The seventh stage of the Silk Way rally-marathon: finish is at rear bar to rear bar

The other participants of the truck classification lagged much behind: Vitaly Murilev, who was the fourth, lost 75 minutes to Sotnikov in the general classification, 15 minutes behind the Belarusian – Sergey Kuprianov and Bogdan Karimov.  The results are impressive, but not critical for rally-raids.

At the seventh day of the rally caravan moved from Khovd towards the Mongolian town of Altai – to the southeast of Mongolia with attitude gain up to 2800 meters. Today 385 kilometer route was arranged by the Organizers with great gravity than yesterday. The dune section of 40 kilometers could become absolute obstacle for the athletes at the way to the finish line and blow their chances over the competitors. The weather is also made its allowances: severe rainfalls modified the landscape of the mountain regions, turning small springs into gushy mountain streams. One unsuccessful action while fords passing and the truck will be trapped.

Start point from the stony plateau could be named as navigational quiz. The co-pilots had to show their proficiency at the first 50 kilometers of the special stage in order not to make a mistake with choosing a right direction while reading a road map at high speed.

Later the drive along the Durgen-Nuur lake and entrance in a sandy massif Mongol Els (translated into Russian as Mongolian sands) with plenty of dunes. Outspreaded at 3000 square kilometers “landfill” from black and yellow sands is the biggest in Mongolia. One can pass these dunes only in one direction there is no way back! The additional difficulty is a character of dunes: their backslope cliffs are not visible for the athletes. At the final stage of the route is a jump across the canyon and fast route at the maximum speed.

It was the last 120 kilometers of the special stage that become the jewel of the seventh stage, making the finish the most spectacular during the Silk Way Rally 2024. Two pilots of the KAMAZ-master team Eduard Nikolaev and Dmitry Sotnikov before the exit from the dunes were altogether before Vyazovich and they were guiding the route for the drivers who started behind.  The trace of the trucks were clearly visible at wet sand for the MAZ team following the KAMAZ-master tracks. Vyazovich used this advantage at 100%, overtaking his rivals for the podium kilometers after leaving the sands. In the absence of dust and taking into account the wide road, overtakes between the top three were made with enviable regularity. In the last kilometers, Sotnikov was unlucky – his crew drove into a dead-end channel, from which they had to drive out backwards. Vyazovich, Nikolaev, Sotnikov passed the finish line within a few seconds at this sequence.

However, the winner is not among experienced crews. Bogdan Karimov, who started the eighth, chose the careful mode of driving without shortcuts after two days problems with shock absorbers. As a result, the turnover is 2.5 minutes of Vyazovich at the final 190 kilometers and the best time at the finish.  This is the second won stage at the Silk Way Rally in his career with 39 seconds of advantage!

Bogdan Karimov, pilot of crew #306: “It was very busy day. At the beginning we drove very carefully and attentively without missing of co-pilots’ potholes.  Before neutralization it was a speedy track with many overtakings, crossing solid riverbeads. Sometimes it had to drop the speed to zero not to drive into.  Sooner there were sands, we overrun MAZ crew attentively.  Vitaly Murylev rode behind us, after the sands he clung to us and tried not to let go - we were a beacon for him: on the high-speed straights the course went left and right and he cut everything off, but at the finish we broke away".

Almost four minutes behind Bogdan Karimov was Dmitry Sotnikov. This result did not allow him to keep the lead in the absolute standings - Sergey Vyazovich is 5 seconds ahead of the KAMAZ-master pilot.

Dmitry Sotnikov, pilot of crew #303: "All day we drove together with Eduard Nikolaev, and at the end of the stage we were joined by Sergey Vyazovich. He was a bit more precise, he saw that we were going left and right. After he caught up with us, we kept changing places. In one place, at the entrance to the channel, we got up first, but didn't hit the point on the off-road - we had to turn back in the scour holes. It was impossible to get away from any of the guys in such conditions."

Sergey Kuprianov, who showed the fourth result on Wednesday, unsuccessfully overcame a big hole in the first kilometers. After the impact from the "dive" the pilot pulled his back and further tried to drive at a saving pace - every poke on the off-road affected the athlete's body.

Sergey Kuprianov, pilot: "It was a very hard special stage. Immediately from the start we missed "pit two", we bumped hard. I pulled my back and further every poke was felt on the body. I think we won't need medical help, we will manage. The dunes were hard, there was more sand, it was good, wet".

Andrey Karginov, who after the accident acted as a fast technician, spent the day practically without stops: a little help to Bogdan Karginov and Sergey Kuprianov with a wheel replacement when leaving the dunes, as well as storming a dune at the second attempt took not much time. The final time of the pilot allowed him to take the fourth place in the table of the day.

Andrey Karginov, pilot of crew #305: "The whole 380 kilometers were shaking. Great dunes - big, walkable, slippery. Driving on the dunes is not driving on the road, but on the directions: choose any detour, nobody forbids it. But everyone tries to stick to the track of the first car, and it is not a fact that it is the right one. In the dunes there should be jewelry driving. The dunes were viscous and torn, loose after rain. We couldn't climb one of them straight up, we had to make a loop”.

Together with the experienced Karginov the crew includes a young mechanic Danil Telepov, for whom the Silk Way rally-marathon was the first serious test in his career. The 20-year-old pupil of the KAMAZ-master Junior karting school shared his impressions of the race after the finish.

Danil Telepov, mechanic of crew #305: "From the very beginning I realized how difficult this race is, what responsibility lies on me. The hardest thing is jumps and pits. But everything is fine, I feel good, I am not tired yet. I am very satisfied with the race”.

Eduard Nikolaev, who opened the battle channel for the rally caravan, expectedly failed to show a high time against the background of the crews following his footsteps. The judges recorded a gap of almost 6 minutes from Bogdan Karimov.

Eduard Nikolaev, pilot of crew #302: "The sands were wet, the track was very good on them. Today I was opening dunes, it was not easy to go first - I had to make a road for others. Initially it was clear that Sergey Vyazovich would get the advantage, he would roll in the sands. We struggled, but it was easier for him. There was no dust after good rains, but a lot of stones. We drove tightly, even broke the glass with stones that came from under the wheels of another car".

There were no losses in the cargo classification. Alexey Popov on "URAL" became the first one who could not finish the race on his own. The reason - technical problems of the debutant of the Silk Way rally-marathon. The car arrived at the bivouac on a car carrier. At the same time there is a chance that overnight the truck will be repaired and will be able to continue the performance with many hours of penalization. The second "URAL" of Yuri Naiman and two cars "GAZ" finished the special stage with many hours behind.

On Friday, the rally marathon will continue with a circular stage on the Altai - Altai route. The total length of the eighth competition day is almost 500 kilometers, with high-speed special stages of 315 kilometers.

Truck standings. The results of the 7th stage

 Truck standings. General classification of the 7^th stage