The third leg of the 2016 Silk Way Rally saw competitive action get underway in earnest in the course of today’s 815.15km run (Monday) from Ufa (Russia) to Kostanay in Kazakhstan.Today’s 200.43km stage saw Cyril Despres/David Castera move to the top of the leaderboard in the N°104 PEUGEOT 2008 DKR. It is the first time in his brief career on four wheels that the Peugeot Sport driver has led a cross-country rally; a good omen for the remainder of the event.
Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena soon found themselves running first on the road after the day’s two front-running crews came to a stop on the stage. It was a big challenge for the Franco-Monegasque pair, especially as the correct route was often obscured by tall grass. The crew of the N°12 Peugeot 2008 DKR coped well, however, to claim a solid third place.
After winning Saturday’s super-special in Kazan on July 9, Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret were first into today’s test but conceded nine minutes due to a slow puncture and a broken rim.
Bruno Famin (Team Manager, Team Peugeot Total / Director, Peugeot Sport): “It’s a good start to the Silk Way Rally for Team Peugeot Total. It was nice to see Cyril DESPRES and David CASTERA win the stage and take the lead. The event has only just begun, though, and the conditions are going to get tougher. Even so, we have already seen Stéphane Peterhansel hit trouble. My advice to the crews is to keep calm and stay focused.”
Cyril Despres (Leg: 1st / Overall: 1st): “I thoroughly enjoyed myself today. The stage was twisty and pretty much stone-free, so it was fun to drive. We made a couple of navigational errors but they didn’t cost us much time. David did a great job. I hope we will see more of the same tomorrow and that we will be able to keep up the same sort of pace as we did today.”
Sébastien Loeb (Leg: 3rd / Overall: 3rd): “My car performed well and we didn’t have any problems whatsoever. After Stéphane and Vasilyev stopped, we found ourselves running first on the road. There was a lot of tall grass and it wasn’t always easy to spot the correct track. We made a few mistakes but we didn’t take any risks. We mustn’t lose sight of the fact that our objective is to clock up as many kilometres as possible and also find a pace that suits us without overdoing it.”
Stéphane Peterhansel (Leg: 8th / Overall: 8th): “We picked up a slow puncture shortly after the start of the stage. We decided not to change the wheel but then we had to stop because of another puncture. It was a very interesting stage and technically quite challenging. Like most crews, we made a few navigational mistakes like others competitors. Things will be better tomorrow.”
Four of the five MINI ALL4 Racing family inside leading top ten.
Atrocious weather conditions (10-07-2016) forced cancellation of Silk Way Rally Leg 2 Kazan to Ufa. Leg 3 ends with two MINI ALL4 Racing in top five.
Today’s Leg 3 of the Silk Way Rally signalled the start of demanding long distance cross-country rally driving. After the short but spectacular Special Stage of Leg 1, the five MINI ALL4 Racing crews were keen to show what they and their MINI ALL4 Racing were capable of from the start of Leg 2 (10-07-2016).
Unfortunately, the previous days of rain had caused many of the route tracks to flood. With the threat of yet more violent storms forcing the support helicopters to remain grounded, the Silk Way Rally organising team reluctantly had to cancel Leg 2 and the competitors drove orderly to Ufa for today’s start of Leg 3.
MINI ALL4 racing #103
Leg 3 saw some fast driving across mostly gravel tracks and resulted in the MINI ALL4 racing #103 of Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and Timo Gottschalk (GER) completing the section in second position.
Al Rajhi: “For me everything was ok. After 20k we caught another car and unfortunately we had to follow in his dust for quite a long distance. It was a nice stage and we had a chance to make better time, but second is a good place to start tomorrow. I have a very good co-driver and he made the stage very easy for us.”
Also pushing hard, but in a safe and secure manner, the MINI ALL4 Racing duo of Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS) and Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) netted a solid fourth place after 815.15km of driving – 271.63km of which consisted of a Special Stage.
MINI ALL4 Racing #106
The MINI ALL4 Racing #106 of Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ) and Anton Nikolaev (RUS) completed Leg 3 in sixth place and are now sixth overall. Talking about Leg 3, Rakhimbayev said: “It was very twisty and narrow. One time we jumped and hit something with the front of the car. We stopped to check everything, but the car was fine and we went on. Of course, we lost some minutes but that’s okay. I am still gaining experience!”
Harry Hunt (GB) and Andreas Schulz (GER) in the MINI ALL4 Racing #105 didn’t fare so well today, completing Leg 3 in ninth position. “It was quite a hard stage for us,” said Hunt. “I didn’t find it very easy at all. There were a lot of tracks through the grass so it was quite hard to see ahead and then we hit a water splash. Then we got lost a little bit. And then again. But we are here and looking forward to tomorrow.”
MINI ALL4 Racing #109
Bauyrzhan Issabayev (KAZ) and Vladimir Demyanenko (RUS) in the MINI ALL4 Racing #109 passed Leg 3’s finish point in 11th. In the overall standings, Issabayev has moved up one place from 12th after Leg 1 to 11th – hopefully a top ten placing is on the cards after tomorrow’s Leg 4: Kostanay to Astana.
The Silk Way Rally has now moved further east from Russia to Kazakhstan. This shift in route will also bring with it a change in “rally time”. Until today “rally time” was GTM +3. In the evening the time will change to GTM +6 making the overnight stopover and sleep time, for all concerned, very short.
Overall positions after Leg 3
1. Cyril Despres (FRA) / David Castera (FRA), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, 1h58min24s
2. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU) / Timo Gottschalk (DEU), Mini, +2min37s
3. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) / Daniel Elena (MC), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, +4min10s
4. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS) / Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS), Mini, +5min11s
5. Evgeny Firsov (RUS) / Vadim Filatov, Toyota Pick-up, 6min40s
8. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, +8min52s