These two topics were mostly discussed after the seventh day of the rally.
The 7th day of the race became second “border” day for the Silk Way Rally-2017, and the border between Kazakhstan and China was crossed. Racing crews and assistance teams were getting ready for a long and uneasy process. But thanks to the race organizers everything went smoothly, at every place there was a person who helped to organize everything the best way. The main question at the border was: “do you have cats or dogs?” The team didn’t have any cats or dogs with them, but they had a horse meet from Russia, that was lovingly kept in fridges of assistance trucks and unfortunately taken by Chinese border guards and veterinary checks. Then the raid went to the bivouac in Karamai city and the second pleasant impression was Chinese autobahns without traffic and holes. The bivouac was on the territory of the airport: the whole administration of the rally as well as catering were located inside a huge exhibition building, that became a real rescue for the participants who could hide from the heat in the cool building.
This day was rich in impressions, but it didn’t allow to forget about the main intrigue of the day: about last stage on the territory of Kazakhstan. This special was seen like just a formal one brought many surprises to the rally participants. Short and fast – nobody wanted to lose time on it, everybody was fighting for seconds, therefore a complicated navigation could turn into a serious problem for many. Reaching the bivouac, the sportsmen were passionately discussing this short section, shared their impressions, comparing today’s special with continuous ups and downs like on a plane, and were happy that managed with driving in such difficult conditions.
The American Bryce Menzies was first today in the car category, showing excellent result and getting away from Cyril Despres for a minute and a half. Sebastien Loeb finished third today with a minute and 37-second gap, but keeping his lead in the standings.
KAMAZ-master crews today showed an excellent result and made their fans happy by taking all first 4 positions in the table. Showing the best time in his category, Dmitry Sotnikov strengthened his lead in the overall. All trucks showed today a stable fight – the time difference between the first and the 10th truck (Gerard de Rooy) was only 5 minutes.
Quotations:
Dmitry Sotnikov, pilot of KAMAZ-master Team, crew No303:
“China is a traditionally hospitable country, safety is very well organized on the route – every crossroad is secured by a lot of people, they gave us a warm welcome. Even on the territory of the bivouac there are a lot of people. We passed the border quite fast, we don’t have any complaints, the race organizers did a great job. We are happy to see the summer, as this year it isn’t warm in Russia, so we will get warm here. The special was interesting today: everybody was flying, a lot of holes, therefore tried to be ‘careful’, but nevertheless on one place we jumped higher than usual and didn’t notice how we touched the sump: there was an oil leakage, but it didn’t influence us, we didn’t notice anything, we didn’t get a loss of pressure, and in general all characteristics were OK, therefore we continued our drive and only at the finish noticed a little leakage, already repaired now.”
Gerard de Rooy, pilot of De Rooy Iveco Team, crew No 302:
“It’s not my first visit to China, I already took part in the Transoriental a few years ago, but this time I could drive for only two days, after which I faced with the engine problems and due to them I couldn’t try the Chinese dunes so much spoken about. All in all, I am in a good mood, today’s special was uneasy with a challenging navigation and I haven’t flown that way for ages”.
Martin Kolomy, pilot of Tatra Buggyra Racing Team, crew No 311:
“All that I remember is how the ground was changed by the sea, I didn’t expect it from such a short special. Hope sands are coming soon”.
Airat Mardeev (KAMAZ-master):
“One hundred kilometers of fast tracks, a bit of impassibility, there were dangerous areas with high grass. Somewhere there were big holes, but in general everything went well. First we caught up Dmitry Sotnikov, but he overpassed a buggy and went ahead, but the buggy didn’t allow us ahead, we had to drive in its dust. Now we are waiting for sands, impassibility, bushes. The sands in the heat are so loose, let’s see what happens next.”
RESULTS OF THE 7TH STAGE
Cars:
1. MENZIES Bryce (X-Raid MINI) – 1h03:56
2. DESPRES Cyril (Peugeot Sport) +1:31
3. LOEB Sébastien (Peugeot Sport) +1:37
4. LIU Yangui (Baicmotor Racing Team) +3:43
5. LAVIEILLE Christian (Baicmotor) +3:53
Trucks:
1. SOTNIKOV Dmitry (КАМАZ-master) – 1h06:26
2. SHIBALOV Anton (КАМАZ-master) +0:27
3. MARDEEV Airat (КАМАZ-master) +1:13
4. NIKOLAEV Eduard (КАМАZ-master) +1:31
5. KOLOMY Martin (Tatra Buggyra Racing) +2:34
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
Cars:
1. LOEB Sébastien (Peugeot Sport) – 18h21:57
2. DESPRES Cyril (Peugeot Sport) +1h03:35
3. MENZIES Bryce (X-Raid MINI) +1h28:35
4. HAN Wei (Geely SMG) +1h34:21
5. LAVIEILLE Christian (Baicmotor) +1h35:11
Trucks:
1. SOTNIKOV Dmitry (КАМАZ-master) – 20h15:43
2. SHIBALOV Anton (КАМАZ-master) +2:39
3. KOLOMY Martin (Tatra Buggyra Racing) +15:27
4. MARDEEV Airat (КАМАZ-master) +25:14
5. ARDAVICIUS Artur (De Rooy Iveco) +1h01:47
6. NIKOLAEV Eduard (КАМАZ-master) +2:10:06
