A stubborn struggle in both classes, a battle for the prize positions between an American debutant and a Chinese veteran, as well as Martin Coloma’s challenge in a desperate battle with KAMAZ-Master - this is how the eleventh stage of the Silk Way Rally will be remembered.
“Jiayu Outpost”, located in the desert area of Gansu Province, greeted the Silk Road Rally caravan at the Jiayuguan bivouac with rain that was completely atypical for this region. However, the marathon participants are no strangers to such conditions, given that the Russian and Kazakh stages were accompanied by real downpours.
Due to the decision of the Chinese authorities to declare an environmental protection zone, the first special section was cancelled, but the second section - 237 kilometers of wide sandy tracks among the canyons - became a real test and received the status of Toyota Challenge, established by the Japanese company for the most difficult stages of the marathon.
The fight on the tracks between Dunhuang and Jiayuguan turned out to be extremely unpredictable: in the SUV category the leader changed literally at every mark. Peugeot Sport's Stéphane Peterhansel had the best start, but was soon edged out by X-Raid MINI driver Yazeed Al-Raji. 60 kilometers before the end of the special stage, the initiative was seized by race leader Cyril Despres, but in the finishing kilometers Stéphane Peterhansel had the final say: the French veteran “brought” his partner more than a minute and won his fourth victory during the marathon.
Stefan Peterhansel: “At the stage we were tightly stuck behind other cars, and it was impossible to overtake for 50 kilometers. Then the direction changed, the wind was blowing in the other direction, and we quickly caught up with the other cars, picked up the pace and had a lot of fun. From a strategic point of view, we finished very well today because we will open the track, and Cyril will go right behind us and we won’t have to wait for him.”
Cyril Despres ended up remaining second, Yazid Al-Raji was in third place, a little over two minutes behind the winner, and Bryce Menzies, the Saudi's partner on the German team, showed the fourth time, losing less than five minutes. The top five was closed by the winner of the previous stage, Eugenio Menzies from Two Wheels Drive.
In the overall standings, Cyril Despres increased his lead over his closest pursuers to 55 minutes. At the same time, Bryce Menzies was ahead of Han Wei in the fight for second place - the Chinese rider is now 2 minutes and 23 seconds behind the American. Christian Lavieille, leader of the factory Baicmotor Racing Team, is classified just ten minutes behind the pair. The top 5 is still closed by Egenio Amos, but Stephane Peterhansel is gradually catching up with the Italian.
Cyril Despres (Peugeot Sport): “Good stage. Short, but enjoyable to fly. Winding roads, no potholes, so this was the best special stage since entering China. Overall everything is fine. We don't take risks at all, but we have to attack because it best way maintain concentration. At some point we ended up in the dust, as did Stefan, so in the end we didn’t finish together.”
Among the trucks, the winner was Tatra Buggyra Racing representative Martin Kolomy. The Czech crew immediately set a high pace and, even despite a hitch in the dust from under the wheels of one of the SUVs, showed best time special stage. Throughout the entire distance, KAMAZ-Master crews walked alongside Kolomy, which predetermined extremely tight results. Thus, Anton Shibalov, who showed the second time, lost only 49 seconds, Dmitry Sotnikov, who led overall standings, lost a little more than a minute relative to the Czech, and Airat Mardeev and Eduard Nikolaev, who opened the route, lost a little more than three minutes.
IN general classification Dmitry Sotnikov retains the first position, Anton Shibalov is behind him by almost 15 minutes, and in the fight for third place, Martin Kolomy was ahead of Airat Mardeev due to his victory at the stage - in this pair the gap is only two and a half minutes. The top five is completed by Artur Ardavichus, Eduard Nikolaev takes sixth position.
Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ master): “To be honest, we didn’t expect such weather - we were expecting the heat, but here it’s wet. Last year there was also one such day - we were driving along wet dunes. Today we tried to go fast, it felt like the results were tight. We saw Kolomy and tried to drive up to him, but it was felt that he was going “with all his money.” The goal was to catch up with him at any cost; in some places we were approaching, in others we were lagging behind. As for the truck, everything is fine; we didn’t notice any major problems during the race.”
Now the crews are waiting for the twelfth stage of the race - from Jiayuguan to Alashan-Yuqi. This will be one of the most challenging stages of the entire race as the drivers head out into the big sands and begin to tackle the first high dunes on the race route. Several high-speed sections, changes in direction and types of surfaces will provide an additional challenge, but the skills of passing sand will be decisive.
RESULTS OF STAGE 11
SUVs:
- Stephane Peterhansel (Peugeot Sport) – 2h17:41
- Cyril Despres (Peugeot Sport) +1:13
- Yazid Al-Raji (X-Raid MINI) +2:08
- Bryce Menzies (X-Raid MINI) +4:58
- Egenio Amos (Two Wheels Drive Ford) +6:52
Trucks:
- Martin Kolomy (Tatra Buggyra Racing) – 2h29:28
- Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master) +0:49
- Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) +1:07
- Airat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master) +3:18
- Eduard Nikolaev (KAMAZ-master) +3:40
OVERALL POSITION
SUVs:
- Cyril Despres (Peugeot Sport) – 32h16:55
- Bryce Menzies (X-Raid MINI) +55:06
- Han Wei (Geely SMG) +57:29
- Christian Lavieille (Baicmotor Racing Team) +1h07:08
- Egenio Amos (Two Wheels Drive Ford) +1h48:52
Trucks:
- Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) – 33h58:25
- Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master) +14:54
- Martin Kolomy (Tatra Buggyra Racing) +29:23
- Airat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master) +31:59
The 11th stage of the rally raid has ended" Silk Road-2017". Stefan Peterhansel became the best in the passenger category. In the truck category, the Czech Martin Kolomy in Tatra was the leader.
"Jiayu Outpost", located in the desert area of Gansu Province, greeted the Silk Road Rally caravan at the Jiayuguan bivouac with rain that was completely atypical for this region. However, the marathon participants are no strangers to such conditions, given that the Russian and Kazakh stages were accompanied by real downpours. Due to the decision of the Chinese authorities to declare an environmental protection zone, the first special section was cancelled, but the second section - 237 kilometers of wide sandy tracks among the canyons - became a real test and received the status of Toyota Challenge, established by the Japanese company for the most difficult stages of the marathon.
The fight on the tracks between Dunhuang and Jiayuguan turned out to be extremely unpredictable: in the SUV category the leader changed literally at every mark. Peugeot Sport's Stéphane Peterhansel had the best start, but was soon edged out by X-Raid MINI driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi. 60 kilometers before the end of the special stage, the initiative was seized by race leader Cyril Despres, but in the finishing kilometers Stéphane Peterhansel had the final say: the French veteran “brought” more than a minute to his partner and won his fourth victory during the marathon. Cyril Despres ended up remaining second, Yazid Al-Raji was in third place, a little over two minutes behind the winner, and Bryce Menzies, the Saudi's partner on the German team, showed the fourth time, losing less than five minutes. In the overall standings, Cyril Despres increased his lead over his closest pursuers to 55 minutes. At the same time, Bryce Menzies was ahead of Han Wei in the fight for second place - the Chinese rider is now 2 minutes and 23 seconds behind the American.
Among the trucks, the winner was Tatra Buggyra Racing representative Martin Kolomy. The Czech crew immediately set a high pace and, even despite a hitch in the dust from under the wheels of one of the SUVs, showed the best time for the special stage. Throughout the entire distance, KAMAZ-Master crews walked alongside Kolomy, which predetermined extremely close results. Thus, Anton Shibalov, who showed the second time, lost only 49 seconds, Dmitry Sotnikov, who leads the overall standings, lost a little more than a minute relative to the Czech, and Airat Mardeev and Eduard Nikolaev, who opened the track, lost a little more than three minutes. In the general classification, Dmitry Sotnikov retains the first position, Anton Shibalov is almost 15 minutes behind him, and in the fight for third place, Martin Kolomy was ahead of Airat Mardeev due to his victory at the stage - in this pair the gap is only two and a half minutes. The top five is completed by Artur Ardavichus, Eduard Nikolaev takes sixth position.
Now the crews are waiting for the twelfth stage of the race - from Jiayuguan to Alashan-Yuqi. This will be one of the most challenging stages of the entire race as the drivers head out into the big sands and begin to tackle the first high dunes on the race route. Several high-speed sections, changes in direction and types of surfaces will provide an additional challenge, but the skills of passing sand will be decisive.
"Silk Road 2017". Stage 11 results
SUVs
1. Stephane Peterhansel (Peugeot Sport) – 2h17:41
2. Cyril Despres (Peugeot Sport) +1:13
3. Yazid Al-Raji (X-Raid MINI) +2:08
4. Bryce Menzies (X-Raid MINI) +4:58
5. Egenio Amos (Two Wheels Drive Ford) +6:52
Trucks
2. Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master) +0:49
3. Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) +1:07
4. Airat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master) +3:18
5. Eduard Nikolaev (KAMAZ-master) +3:40
"Silk Road 2017". Overall standings
SUVs
1. Cyril Despres (Peugeot Sport) – 32h16:55
2. Bryce Menzies (X-Raid MINI) +55:06
3. Han Wei (Geely SMG) +57:29
4. Christian Lavieille (Baicmotor Racing Team) +1h07:08
5. Egenio Amos (Two Wheels Drive Ford) +1h48:52
Trucks
1. Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) - 33h58:25
2. Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master) +14:54
4. Airat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master) +31:59
5. Arthur Ardavichus (Astana Motorsport De Rooy Iveco) +1h54:59
Together with the weather, at today's stage the local authorities involuntarily made racing everyday life easier: due to their decision to declare an environmental protection zone, the first special stage was canceled - only the second section of 237 km was retained. But this is the official version. There is another thing: the stage was canceled in order to save the participants, whose ranks are already rapidly melting.
But short doesn't mean boring. The fight that day turned out to be completely unpredictable: in the SUV category the leader changed literally at every control point. Peugeot Sport's Stéphane Peterhansel, who made a brisk start, was soon pushed aside by X-Raid Mini driver Yazid Al-Rajhi. 60 kilometers before the end of the special stage, the initiative was seized by race leader Cyril Despres, but in the finishing kilometers Peterhansel “brought” his partner more than a minute, winning his fourth victory during the marathon.
Cyril Despres ended up remaining second, Yazid Al-Rajhi was in third place, a little over two minutes behind the winner, and Bryce Menzies, the Saudi's partner on the German team, showed fourth time, losing less than five minutes. The top five was closed by the winner of the previous stage, Eugenio Menzies from the Two Wheels Drive team buggy.
In the overall standings, Cyril Despres increased his lead over his closest pursuers to 55 minutes. At the same time, Bryce Menzies was ahead of Han Wei in the fight for second place - the Chinese rider is now 2 minutes and 23 seconds behind the American. Christian Lavier, leader of the factory Baicmotor Racing Team, is classified just ten minutes behind the pair. The top 5 is still closed by Egenio Amos, but Stephane Peterhansel is gradually catching up with the Italian.
Two GAZelles from the GAZ Raid Sport team also remain in service. Crews travel in pairs to insure each other in the sand. This tactic also resulted in a paired finish: Mikhail Kostrukov finished 16th today, his brother Alexander was in 17th place out of 24 cars remaining in the race. In the overall standings, after 11 stages, Alexander takes 13th place, Mikhail - 17th.
Among the trucks (there are only 16 left in the race), Tatra Buggyra Racing representative Martin Kolomy won. Anton Shibalov, who showed the second time, lost only 49 seconds to him, Dmitry Sotnikov, who leads the overall standings, lost a little more than a minute relative to the Czech, and Airat Mardeev and Eduard Nikolaev, who opened the track, lost a little more than three minutes. "GAZon" of Mikhail Shklyaev was 14th at the finish line today - it occupies the same place in the overall cargo classification.
In the general classification, Dmitry Sotnikov retains the first position, almost 15 minutes behind him is Anton Shibalov, and in the fight for third place, Martin Kolomy was ahead of Ayrat Mardeev by winning the stage - in this pair the gap is only two and a half minutes. The top five is completed by Artur Ardavichus, Eduard Nikolaev takes sixth position.
Quotes.
Cyril Despres (Peugeot Sport):
"A good stage. Short, but it was a pleasure to drive. Winding tracks, no pits, so it was the best special stage since entering China. Overall, everything is in order. We don’t take risks at all, but we have to attack, because this is the best way to save concentration. At some point we got caught in the dust, as did Stefan, so in the end we didn’t finish together.”
Stefan Peterhansel:
“At the stage we were tightly stuck behind other cars, and it was impossible to overtake for about 50 kilometers. Then the direction changed, the wind was blowing in the other direction, and we quickly caught up with the other cars, picked up the pace and had a lot of fun. From a strategic point of view, we finished very well today because we will open the route, and Cyril will go right behind us and we won’t have to wait for him.”
Bryce Menzies (X-Raid Mini):
"Another good day, although I think we rode too carefully today. When Despres overtook us, we followed him and ended up with the fourth fastest stage time and second place overall - which is nice. Tomorrow we go to dunes, and I don’t want to open the track, it will be very difficult. I think we have a good one. starting position".
Han Wei (Geely SMG):
“We did a good job today, but we got stuck behind the car in front of us for more than 100 kilometers and lost a lot of time. However, we walked at our own pace and didn’t worry about it. There were no navigation errors, which is very good. I think , I was lucky with the starting position and I'm ready for next stages. We are still far from being the best pilots in the world, but we will do our best."
Martin Kolomy (Tatra Buggyra Racing):
“The car drove just fine - it’s a Tatra, and it copes with such tracks excellently. We attacked, drove at our own pace, even overtook several SUVs. The fact that we continue to fight with KamAZ-master is very pleasing, our team is smaller, but we we will still fight until the finish. Of course, it’s a pity that we lost half an hour at the very beginning, but there are still three days until the finish of the race and anything can happen.”
Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master):
“To be honest, we didn’t expect such weather - we were expecting the heat, but here it was wet. Last year there was also one such day - we were driving along wet dunes. Today we tried to drive quickly, it felt like the results were good. We saw Kolomy, tried to drive up to it, but it was felt that he was going “with all his money”. ".
Description
Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master):
“It turned out to be a typical “Kazakh” special stage. We think that Kolomy is going for broke, he takes risks on these winding sections. He rides very well off-road. Tomorrow he will start first, let him be the first to enter the sands, and we will attack behind him."
Sergey Vyazovich (MAZ-SPORTauto):
“Today I didn’t have the best starting position, so at the beginning, on a section with a winding mountain road, I had to overtake slow-moving cars and because of this I couldn’t immediately pick up a good pace. By the middle of the section, we overtook all the “slow” crews, it started "It's a smooth, fast road, where we managed to reach our usual pace. We went at a speed of 140 km/h throughout the second half, thanks to this we managed to overtake De Roy and reach sixth position. There are no questions about the car; yesterday's breakdowns were eliminated."
Alexey Vishnevsky (MAZ-SPORTauto):
“The day went well for us, we drove at a calm pace, didn’t catch up with anyone. Ardavičius started two minutes in front of us, we didn’t catch up with him, but we saw his dust. We didn’t try to catch up, and there was no such task. We tried to drive carefully, so as not to puncture the wheels in the river beds because today there were a lot of stones, bushes, and thorns. We drove calmly and finished in a normal time. The only problem was that the mechanic’s seat brackets broke and for the last 100 kilometers he had to hold on to everything so as not to fly out. from the cockpit. At the start he began to say that something was “knocked out”, and the navigator and I said that everything was fine with us. And then the mechanic realized that his seat was starting to move. It turned out that the “sleigh” was broken. We don’t carry such spare parts with us.”
Alexander Vasilevsky (MAZ-SPORTauto):
"We were driving with a one-minute difference - all three cars. And then the clutch broke and we immediately lost almost 12 minutes. It turns out that we wasted time changing gears with over-throttle. We had to seize the moment to shift the gear down or up. At the end of the special stage there was a piece viscous soil, in which we thought that we would get up without a clutch - we pulled 20 km/h - we thought we would stop and the car would get completely stuck, but still it was able to pull out in fifth gear."
Maria Oparina (Maverick buggy of the Suprotec-racing team):
“Today is not my day! Firstly, at the 40th kilometer I first thought that I had punctured the wheel, but everything turned out to be much worse - we split the disk. Plus, the disk protection against stones fell off. There were some pieces of iron lying next to the car - I probably thought “finita la comedy”, but no! We had a spare tire with us, we changed it - thank you very much to the guys from Kazakhstan. They didn’t abandon us until the finish of the liaison, they followed us, they helped us, looked after us. There are still gallant men, not only in Russian villages, but with Kazakh citizenship and in the Chinese deserts. We met all the standards, we took all the points, I think we still maintain a lead. Of course, we lost about 15 minutes. We lost it while replacing it, then we stopped and checked. Then, about 30 kilometers before the finish, another tire started to go flat, but we only had one spare wheel, so we had to slow down. But it’s good that we’re here.”
Stage 11 results.
SUVs:
1. Stefan Peterhansel (Peugeot Sport) - 2h17:41
2. Cyril Despres (Peugeot Sport) +1:13
3. Yazid Al-Raji (X-Raid Mini) +2:08
4. Bryce Menzies (X-Raid Mini) +4:58
5. Egenio Amos (Two Wheels Drive Ford) +6:52
Trucks:
1. Martin Kolomy (Tatra Buggyra Racing) - 2h29:28
2. Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master) +0:49
3. Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) +1:07
4. Airat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master) +3:18
5. Eduard Nikolaev (KAMAZ-master) +3:40
Position in the overall standings.
SUVs:
1. Cyril Despres (Peugeot Sport) - 32h16:55
2. Bryce Menzies (X-Raid Mini) +55:06
3. Han Wei (Geely SMG) +57:29
4. Christian Lavieille (Baicmotor Racing Team) +1h07:08
5. Egenio Amos (Two Wheels Drive Ford) +1h48:52
Trucks:
1. Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) - 33h58:25
2. Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master) +14:54
3. Martin Kolomy (Tatra Buggyra Racing) +29:23
4. Airat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master) +31:59
5. Arthur Ardavichus (Astana Motorsport De Rooy Iveco) +1h54:59
July 19. China. “Jiayu Outpost”, located in the desert area of Gansu Province, greeted the Silk Road Rally caravan at the Jiayuguan bivouac with rain that was completely atypical for this region. However, the marathon participants are no strangers to such conditions, given that the Russian and Kazakh stages were accompanied by real downpours.
Due to the decision of the Chinese authorities to declare an environmental protection zone, the first special section was cancelled, but the second section - 237 kilometers of wide sandy tracks among the canyons - became a real test and received the status of Toyota Challenge, established by the Japanese company for the most difficult stages of the marathon.
The fight on the tracks between Dunhuang and Jiayuguan turned out to be extremely unpredictable: in the SUV category the leader changed literally at every mark. Peugeot Sport's Stéphane Peterhansel had the best start, but was soon edged out by X-Raid MINI driver Yazeed Al-Raji. 60 kilometers before the end of the special stage, the initiative was seized by race leader Cyril Despres, but in the finishing kilometers Stéphane Peterhansel had the final say: the French veteran “brought” his partner more than a minute and won his fourth victory during the marathon. Cyril Despres ended up remaining second, Yazid Al-Raji was in third place, a little over two minutes behind the winner, and Bryce Menzies, the Saudi's partner on the German team, showed the fourth time, losing less than five minutes. The top five was closed by the winner of the previous stage, Eugenio Menzies from Two Wheels Drive.
In the overall standings, Cyril Despres increased his lead over his closest pursuers to 55 minutes. At the same time, Bryce Menzies was ahead of Han Wei in the fight for second place - the Chinese rider is now 2 minutes and 23 seconds behind the American. Christian Lavieille, leader of the factory Baicmotor Racing Team, is classified just ten minutes behind the pair. The top 5 is still closed by Egenio Amos, but Stephane Peterhansel is gradually catching up with the Italian.
The only representative of the T2 category was the Kazakh crew from the Aktau Motorsport team, Kirill Chernenkov and Alexey Moon. All their rivals damaged their cars different stages rally-raid were forced to leave the race.
Among the trucks, the winner was Tatra Buggyra Racing representative Martin Kolomy. The Czech crew immediately set a high pace and, even despite a hitch in the dust from under the wheels of one of the SUVs, showed the best time for the special stage. Throughout the entire distance, KAMAZ-Master crews walked alongside Kolomy, which predetermined extremely tight results. Thus, Anton Shibalov, who showed the second time, lost only 49 seconds, Dmitry Sotnikov, who leads the overall standings, lost a little more than a minute relative to the Czech, and Airat Mardeev and Eduard Nikolaev, who opened the track, lost a little more than three minutes.
The Kazakh crew of Artur Ardavichus had to replace the navigator. Serge Brunkens, unfortunately for the team, damaged his cervical nerve and was unable to continue the race. By a joint decision of the Astana Motorsports and Petronas Team De Rooy Iveco teams, the co-driver from De Rooy’s team, Spaniard Feran Marco, assisting driver Ton Van Genuchten, moved to the Kazakh crew. This allowed the Kazakhstanis to continue the race at the proper level and retain fifth position in the overall standings.
Now the participants are waiting for the twelfth stage of the race - from Jiayuguan to Alashan-Yuqi. This will be one of the most challenging stages of the entire race as the drivers head out into the big sands and begin to tackle the first high dunes on the race route. Several high-speed sections, changes in direction and types of surfaces will provide an additional challenge, but the skills of passing sand will be decisive.
RESULTS OF STAGE 11
SUVs:
1. Stefan Peterhansel (Peugeot Sport) – 2h17:41
2. Cyril Despres (Peugeot Sport) +1:13
3. Yazid Al-Raji (X-Raid MINI) +2:08
4. Bryce Menzies (X-Raid MINI) +4:58
5. Egenio Amos (Two Wheels Drive Ford) +6:52
Trucks:
1. Martin Kolomy (Tatra Buggyra Racing) – 2h29:28
2. Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master) +0:49
3. Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) +1:07
4. Airat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master) +3:18
Rally raid
Participants of the “Silk Way” rally raid, which started at the end of last week in Moscow, yesterday left Russian territory and moved to Kazakhstan, where the real tests for equipment and crews will begin. However, already the first three stages of the race showed that there is no point in expecting sensations. In the SUV class, as expected, the French crews of the Peugeot team set the tone. True, in the truck competition Martin Kolomy is still ahead in the Tatra, but he is being pressed by three KAMAZ crews at once, which will probably, as they say, eat the Czech.
For most of its history, the Silk Road rally-raid remained, despite its loud name, a purely domestic Russian competition. Apart from the debut race in 2009, when in addition to Russia the rally also passed through the territory of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, the crews did not go further than Astrakhan. And in 2014 and 2015, the race was not held at all due to financial difficulties. Fortunately, China joined the project last year, after which the event began to live up to its name. The first rally raid after its revival took place along the Moscow-Beijing route, and it showed great demand among the world's leading racers. Moreover, the representation of top racers was not limited to the participation of the crews of the KamAZ-master team (their presence was implied). For example, Stéphane Peterhansel, who has 12 victories at the Dakar, and nine-time world champion in classic rally Sebastien Lob, and five-time champion“Dakar” (in motorcycle competitions) - the future winner of the “Silk Road” Cyril Despres, who in 2014 retrained as a specialist in four-wheeled vehicles.
This year, it was decided to bring the rally route even closer to what is implied in its name, and therefore the finish point was moved from Beijing to Xi'an (the race still started in Moscow). A city not very well known to the general public, but it was in Xi'an that for many centuries the starting point of the Great Silk Road was. As a result of the change in the finishing point, the rally route had to be significantly revised, the length of which will be 9599 km, which is almost 1200 km less than last year. However, the length of the special stages remained almost unchanged - about 4100 km.
In total, 90 crews signed up to participate in the Silk Road (competitions are held in the SUV and truck classes). This, of course, is not Dakar, which accepts more than three hundred units of racing equipment, but it is still a very respectable representation. Moreover, almost all the strongest racers in the world arrived on the Silk Road.
As for the rally itself, the third stage took place on Monday, running from Ufa to the Kazakh Kustanai. And even though there are still 11 stages ahead and the race is just getting into combat mode (the most interesting tests of technology will begin in the Kazakh steppes and the Gobi Desert, where the air temperature goes beyond 50°C), an approximate circle of contenders for victory has already emerged.
In the SUV class, everything goes predictably. The Peugeot team brought such a powerful lineup (Peterhansel, Lob, Depres) that it is even difficult to imagine who and, most importantly, how will be able to challenge the French. So it is not surprising that the top three were made up of Peugeot drivers. For now, Lob is in the lead, more than three minutes ahead of Peterhansel, and Depres, 17 minutes behind, closes the top three. As for the French rivals, the closest of them, American Bryce Menzies, was almost 40 minutes behind the leader. The best of the Russians, Viktor Khoroshavtsev, driving a BMW X3, is 11th, almost an hour and a half behind.
But the crews of the KamAZ-master team, who, with the exception of the 2011 race, invariably won the rally, have not yet been able to create any groundwork. Moreover, the Czech Martin Kolomy in a Tatra is leading the competition.
Perhaps this situation has arisen because the team management considers the Silk Road as a stage of preparation for Dakar 2018. As a result, some crews travel with new engines (and a new engine almost always requires reconfiguration of the car), and Airat Mardeev’s crew generally drives a car equipped with an automatic transmission, which is still new for KamAZ vehicles. As the head of the KamAZ-master team, Vladimir Chagin, explained, the automatic machine allows you to accelerate very quickly, but not everything is going well with the so-called engine brake, which can lead to overheating of the braking system. But, despite everything, Mardeev is fourth in the overall standings, eight minutes behind the leader. Second and third places are occupied by two more KAMAZ crews - Anton Shibalov (less than three minutes behind Koloma) and Dmitry Sotnikov (Koloma was five minutes ahead of him). And unless something really terrible happens, then Koloma and anyone who tries to take his place will be eaten by KamAZ trucks sooner or later.
Alexander Petrov
