The final, tenth stage of the international Silk Way Rally 2019 on the route Jiayuguan - Dunhuang took place on Tuesday, July 16.
The main result of the whole race is that KAMAZ-master crews took the first three places in the truck classification, and all four Russian trucks entered the top-5! For the first time in his career, Silk Way Rally was won by Anton Shibalov. Together with him in the crew were navigator Dmitry Nikitin and mechanic Ivan Tatarinov.
Before the final day of the competition the gap of three KAMAZ trucks from the Dutchman Maarten van den Brink, who was fourth, was almost two hours. It is very easy to lose such a margin of safety on the toughest distance in the sands of the Gobi Desert, you can ask any racer. Therefore, the task, facing the athletes from Naberezhnye Chelny, was simple: get to the finish line without too much risk, thus maintaining their positions.
The special stage on Tuesday was 255 kilometers, and the track of the route was led by crews through sands, off-road and river beds with many stones, traditional for these places of China. Throughout the course, KAMAZ crews demonstrated their high level and reached the finish line successfully. The best time was shown by Anton Shibalov (2 hours 36 minutes 28 seconds), for him this is the third stage victory in a row. The second was Andrey Karginov, who lost 34 seconds, Aliaksei Vishneuski at MAZ (+12: 14) closed the top three. Airat Mardeev showed the result (+14: 36), Sergey Kuprianov was seventh (+19: 08).
The winner of the Silk Way Rally, Anton Shibalov, covered more than 2,700 kilometers of special stages in 26 hours 1 minute 40 seconds. Andrey Karginov fell behind by 25 minutes 22 seconds, Airat Mardeev - by 52 minutes 5 seconds. Sergey Kuprianov is 4 hours 12 minutes 41 seconds behind.
Anton Shibalov, pilot of KAMAZ-master Team (crew No 303): “This is my first victory on the Silk Way Rally, this is exactly what this race will be remembered for. The organizers did their best, prepared interesting routes and tracks, every day there was something new. At the very beginning there was a feeling that I would win the race. Until the last we tried to keep the victory. We haven’t disengaged from the special stage, but there are emotions. The race turned out great, not without adventures. This is a technical type of sport. The main difficulty was impassibility in the last two days.”
Andrey Karginov, driver of KAMAZ-master Team (crew No 300): “I am overwhelmed with great emotions, everything went well. Excellent tracks, good organization, we have seen new places and routes. The main thing is that KAMAZ-master won, the crews took all medal places, it means the task is accomplished. A large number of retirements from the race prove the heavy tracks, the intensity of the struggle, you need to calculate your strength and not to rush headlong. After the departure of Siarhei Viazovich, it did not become easier, we also compete with each other in KAMAZ. The first thing I will do after the finish, I will drink cold water. "
Airat Mardeev, the driver of KAMAZ-master Team (crew No 302): “Everything was fine, we were driving today to keep the result, we understood that the first three places were ours. We do not compete with each other, we do not fight, but support each other. Everything was smooth, but 10 km before the finish we stopped to change the rear right wheel, we also damaged the wing, fastened it, lost about 15 minutes. This Silk Way Rally was very fast, many special stages of such kind. Next year I would like more dunes in China. The Silk Way Rally is developing every year, it has a great future.”
Sergey Kuprianov, driver of KAMAZ-master Team (crew No 305): “The pace and intensity of the race did not decrease by the end, but only increased - this is the strongest impression of this Silk Way Rally edition. This time I drove like never before. Slower than the main contestants, but we have increased in pace comparing to previous races. "
More than 5,000 kilometers and ten days of race were left behind. Ahead is the ceremonial finish and awarding of winners and prize-holders of the rally. Today KAMAZ-master and fans of the team can say: “We did it!”. For the Russian team, victory in the Silk Way Rally became the eighth in history!
TRUCK CATEGORY. RANKING OF STAGE 10
Pos. Name Make Time Gap
1 A. SHIBALOV Kamaz 02:36:28 00:00:00
2 A. KARGINOV Kamaz 02:37:02 00:00:34
3 A. VISHNEUSKI MAZ 02:48:42 00:12:14
4 A. VASILEVSKI MAZ 02:51:02 00:14:34
5 A. MARDEEV Kamaz 02:51:04 00:14:36
6 M. VAN DEN BRINK Renault 02:54:30 00:18:02
7 S. KUPRIANOV Kamaz 02:54:30 00:19:08
8 A. KADSHAI DAF 03:19:36 00:43:08
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
Pos. Name Make Time Gap
1 A. SHIBALOV Kamaz 26:01:40 00:00:00
2 A. KARGINOV Kamaz 26:27:02 00:25:22
3 A. MARDEEV Kamaz 26:53:45 00:52:05
4 M. VAN DEN BRINK Renault 28:14:47 01:55:05
5 S. KUPRIANOV Kamaz 30:14:21 04:12:41
6 A. VASILEVSKI MAZ 31:19:25 05:17:45
7 A. KADSHAI DAF 33:17:48 07:16:08
Photo by M.Lastochkin, М.Chitka
