Silk Way Rally Stage 4: Double Challenge

Comunicato Stampa disponibile solo in lingua originale. 

The route of the fourth stage of the International #silkwayrally consisted of two selective sections separated by a neutralization zone. The first segment brought together difficult and treacherous tracks that required constant concentration and discretion, while the second part, which took place in a picturesque hilly area, allowed the competitors to show the full power of their vehicles.

Despite the 40-degree heat, the competitors were satisfied with the tracks prepared by the Organizers. In the evening guests from the government of the Orenburg region visited the bivouac of the #rally. Sergey Grachev, the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Orenburg Region, Alexander Polukhin, the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Orenburg Region, the Minister of Construction, Housing and Communal Services, Roads and Transport of the Orenburg Region, as well as Oleg Pankin, the Minister of Physical Culture and Sports of the Orenburg Region, and Andrey Anikeev, a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation came to greet the crews.

Vasilyev's Advantage is Almost an Hour For the fourth day in a row #vladimirvasilyev in the BMW X5 of the VRT team has won in the Car category. However, this time #andreyrudskoy, the NG-Energo driver in the G-Force Bars, was able to impose a fight on the leader and even beat him by 40 seconds at the first selective section of the day. At the second one Rudskoy had to slow down due to fuel overheating, and by the end of the day Vasilyev took the first place — he added another 12 minutes to his lead.

Now the advantage of the leader over Rudskoy in the overall standings is 58 minutes. The third and fourth places in the T1 standings are still occupied by the GAZ Raid Sport drivers Alexey Ignatov and #alexanderrusanov — their gap from the first position is approaching two hours. TOP-5 is rounded out by Bogdan Vavrenyuk in the GAZ-67.

Evgeny Sukhovenko from LADA Sport ROSNEFT Raid became the fastest among T2 class production cars, but his teammate Dmitry Voronov went straight to the bivouac due to technical problems bypassing the competitive distance and received several hours of penalty.

Anton Melnikov, the leader of the T2 classification in the Toyota LC 200 of the Podmoskovye Team, scored the fourth result at the stage, losing five minutes to his main pursuer in the standings — Leonid Petrov from the RUS team in a similar car. Now in the overall standings this pair is separated by almost 22 minutes. And then there is Maxatmyrat Danatarov from the Federation of automobile sport of Turkmenistan. Ten seconds between T3 leaders

In the SSV standings #anastasianifontova won the fourth stage. She completed both selective sections with the best time and won back more than a minute and a half from #sergeykaryakin. Karyakin, who had to take care of an overheated engine, managed to retain the first line in the general classification, but his advantage was reduced to 12 seconds.

Roman Rusinov broke into the third position of the overall standings, he outpaced Alexey Cherkesov. Rusinov, a debutant of the #silkwayrally, admitted that it was the fourth stage that he liked the most due to its steering nature. The crew of the G-Drive #racing sports director is a little bit more than 12 minutes behind the leader of the standings.

Aleksey Cherkesov remains in the fight for victory, losing about 15 minutes, but it will be more difficult for Andrey Novikov, who rounds out the TOP-5, to intervene in the battle for the first place — the G-Force Motorsport crew is almost half an hour behind.

New Rival for Vyazovich In the Truck category Andrey Karginov from the KAMAZ-Master Team became the fastest at the fourth stage. He was two and a half minutes ahead of Sergey Vyazovich from the MAZ-SPORTauto and Dmitry Sotnikov, the reigning winner of the #silkwayrally. In addition, the Chinese-Russian crew One Belt One Road led by Hou Hongning set an excellent fourth time.

Eduard Nikolaev was unlucky. At the first selective section the crew punched the wheels twice losing about eleven minutes on this, and closer to the finish line it hit the branch with the corner of the windshield, because of which they had to stop again. It was not possible to fix the glass — it began to crumble directly on the co-driver Evgeny Yakovlev.

Nikolaev eventually lost about 18 minutes and rolled back to the third place in the overall standing. The first line is still occupied by Sergey Vyazovich, and Andrey Karginov has now become his main rival — the gap between them is less than seven minutes. Nikolaev is still behind the leader by the same 18 minutes, and Dmitry Sotnikov is in fourth place 37 minutes behind. Two more Blue Armada drivers follow: Hou Honging and Sergey Kupriyanov are ahead of Alexey Vishneuski (MAZ-SPORTauto) and Yuri Nayman (Ural Motorsport). Pavlenko Wins Again

At the fourth stage Oleg Pavlenko scored another bright victory in the G-MOTO Challenge standings -— a native of Magnitogorsk outpaced Dmitry Kalinin by almost 23 minutes and brought his lead over the nearest rival in the overall standings to a little bit over an hour.

Ilya Shcheglov, who won the first-ever Silk Way Snow Journey Snowmobile Rally-Raid, celebrated the second victory in a row in the #moto standings. The driver of the Doc_32 team is now 40 minutes ahead of Vyacheslav Pashchenko and 58 minutes ahead of Nail Khubbatullin.

Anatoly Kuznetsov became the fastest again among the Quad category competitors, but Alexander Gilemov, despite a bruised hand, lost only four minutes to the leader of the overall standings. In the general classification this couple is still separated by about an hour and a half, followed by Danil Loginov, Azat Shaymukhametov and Inna Martyanova. Grand Tour in Sibay

The fourth stage was also held as part of the Small Towns of Russia Grand Tour. Leaving the bivouac in Magnitogorsk, the crews went to a 160-kilometer liaison, where they had to complete a quest, drive into the city of Sibay, find a monument to BelAZ and count all the front nuts on it. According to the next task from the Organizers, the competitors had to take a picture with the symbol of the city — the marten, as well as elements of the periodic table, discovered in this region.

Then it was the turn of the exit to the 45-kilometer selective section, which turned out to be one of the most demanding of all days of the #rally. Nevertheless, almost all crews coped with numerous pits and difficult navigation. However, 600 meters after the finish line one crew punctured two wheels and got to the bivouac on the Organizers' evacuator.

Quotes Vladimir Vasilyev (VRT), "The stage went well, but we had two tires punctured at the very beginning, we were passed by MAZ. We caught up with it, but couldn't overtake — we were driving in the dust, and punctured the second wheel there. At the 30th kilometer of the second selective section we came up against the dust and drove in it all the way. Today it's much hotter and it's hard for the car, all fans have turned on, even the generator's power is no longer enough — it shows that the voltage is low. It's also hard for us. The air conditioner turned off in the heat, it doesn't work. We lost about 4.5 minutes for the replacement of two wheels and we were driving in the dust."

Andrey Rudskoy (NG-Energo), "Despite some wandering, we scored a good result. Thanks to Sergey Kupriyanov for a very polite pass — he allowed us to drive. The second selective section was even more beautiful than the first one, but by the time of the start the heat was really impressive, and 10 km before the finish line our fuel began to boil. The sensor registered 53С, and we were forced to stop, lost in time and scored only 21st results. We stood for about 8-9 minutes, trying to let the entire fuel supply system, pumps and regulator cool down at least a little bit, so that it would give us the opportunity to drive these 10 kilometers and finish. According to the forecast, tomorrow in Orenburg is + 39C again, so we will think over how to pass the stage. It helped that the live and exhausing selective sections were short — there are many positions like "pit-2", a lot of dirt, corners — marathon stages. If this was 200-300 kilometers in a row, it would be difficult. All new selective sections are very cool and interesting!"

Aleksey Ignatov (GAZ Raid Sport), "It was unexpectedly hard, because we thought that after yesterday's long selective section there would be two short ones, and it seemed easy. But at the first SS we had problems with the brakes, we had to drive not very fast in order to be able to stop. At the liaison we managed to repair and drove further. Unfortunately, we were passed by a couple of cars at the previous selective section and therefore at the second one we drove almost all the way in their dust. It's hard, the concentration is maximum, you look behind every hill and every bend in order not to be surprised there. At the second selective section the wind doesn't blow between the hills, the air is full of dust — nothing is visible. It was hard not so much physically as psychologically. But it's ok, we're at the finish line, and this is the main thing!"

Alexander Rusanov (GAZ Raid Sport), "To be honest I'm tired. It's hard because of the weather, but the car drives well, we didn't make any mistakes with the navigation, nothing is broken. I'm positive about the stage. The #rally is long, everything goes according to plan."

Anastasia Nifontova (G-Drive Racing), "We drove as fast as possible. I try not to look at the results, because if I find out that I'm very close to someone or someone — to me, I start to get nervous, fuss and make mistakes, and this is not necessary. I have my own nirvana. My task is to bring the car to the finish line as intact as possible, without breakdowns and keep up the pace. It works for now. Yesterday was a bad day because of the wheels, but today we've changed the tire tactics and they are all intact. There were the very technical and winding paths — a lot of work for the driver, I like these stages more. There was nowhere to breathe! Ekaterina Zhadanova, my co-driver, also had a lot of work — all the time there were pit two, pit three. And it was dirty."

Sergey Karyakin (Snag Racing), "After the off-road section the radiator was covered with dirt, we started to overheat, and I had to slow down. Sometimes I just released the gas, we just rolled, but the temperature was rising. But we still arrived at the finish, it's fine. We met animals — hares and roe deer. But I didn't run over any of them!"

Dmitry Mordkovich (Team Maria Oparina), "Today is so cool! The first selective section was quite hard, but this one is simply amazing. We punctured two wheels. And for the first time in my life the engine started to overheat — it warmed up to 114C. Well, what can we do? We drive, I won't throttle down. Let it explode rather than I slow down."

Roman Rusinov (G-Drive Racing), "After 20 kilometers of the first selective section we punctured the wheel. I think we lost four minutes on the replacement, and another minute on the fact that my belt turned over a little bit. The second selective section was quite good, but we ran into Cherkesov, signaled to him, but it's hard to get close in the forest — you drive up, and visibility in the dust is zero. We understood that MAZ was behind, but didn't realize at what distance. As a result we stopped, looked — there seemed to be no one, and drove on. The selective section is very interesting in terms of driving. I think it's my favorite one so far. It's cool, steering, but it's a pity that someone was in front, otherwise we would have driven faster. To be honest I didn't feel that it became hotter. The day before we made changes to the belt, which was heated. But the pits were quite large, so everything in the car needs to be replaced completely."

Andrey Karginov (KAMAZ-Master), "I don't remember heat like this. The thermometer showed +46 degrees — these are unbearable conditions! Today it has been a body endurance #racing. What are #people capable of? It was difficult to set the pace from the start and keep it to the finish, we feel tired. We tried to go fast, win time. We thought there would be straights, but the tracks are tremendous. They are fast, winding, and bumpy."

Sergey Vyazovich (MAZ-SPORTauto), "We're glad that we arrived to the finish line without any problems. The fourth stage turned out to be not so long in terms of distance, but very tricky. We drove for three days at maximum speed. The start was the same, but then the selective section suddenly turned into a plateau with tall grass and stones. Immediately there we met #vladimirvasilyev, it looked like he had finished changing the wheel. All the way today we have been not only the first truck, but also the first vehicle on the track. We were careful. The tactic was to drive smooth, so we even wanted to let Eduard Nikolaev pass and ride behind — we have two minutes difference in the general classification — we would have been given three without risk. We reached the neutralization zone and saw no one behind. We saw that he lost us 12 minutes by points, and we lost one minute to Karginov, who is nine minutes behind, so at the second part we slowed down even more in order to hold our position and reach the finish line."

Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-Master), "The first part was fast and hilly. Stones appeared unexpectedly. The road was so grassy. In one place we saw Eduard Nikolaev was standing. We honked, they were sitting in the cockpit. We didn't understand what happened and moved on. There was an overgrown road, we felt a blow, there was a stone. We saw that the wheel began to flatten and continued to move using pumping. After 50 kilometers vibration began, we thought that the wheel started to collapse. We stopped to look — it was still intact, you could go. It was just the road. We reached the finish line of the first SS, changed the wheel and drove on. It was a very beautiful area with winding paths."

Hou Hongning (One Belt One Road), "Today we mostly drove through the fields, there were forests and very difficult roads. We drove carefully also because there were a lot of stones on the road. The second section, although short, turned out to be more difficult because of mountainous terrain, hills and narrow roads. Such tracks require absolute concentration. In general, everything was fine, our crew is getting better every day, there were no problems with navigation. It was a very beautiful stage with a lot of greenery and incredible open spaces. Russia is my favorite country, because it is here that I have the opportunity to participate in such a cool #rally. And the #people here are very friendly and hospitable."

Eduard Nikolaev (KAMAZ-Master), "There have been two punctures today. The first one was completely unexpected, we didn't see it in the grass, we thought it was some kind of concrete column. I started to make small cuts and at one point I realized that the rear wheel was punctured. There was such a strong blow that even the disc was damaged. We lost 6 minutes on the replacement, drove on — and there was the next stone. I slipped a bit in the corner and when I started to fishtail I caught a rock on the edge. The second change took 5 minutes. At the end of the first part in a narrow forest we touched a branch in the leaves by the right corner of the windshield, it cracked, and then started to fall apart. We stopped, inserted some special rods that prevent the windshield from falling into the passenger compartment, and drove on, but it still began to crumble on the co-driver Evgeny Yakovlev. He had to put on glasses and drive blind. And we finished this way. The second part of the selective section was very interesting — winding, reminiscent of a roller coaster, it was possible to cut. It was more convenient to select a trajectory so that the car slowed down less and rolled more. I would say, it was the technical second part, very dynamic. The driver gets great pleasure from it, and the co-driver only corrects him."

Yuri Nayman (Ural Motorsport), "The first part was so hot that it was hard to drive and, it seems, not only for us. The second selective section was much easier, maybe because it was more cloudy, I liked to drive. Maybe, it was more suitable for our car. I'm slowly getting used to rally-raids. The ditches are more familiar — we rush, something hits, other doesn't hit — we no longer notice. After four days tiredness is felt a little bit."

Oleg Pavlenko, "I've enjoyed my native land. The place where we were driving is called the Zilair Plateau, and in 2008 I came here as a spectator to watch rally-raids. This area is familiar to me, the dust here is like flour — fesh-fesh, but this is also familiar. The motorcycle works well, I didn't fall, I didn't stray, everything is clear in navigation, unlike yesterday. Another pleasant thing is that my grandmother is from the Orenburg Region, and she often told me about watermelons. So now I would really like to have a watermelon. Further we will go to Samara, and my grandfather is from there. In general, I'm satisfied — the nature is wonderful, thanks to the Organizers. I can't imagine how they managed to compose such a wonderful track — they must have been the designers!".

Ilya Shcheglov (Doc_32), "In the beginning it was very difficult, the soil was very rocky, there were hidden stones in the grass, so I almost fell a couple of times. I realized that I needed to slow down, I rode more careful and missed Oleg Pavlenko. It was very hot — as if a hair dryer was blowing in the face. There were few gaps in the fields where it was possible to cool off. The second selective section was quite fast and not difficult —there were some stones only at the end. There were a couple of hidden ravines, but they were avoided. In terms of navigation I lost 30 seconds — compared to other days it was not too difficult."

Anton Kruglov, "The route was very exhausting for me, because the bike is heavy. In some ways these places resemble Altai — climb a hill on a hard road, drive along a plateau, go around the stones, maneuver, and so on. I'm very tired today, but okay in general. The other riders set the pace and it's so hot that I has drunken five liters of water today."