Dmitry Sotnikov became the leader of the Silk Way rally-marathon

The participants of the Silk Way rally-marathon spent Monday on the road towards the border between Russia and Mongolia. The long 410-kilometer liaison from Gorno-Altaisk to Kosh-Agach was along the Chuisky Tract, a mostly one-lane, but high-quality and traffic-free highway. Mountain rivers along the road, mountain massifs reaching two kilometers in height, numerous lakes and majestic valleys with green meadows - such a landscape opened to the crews from the cabin.

In the absence of traffic congestion on the highway, it was important for the drivers to keep an eye not on the diversity of nature, but on the cattle that roamed freely on the heated roadway. The animals reacted with complete indifference to the loud roar of the motors of the sports equipment.

Sharp rivalry in the standing categories of the 14^th edition of the Silk Way Rally Marathon intensified on the fourth special stage. Two sections of the 165 km route had to make changes in the standings: the stony starting section and fords through rivers of different width and depth. In the first case, the athletes concentrated on the road strewn with stones of various shapes and sizes, in the second, on choosing the right trajectory when crossing the water space. The diverging paths also added to the co-pilot’s headaches.

The leader of the general off-road classification and the last year’s winner of the rally Andrey Rudskoy hit a huge boulder at the 20th kilometer in thick dust and had to wait for a “sweeping vehicle” to evacuate the truck to the bivouac. The question about further participation of the crew in the race remains open. Motorcycle racers, quad bikers and representatives of the motorcycle category in their turn did not risk accelerating properly at the foot of the Altai Mountains, fearing to fall on the hard surface. Also some of then stopped in deep water captivity, resorting to help of rivals in the race. Rally-raids are also about luck.

It is easier to drive for trucks at special stages off-roads. However, the main task was machine setting at the start: the final day at the territory of Russia was at the height of 2500 m – additional and serious load was at the engines of the race trucks.  At one of the caravan stages the route of the rally went at long ascending grade – long-tonnage machines drove up slowly at the second gear to the mountain pass. Sonner there were fast routes.

The first who went to conquer the route was Dmitry Sotnikov, winning the Sunday stage. Opportunity to drive without sand became important factor of successful passing the special stage. The quickness and teamwork of the crew let to save him the wheels and avoid the mistakes in navigation. At the finish “KAMAZ” with the starter number 303 showed the best time. It had to wait for the Belarusian Sergey Vyazovich who was 39 seconds ahead of Sotnikov on the results of three stages and find out the finishing time of his rival.

The crew of MAZ-SPORTavto lost the time at the first part of the rally, trying to overrun the truck ahead. So the advantage of the Minsk team drifted away at the stony passages. As a result, after 165 km Vyazovich dropped to Sotnikov more than 3 minutes and lost the leadership in the general classification, which passed to the pilot of KAMAZ-master team.

Dmitry Sotnikov, pilot of the crew # 303:”The stage is stony, the wheels performed well, though we tried to drive directly, there were no other chances. We had to memorize how we drove under stones. It had to say that there were not such routes quite a long time. Generally, we had a pleasure. The places were familiar from 2021 rally race, we enjoyed the beauty, relief patterns which we have met. It is a very fast special stage to check being attentive and technically maneuverable. We tried to make all possible. We were the first, there were no dust, so it was nice”.

The second by the results of the day became Bogdan Karimov, imposing a serious struggle to Dmitry Sotnikov. The track which was left by the leader became the advantage to the young pilot and gave a hint for self orientation for choosing a right route rather than to the crew of Dmitry Sotniov.

Bogdan Karimov, pilot of the crew # 306: "Beautiful views, the highlands. In some places we climbed very high, around two thousand meters, and the engine was a bit heavy. There were a lot of rocks, we had to drive very carefully. There was a lot of navigational work: to get into the right road, not to pass by. And the most important thing was not to puncture the wheels. We managed: all wheels are intact and we are at the finish line. We tried to approach Dmitry Sotnikov, we saw dust in some places, but there was a lot of maximum speed and it was hard to win something back on such a special section. It was very difficult for Dima to go first, there is not a single track, there are a lot of tracks, in some places there are just three roads diverging, and when you move at maximum speed, it is hard to get into the right track. Dima did it. It was a bit easier for us because we could see the track.

Andrey Karginov was at top three. During the special stage the experienced crew accelerated, demonstrating at the dangerous track its best features. The ability to drive on rocks and not to be afraid to enter the ford without reducing the speed to the minimum also allowed to show good time at the finish. Eduard Nikolaev at bonneted KAMAZ truck is at the fourth line of the table. Sergey Kuprianov at gas-diesel truck continues to pace himself showing careful driving, keeping the truck intact.

Andrey Karginov, pilot of the crew # 305: “I wish there were more special stages. Partly we turned to Dakar mode. Finally we started to drive on stony surfaces, mountain ranges, passes, huge boulders and small stones. We had a real pleasure, we tried to drive fast, but carefully, to take care of the wheels. We remembered a long, big climb, it was hard for the engine. At first we were in the fourth gear, then the third and at the top was barely pulled on the second. The motor got it, we will have to examine carefully all the temperature indicators. Today was a race of motors as well”.

One of the most exciting rally-raid events was not without accidents. Yuri Naiman’s URAL was pulled to the right while accelerating and after exciting a 90-degree turn due to technical suspension problems – the front hub of the right axle broke when hitting a hillock. Two-hour repair in the filed – and the crew was able to the finish line.

After a third of the race, the leader of the truck standings Dmitry Sotnikov is separated by 10 minutes from fifth-placed Bogdan Karimov. Interesting fact: there are 8 cargo crews in the top-10 of the absolute standings! All the fight is ahead!

Within the framework of the Silk Way rally-marathon there was also a stage of the Russian Championship. In the evening at the bivouac the organizers arranged a solemn awarding ceremony in the presence of more than 2000 spectators. KAMAZ-master crew consisting of Dmitry Sotnikov, Ruslan Akhmadeev and Ilgiz Akhmetzyanov became the champions, prizes for the second place were awarded to representatives of MAZ-SPORTavto Sergey Vyazovich, Pavel Garanin and Andrey Kragelsky. Eduard Nikolaev, Evgeny Yakovlev and Dmitry Avdeev took the third place.

On Tuesday, only the Silk Way rally participants will start the fifth stage. The rally caravan will cross the border and arrive in Hovd. Racers will cover 555 kilometers of the route, 296 of which will be of the race route.

Trucks standing. The results of the 4th stage

Truck standings. General classification of the 4th stage