Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and co-driver Tom Colsoul (BEL) enjoyed an excellent day in the #101 MINI John Cooper Works Rally yesterday, completing stage 10 of the 2017 Silk Way Rally in second place. The competitors tackled 517.53km of fast, technical tracks today, with Al Rajhi and Colsoul finishing the special distance of 360.28km in a time of 03:25:10 – just 46 seconds behind the stage winner.
The pair are now in 11th place overall and within reaching distance of a top 10 finish, with less than four minutes separating them from 10th position.
Al Rahji: “Everything was ok today, we had a small issue with the power steering but it was all ok in the end. Then around the middle of the special stage we got stuck in the dust of another vehicle for about 40km, but everything was fine.”
Not far behind Al Rajhi was the second MINI John Cooper Works Rally (#105) of Bryce Menzies (USA) and Peter Mortensen (USA). The American duo finished the stage in third position, just two minutes and 18 seconds behind their fellow MINI competitors. Their times on today’s stage has placed Menzies and Mortensen back inside the top three overall with less than four minutes gap to second place.
Menzies: “Today was really good; at the beginning it was tight, technical and pretty rough and dusty so we got stuck behind two trucks. It took us a while to get past them but once we did, it opened up and it was really high speed roads so we had clean air for a long time. We made up quite a bit of time and then at the end – about 90km from the finish – we caught another truck, which made it really dusty and it was hard to see in front of us. All-in-all it was a good stage, a really high speed stage and no problems. The car ran great and we got third so a good starting position for tomorrow.”
PEUGEOT TEAM SPIRIT IS HIGH – AS DESPRES CONSOLIDATES SILK WAY RALLY LEADERSHIP
After the dramas of yesterday, today’s stage was much more straightforward for Team Peugeot Total, with the two remaining cars making it safely through to the finish despite dropping time in the final part of the stage with a slight navigational error.
Cyril Despres / David Castera on Peugeot DKR #100 extend their overall lead today, despite driving with a bit in reserve in order not to take too many risks. They classified 4th on the stage but still gained few minutes in the overall timetable.
Stephane Peterhansel / Jean Paul Cottret aboard Peugeot DKR #106 parked immediately after the start in order to wait the 8 minutes for their team mate to arrive. They then drive close to them during the stage, to be in a position to offer any assistance if needed. They have now climbed back to sixth overall.
After yesterday’s drama, the priority for the two remaining Peugeot DKRs was to get through today’s leg from Hami to Dunhuang safely. And they both managed to do exactly that. While the 360.2-kilometre stage was anything but easy, some slick team work meant that Cyril Despres could attack safe in the knowledge that his team mate was close by to help should anything go wrong. As a result, Despres has now increased his lead to 47 minutes as the rally goes into the final four days.
Cyril DESPRES, Team Peugeot Total Driver, 4th of stage 10 / 1st overall
“It’s always interesting to start a race in a different context, the context of being leader. Yesterday was all about trying not to make a mistake to keep our place in the top two, today we started in front. The pace was not exceptional, just trying to warm up the engine and the car gradually, but it was a more enjoyable drive than yesterday. We overtook a few local drivers and then 40 kilometres from the finish line we made a small navigational mistake and went back on ourselves, missing five kilometres of road book. Luckily we managed to remember a blue house, which was a good reference point: there are not many of those in China! We miss the podium due to this error but now our goal is to keep heading safe to Xi’an, and above all not damage the car.”
Stéphane PETERHANSEL, Team Peugeot Total Driver 8th of stage 10 / 6th overall (cars)
“I didn’t see too much of the stage as I was in the dust for a lot of the time, especially at the beginning. I started first on the road and then waited for Cyril who was fifth. I slotted in behind Cyril and then he began to catch up the cars that I had let go past. He overtook them one by one and then we were first and second on the stage, which was better as we were able to run in clearer air with less dust. We both got a bit lost at the end but nothing too serious. In general, the stage conditions were much better than yesterday.”