Sotnikov’s crew became the winner in the overall and truck standings of the Silk Way Rally 2022

The twelfth edition of the international Silk Way Rally has come to an end. On Saturday, the final stage took place and the winners and prize-holders of the race became known.

The tenth stage of the rally turned out relatively short - only 120 kilometers of the special stage, after which the racers had to drive 300 kilometers along the liaison from the Lipetsk region to Moscow. Leaders, in order to maintain their positions, had to make no rash decisions. However, several fords were fraught with danger - yesterday's story with several damaged vehicles while crossing the river reminded the contestants not to relax.

From the first kilometers, the race organizers offered the navigators to show all their skills - in order to try to find the right direction, the crews had to move at a walking speed. The brushwood, behind which the roads were hidden, interfered as well. The crew of Andrey Karginov, who became the winner of the last SWR stage, was the fastest to cope with the tasks set. Eduard Nikolaev and Dmitry Sotnikov followed him. Siarhei Viazovich, who claimed a high place, had to change the wheel at the finish line and lost the first place for almost 20 minutes.

The accumulated time advantage over thousands of kilometers of the race, which started on July 6 in Astrakhan, ensured a quiet finish on Saturday. The crew of the KAMAZ-master team consisting of the driver Dmitry Sotnikov, co-driver Ruslan Akhmadeev and mechanic Ilgiz Akhmetzyanov became the best in the truck standings. For the driver, this victory is the second in a row and the fourth in his career within the SWR. No one else has ever won more in this rally in history. One more fact: earlier on the Silk Way Rally a truck crew had never won the overall standings. The second place in the race was taken by another KAMAZ-master crew consisting of Eduard Nikolaev, Evgeny Iakovlev and Bogdan Karimov.

During the race, the gas-and-diesel KAMAZ, driven by Sergey Kuprianov, showed itself on the positive side. Fast, reliable and environmentally friendly truck, built for the rally, took third place twice on special stages and a second place once.

On Saturday evening, a big concert, a finishing podium and an awards ceremony for the winners and prize-holders of the Silk Way Rally will take place on the territory of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex.

Dmitry Sotnikov, driver of crew No 300: “Our victory is the work of the entire crew and team, and it was at the highest level. At this race, everyone got it - both the mechanics and the navigator. I am very glad. It happened that the mechanics worked until the morning. When there was the second stage, our cardan was cut off, we stood in the sand, and I thought: well, that's it, we will already reach it, but at that moment something changed and somehow we managed quite quickly, and then it was going on and on. We felt that we could fight and the race was very difficult. We were lucky to win the absolute. We are very happy about this.”

Eduard Nikolaev, driver of crew No 302: “I still can't believe that the race is over. Tomorrow we start again, but already towards the home. A very cool race was this year. I would like to thank the organizers for finding the opportunity and managing to hold such a rally in such a difficult time. A very interesting, intense route, very educative both technically and personally. Therefore, we are glad that everything worked out, that all the guys are at the finish line.”

Truck Category. Results of the 10^th Stage

Truck Category. General classification.