The rally caravan arrived in Dunhuang. This stage participants and organizers remembered by the sandy storm last year. Then the special was cancelled as even safety helicopters couldn’t take off. This year Dunhuang didn’t bring any surprise of that kind. Cloudy weather and light rain only made work of mechanics easier. Last year the dunes were within a walking distance, this year they were only seen from the bivouac, but it only makes them more mysterious and long-awaited.
But the special section included dunes. Dried-up river beds with often change of direction made the first part difficult for navigation, but the closer the special was to the finish, the faster it was. You could see it by the speed of crews going very close to one another.
In the cars the overall leader Sebastien Loeb from Peugeot Sport team quits from the rally-raid after the accident on yesterday’s special as he had a finger injury. “My big finger really hurts, I can’t keep the wheel and I feel not well. I can’t continue the rally. I know that Peugeot Sport can totally rebuild the car, but I should be ready for the rest part of our program. I would like to say that I am satisfied with my car DKR Maxi – it is very fast and competitive”, - added Sebastien.
The Italian Eugenio Amos was a dark horse on the stage. He took the lead in his category being 46 seconds ahead of Alrajhi. Bryce Menzies showed a stable good result and finished third with the gap of 2 minutes and 18 seconds.
Eduard Nikolaev showed the best time in the trucks. During the whole stage he was going second and just before the finish he overpassed the main rival of KAMAZ – Martin Kolomy. Whereas, he doesn’t give up and today finished second being only 1 minute and 29 seconds off the pace. His tyre was punctured 15 km before the finish line. Martin decided to go on and finished the stage on three wheels. Now his gap with Airat Mardeev is only 82 seconds. Dmitry Sotnikov took the third place, Anton Shibalov goes straight after him, Airat Mardeev was fifth being 5 minutes and 47 seconds off the pace. After the penalty Gerard de Rooy seems to continue the battle but being more careful. He was half an hour behind the leader.
Quotations:
Anton Shibalov, pilot of KAMAZ-master Team, crew #312:
“After yesterday’s challenge we felt every bump, then we got used to them. And the special was easier than yesterday – not so many bumps. There were many fast curvy roads… Today we saw a hare on the road, at first we were afraid that we would run him over but he broke into a run and didn’t go out of the road - he also wanted to compete with us. But finally we overpassed him, our truck has more horsepower.”
Eduard Nikolaev, pilot of KAMAZ-master Team, crew #307:
“Generally, we are happy with today’s stage, very interesting. We expected more off piste sections, as it was described and bumpier track as they said yesterday. As we are testing new cab suspension and main suspension, we would like more holes and impassibility. But there are four days still ahead. I think there’ll be everything.”
Airat Mardeev, pilot of KAMAZ-master team, crew # 300:
“Today there were a lot of curvy sections, and in some places there was a risk to puncture wheels. We were driving accurately because we realized that plenty of sands are ahead. The most important was not to lose time because of any accidents, navigation or a puncture.”
Artur Ardavicius, pilot of Astana Motorsport De Rooy Iveco team, crew # 310:
“We are satisfied with the suspension today – from the very beginning till the very end we drove at the maximum speed. We tried to catch up somebody ahead but the distance was too big. Most of the time we drove at the maximum limit – today was a real rally route! – Not too many bumps, and other sections of pure “driving”. There was an interesting section among river-beds - sliding on plain roads among bushes on the bottom of the river-beds. Excellent big route!”
Siarhei Viazovich, pilot of MAZ-SPORT auto, crew #304:
“ Everything went smoothly before we understood that the cab support ripped off . We drove that way for around 200 km. when something started to crack, then we heard knocking. We thought that shock absorber outflew, we had to stop to have a look but it turned out a cab support. All last 200 km we were driving like that.”
RESULTS OF THE 10th STAGE
Cars:
1. AMOS Eugenio (Two Wheels Drive Ford) – 3h24:24
2. ALRAJHI Yazeed (X-Raid MINI) +0:46
3. MENZIES Bryce (X-Raid MINI) +2:18
4. DESPRES Cyril (Peugeot Sport) +2:20
5. LAVIEILLE Christian (Baicmotor Racing Team) +3:32
Trucks:
1. NIKOLAEV Eduard (КАМАZ-master) – 3h35:21
2. KOLOMY Martin (Tatra Buggyra Racing) +1:29
3. SOTNIKOV Dmitry (КАМАZ-master) +2:29
4. SHIBALOV Anton (КАМАZ-master) +3:14
5. MARDEEV Airat (КАМАZ-master) +5:47
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION:
Cars:
1. DESPRES Cyril (Peugeot Sport) – 29h58:01
2. HAN Wei (Geely SMG) +47:38
3. MENZIES Bryce (X-Raid MINI) +51:21
4. LAVIEILLE Christian (Baicmotor Racing Team) +53:46
5. AMOS Eugenio (Two Wheels Drive Ford) +1h43:13
Trucks:
1. SOTNIKOV Dmitry (КАМАZ-master)- 31h27:50
2. SHIBALOV Anton (КАМАZ-master) +15:12
3. MARDEEV Airat (КАМАZ-master) +29:48
4. KOLOMY Martin (Tatra Buggyra Racing) +30:30
5. ARDAVICIUS Artur (Astana Motorsport De Rooy Iveco) +1h50:07
6. NIKOLAEV Eduard (КАМАZ-master) +2h24:24
