more than twelve minutes, but there is still time. The race is not over yet," said van den Brink.
Mardeev's crew from "KAMAZ-master" won the "Silk Way" rallyThe second according to the results of the general classification was the Russian Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master), who lost 15 minutes 28 seconds to the leader. The finishing ceremony will take place on July 24 at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.But, having smelled the smell of victory, Mardeev was not going to lose such a chance, but the Dutchman was haunted by problems with unenviable frequency. Although not as serious as those of Loeb, who missed two waypoints and, due to a 4-hour penalty, immediately rolled back far from the leading group. And this played into the hands of Vasiliev, who rose to third place, which he eventually retained.
Titles of Despres and Mardeev
As a result, the trucks won the final victory of the crew of Mardeev, located on the first line with a result of 39 hours 23 minutes 18 seconds, Sotnikov took second place, and van den Brink became third.
“Indeed, it was not easy today, there were a lot of off-road, small stones, it was possible to puncture a wheel. 70 kilometers were walking purely on sand, it’s really impressive. We couldn’t relax for a second, we understood that we were taking the result. to the finish line. Thanks to everyone, thanks to the mechanics, thanks to our whole team who prepared the car. We understood that (Martin) van den Brink had to play 28 minutes, and it’s impossible to do it purely with a move, so the main thing was not to make a mistake, that we and done,” said Mardeev after the final special stage.
In the SUV category, the expected victory was for Depre, Al-Raji became the second, and Vasiliev - the third. “We got to the finish line, to the podium,” Vasilyev said at the finish line. “The last special stage was not bad, we even finished first. The whole race was fast, the roads were for buggies, so there is nothing strange in their victory. In general, I liked everything. I hope that the organizers will accept my wishes in the future. The rally should somehow be shortened, because on such long liaisons we get tired more than on special stages."
