Press attaché of KAMAZ-master reports from the Stage 8 finish of Silk Way Rally:
- "The first real rally-raid special" - that's how today's stage was named by KAMAZ-master pilot Airat Mardeev. As the organizers promised, the first part of the stage required mainle pilots' efforts: difficult-to-pass terrain circled with mountains in the south and multiple wells in the north was keeping the racers vigil all the time. The second part was challenging for navigators.
Peugeot Sport pilot Sebastien Loeb strengthened his leadership in the overall car standings winning 68 minutes over his teammate Cyril Despres. Cyril Despres and Bryce Menzies finished with a lag of 5 and 14 minutes, respectively, in the overall.
Dmitry Sotnikov won another stage, which consolidated his position in the general rating. Anton Shibalov has finished fourth today losing 7 minutes 15 seconds to the leader, still keeping his second place in the overall. Airat Mardeev showed second time and cut a gap to third position in the overall now taken by Martin Kolomy who finished third with a gap of 4 minutes and 59 seconds. Eduard Nikolaev reached the finish line fifth.
Today, the teams have arrived at the bivouac of Urumqi city wh ere a day of rest will be tomorrow. The organizers tried to make these two days full of events for the residents of the bivouac. Today, the participants can try Chinese massage therapy for free, play football, race using radio-guided toy cars, attend a foam party, and a confetti salute and light-emitting baloon releases will crown the evening.
Airat Mardeev, pilot of KAMAZ=master team, Crew 300: "Today's special was really off-piste: a lot of impassable and twisting roads, many sand slopes, hills, bumps, ravines. There were navigation challenges, plenty of twisting roads were left from last year, and they embarrassed the navigators, but on the whole everything went well, without technical problems. We followed Anton Shibalov, caught up with him, passed him by and then ran alone for almost the rest of the day."
Siarhey Viazovich, pilot of MAZ-SPORTavto team, Crew 304: "Today everything went without accidents, the road changed radically: off-road, sands, so we actuqally ran at a smooth pace: not risking, not trying to attack, because we decided not to experiment till the day of rest, but after the break, by the second part of the rally we plan to elaborate some tactics. Actually, it's difficult to keep the leaders' pace, be in the lead, and, at the same time, lose about 4.5 hours. This is, honestly, really hard, but I must inspire my team and stay optimistic myself. Only a half of the race has passed, one cannot say that our rivals won't have such problems in the second part of the rally. The race isn't over, so everybody is still competing. We'll fight till the end, till the last stage."
Dmitry Sotnikov, pilot of KAMAZ-master team, Crew 300: "It has been not so hot today, if it had been hotter, everything could have been much worse. We tried to drive smoothly, but lost a little bit at the end, there was a small engine disfunction, so we had to stop and restart. We tried to work accurately, focus on navigation, precise and skillful driving. And, seemingly, we did it. The finish wasn't easy, the road was hard-surface, but very twisting."
RESULTS OF THE 8TH STAGE. TRUCKS
1. Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) - 3h13:51
2. Airat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master) +1:52
3. Martin Kolomy (Tatra Buggyra Racing) +4:59
4. Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master) +7:15
5. Eduard Nikolaev (KAMAZ-master) +7:58
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION. TRUCKS
1. Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) - 23h29:34
2. Anton Shibalov (KAMAZ-master) +9:54
3. Martin Kolomy (Tatra Buggyra Racing) +20:26
4. Airat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master) +27:06
5. Artur Ardavicius (De Rooy Iveco) +1:18:48
6. Eduard Nikolaev (KAMAZ-master) +2:18:04