Press attaché of KAMAZ-master reports fr om the Stage 9 finish of Silk Way Rally:
- The ninth stage presented the participants and photographers all they had been waiting for so long - the first sand dunes. The height of a dune can be equal to that of a 10-storey building. To cross it is difficult because you never know what you'll face after it, what its side looks like, and you need to choose the right speed, gear in order not to get stuck on the very top of it.
An unusual situation has developed today in the car category. Stephane Peterhansel won the stage. Good luck accompanied Chinese crews who took second, third and fourth positions in the table. Cyril Despres lost only six seconds to fourth finisher. Nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb pulled out of the Silk Way Rally because of a trauma. The Frenchman damaged his truck, injured his finger and lost leading positions in the overall with a 2h30 gap at the ninth stage of the race. "My thumb is hurting, I can no longer hold the steering wheel and I don’t feel very well. I won’t be able to continue the race like this," Loeb told AFP. After Loeb's accident, his Peugeot-teammate Cyril Despres came fr om behind. Han Wei and Bryce Menzies entered the top three too.
Airat Mardeev outstripping his teammate Dmitry Sotnikov by 38 seconds and finally shifting Martin Kolomy from third place in the general standings has become the best among KAMAZ trucks today. Third place was taken by Anton Shibalov with a lag of 5 minutes 9 seconds followed by Eduard Nikolaev who lost the leading positions at the stage because of a punched wheel.
Airat Mardeev, pilot of KAMAZ-master team, Crew No. 300: "Today, as the organizers promised, there were the first sands - about 40 km of dunes. They were high, with many passes, therefore there were few difficulties in crossing. Then off-road terrain started. A real, rally-raid, classic race. Our backs are aching very much now. We understood that just there we could win time that Kolomy lost, so we attacked. We drove almost all day long close to Dima. We changed our places in dunes once, then another time. As a result, we drove one after another in this way, in his dust, we were stable. We liked a new gear box in dunes very much: there is an opportunity to switch gears without losses, but I'm not yet ready to definitely say that it is better in sands."
Dmitry Sotnikov, pilot of KAMAZ-master team, Crew No. 303: "The most difficult thing today was not to die down before the start, therefore, looking at this mountain and sand dunes at the start, you can psychologically die down before the start and make a mistake. So, we tried to pass dunes quietly, not hurrying, everything is reliable, we ran fast. Airat ran to us once, tried to pass, but we learned by his mistake, went ahead, after which he saw our dust all day long. Today, it was a very hard road, we tried to drive smoothly, not risking."
Evgeny Yakovlev, navigator of KAMAZ-master team, Crew No. 307: "There were 35 km of dunes. In comparison with last year, the organizers laid the route a little bit righter, in the place without big sinkholes, large crosses of dunes, then everything went really smoothly. And then it was a good, working section with pits and bumps for almost all 380 km of the track. For navigators, there were several specific places wh ere roads were separated, but it didn't bring us difficulties. About 120 km, approximately at that place, like last year, we had a wheel puncture, we had to stop, replace the wheel, then we touched a sump somewh ere, lost about a bit more than 16 minutes, in general."
Ruslan Akhmadeev, navigator of KAMAZ-master team, Crew No. 303: "SS was uneasy, we went into sands immediately, took about 10 points. The sands were difficult to pass, bu we coped with them, then Airat Mardeev caught up with us, then we outstripped him in the sands. After that we drove in the lead till the very end. The dust was seen far away, but cars didn't catch us up. We faced problems with exhaust gas thermocouple installed in front of a turbocharger, it is not working, there's no signal, so, the engine reduces power by about 20 percent. We drove so for almost 300 km. There have been very interesting views today: dunes at first, then interesting plains, lack of roads, blacker-than-black stones, fesh-fesh below, that is you drive off the road, and you start sinking, the speed is falling, it's interesting."
RESULTS OF THE 9TH STAGE. TRUCKS
1. Airat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master) – 4h19:50
2. Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) +0:36
3. Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master) +5:09
4. Eduard Nikolaev (KAMAZ-master) +9:25
5. Martin Kolomy (Tatra Buggyra Racing) +11:40
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION. TRUCKS
1. Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) - 27h50:00
2. Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master) +14:27
3. Ayrat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master) +26:30
4. Martin Kolomy (Tatra Buggyra Racing) +31:30
5. Artur Ardavicius (Astana Motorsport De Rooy Iveco) +1h43:59
6. Eduard Nikolaev (KAMAZ-master) +2h26:53