The yesterday leader of general classification Eduard Nikolaev #310 descended to the 7th position after the seventh leg. A serious breakdown on the route from Almaty (Kazakhstan) to Bortala (China) made Eduard finish the 21st.
As Eduard Nikolaev told us, it was a real tragedy for the crew. They lost a lot of time. “The special was short but dangerous – with curvy roads, big stones, and after rains in Kazakhstan the grass became icy. If you add a narrow road with stones it becomes very dangerous. On the 32nd km of the special we jumped over a hill and landed on a stone. It shoot out and hit the oil carter. The pressure indicator lighted and we stopped. We saw oil pouring onto the ground. The hole was very big. We had to make a serious repair. In that situation hot welding was necessary, but we could do only cold welding which looks more like patch didn’t keep. After ford the patch was washed off. We had to repair again. The crew of Andrey Karginov #314 gave a helping hand. If Dmitry Sotnikov played a role of assistance before that case, now it became Andrey. We never leave our teammates even if it influences the result negatively.”
Mechanucs repaired the truck in two hours, changing the carter. But the old carter the team decided to keep. Anton Shibalov #303 showed a good result, taking the 2nd position. “This special wasn’t similar to roads we used to in Kazakhstan. There was mud, ‘icy’ grass and it was difficult for the truck to perform well. Somewhere the tracks were like Argentinian. These are serpentines with plenty of stones ingrown to the ground. There were a lot of dangerous places. Our aim was to finish without punctured tires and breakdowns. However, it turned out that our speed was quite good. When we caught up Airat Mardeev who started before us we thought that he ‘was broken’. Fortunately, everything was alright. We just were driving very fast. The most important is that we were driving without any stops. Now the routes remind me Dakar tracks, mountains and curvy roads. Sands are still ahead and they are very challenging. But the more difficult the more interesting it is.”
Sergey Savostin, the manager of the team, named the leg unlucky. “We didn’t take the first position on the stage and lost our leadership. There are no big gaps, and I’m sure that we will return it. I hope that we will do it on tomorrow stage – there will be our tracks. I can’t say that there were some serious reasons why we lost our leadership. Anyway it is a mistake of Eduard Nikolaev’s crew. We admit our mistake and we will work on it. When the tracks are so serious – such things happen. Time is lost and now our target is to return it.”
Trucks. Results of the 7th Leg.
M. van den Brink / P.Willemsen / D.Kozlovsky (Renault) – 1h10:19
2. А. Shibalov / R. Аmatych / А. Khisamiev (КАМАZ) +0:07
3. S. Viazovich / P. Garanin / А. Zhigulin (МАZ) +1:41
4. А.Vasilevsky / А. Zaparoshchanka / D. Vikhrenka (МАZ) +2:24
5. А. Mardeev / А. Belyaev / D. Svistunov (КАМАZ) +3:08
Trucks. Genereral Classification after 7 legs.
1. M. van den Brink / P.Willemsen / D.Kozlovsky (Renault) — 13 h 06:14
2. А. Shibalov / R. Аmatych / А. Khisamiev (КАМАZ) +6:35
3. D. Sotnikov / R. Akhmadeev / I. Romanov (КАМАZ) +12:29
4. А. Mardeev / А. Belyaev / D. Svistunov (КАМАZ) +24:45
5. H. Hougning / Sh. Xin / А. Моkееv (КАМАZ) +38:12
