Withdrawals, stops, technical problems – those are not all, that awaited the contestants of the rally-raid on the first special. Warning of organizers – the closer it is to the finish the more accurate should be the driving – was proven absolutely. A famous racer, a rookie in Silk Way Rally Nani Roma, pilot of X-raid MINI Team, couldn’t stand Astrakhan overstress and finish the special section, he withdrew from the race. Unlucky day was for KAMAZ-master’s rival Martin Van Den Brink: on 276 km the crew found out fuel leak – it didn’t seem possible to continue the race. The Russian crew of BFCEC Sport Team Aleksandr Rusanov and Aleksey Maltsev came for help, they generously shared their fuel with the Dutch team. At that problems didn’t finish for the Dutch – only after 15 km he stopped: breakdown of the front axle, and after such a breakdrown it is not easy to tow the truck, not even saying about continuing the race.
The day was hard KAMAZ as well: 6 trucks of KAMAZ-master Team stretched in the timing of 1 hour 47 minutes. The leader in the truck category became a last year winner, starting first Dmitry Sotnikov, right after him finished Sergey Vyazovich – pilot of MAZ Team, the third place was taken by Andrey Karginov. Airat Mardeev, Sergey Kuprianov and Anton Shibalov placed on fifth, sixth and seventh positions respectively. The fourth position was Aleksey Vishevsky’s from MAZ. Eduard Nikolaev had bad luck, who due to technical problems lost an hour and a half and now takes the eleventh place in the ranking.
Dmitry Sotnikov – pilot of crew 300:
“It is always more difficult to drive first, there are no tracks of foregoing trucks, you have to choose trajectories and, correspondingly, it is easier for those who catch you up – they have a “guide”. We accurately went along the track, tried not to lose time. With Ruslan we previously agreed that today we would go in a stable way, without risk, if there were a need to come back somewhere due to navigation – it is better to come back. And so it happened: in one place we turned in the wrong direction, while we were returning, Edic caught up, we let him go. Then we were driving behind him, he was like a guide, and for me it was a bit easier. All in all I didn’t watch kilometrage, tried not to over-focus on that, later we saw that Edic stopped, we came to him, he waived us, that he didn’t need help and we continued driving. Today it was a classical section, which became more difficult to the end: more and more challenging. Approximately 50 km before the finish speed dropped to 30-40 kmph, you couldn’t speed up, the road was very bumpy, we tried just to stand it and not to break the truck. It was the first day of the race – we had to drive it in a reliable way, understand, roll into it, one can’t win the whole race in one stage, tomorrow is a marathon stage, we need to recover”.
Andrey Karginov – pilot of crew 309:
“Today many factors mixed: a missed year of Silk Way Rally, a new truck and so difficult first special. Also it is difficult to drive morally after a trauma, though I took part in some competitions, but responsibility was lower there – and this race is an international one. Thanks God that trauma recovered and I don’t feel any consequences. Nevertheless it restrains a bit, but on the other hand, considering breakdowns in our team and of our rivals, we understand that we were lucky, we didn’t have technical breakdowns and finished unscathed”.
Airat Mardeev – pilot of crew 303:
“First problems occurred with the front lock. We had to stop, lost time on that. Then we stopped near Edic Nikolaev – had a talk, saw that we can’t help. And 80 km before the finish a steering booster started to break. It was hard, very tiring.Once we almost popped out. We had to slow down. And right in front of the finish – 4 km – one of main protectors burnt out and the truck died…”
Sergey Kuprianov – pilot of crew 311:
“Frankly speaking, today it was very hard. We know what Astrakhan is, but today, for a want of habit or for the heat, for me personally it was very hard, I finished almost setting my teeth, last 60 km I counted literally every kilometer. It was the very part of the special with many bumps, holes and roughness. You can’t guess how to choose the right speed: shaking, heat, I drove forcing myself, but the more pleasant it was to finish: to take off the helmet, to pour myself with water, drink. Inconvenience and challenges on the special are compensated with pleasure when you get out of the truck. Today the whole SS we drove in a gas-and-diesel mode, combined, the truck went perfectly, no complaints for dynamics, smokiness, plus gas allows to cool the fuel mixture more because it expands on the reduction unit and comes already cold, it gives additional advantage in such heat”.
Anton Shibalov – pilot of crew 306:
“The special section turned out tough and tiring, such a heat that before the finish there was a feeling of light heat stroke. The whole day there were hillocks, holes – a challenging Astrakhan section. For the first day it turned out really hard. Even such a pilot as Nani Roma withdrew just because he didn’t recover after Dakar and it was hard for him to drive in Astrakhan. It didn’t go smoothly for us as well: a stop due to electricity, after a few kilometers, stopped near Edic, gave him parts and drove further”.
Eduard Nikolaev – pilot of crew 301:
The race today was very interesting, notwithstanding that we go to Astrakhan every year, organisers managed to find such a route we didn’t drive, and I was even surprised by new roads, hillocks and holes. The first part we drove very well, rolled into the race, today was the first rally day, but unfortunately, we had a technical problem in the second part, due to which lost almost an hour, there were problems with air system, compressor – we were sorting it out very long. In the end we understood: a plastic tube of pneumatic system inflated and broke down. Also the day didn’t go without engine and wheel problems. The main target on this competition, though we also came for the result, is to test novelties on our truck. And today’s lost time is a good result in terms of technical side – it will help us on Dakar to be more prepared”.
