14TH September, Gamyshhlyja
Starting today along the shore of Turkmen Lake, soon the crews got on the fast sandy tracks. The dominant landscape was clayey, somewhere wavy plain. Closer to the middle, the route passed at the foot of Kaplankyr plateau with cliffs, resembling Ustyurt. For almost 70 kilometers after the start the crews were driving along the canal with water, crossed its dried-up bed, when the water finished. Then the route passed along the rock debris desert. On takyrs and solonchaks, the speed was maximum, and on areas with fesh-fesh it was necessary to be more careful, especially when overtaking. Dust significantly hampered visibility. There were almost no settlements. Nevertheless, the tangles of numerous tracks made the navigation here quite confusing. Approximately in the middle of the speed section Dmitry Sotnikov's crew lost the course and it took him about 15 minutes to find the right way.
Belarusian Siarhei Viazovich, realizing that only one stage remained before the finish of the race in Turkmenbashi, was trying to win back the gap in the general classification and started to risk in his own manner. Seeing ahead the dusting KAMAZ of Airat Mardeev, who started earlier, he could approach and even overtake him. Viazovich finished today’s stage with the best time, winning back 5 minutes 48 seconds from Mardeev in the general classification. Airat Mardeev's crew retained advantage over the Belarusians in 5 minutes 23 seconds on the results of four days. In rally terms it is too little to feel confident in tomorrow's 246-kilometer last special stage of the race on the way to Turkmenbashi. The fight on the final day of the rally will be decisive. In the car classification, the leading Catalan Juan Nani Roma feels quite comfortable, securing a gap from his closest rival Czech Miroslav Zapletal's of 1 hour 4 minutes.
Quotations
Sergey Savostin, the team-manager at the rally "Amul-Hazar 2018"
"The battle is very tense. The rivals’ skills are approximately of the same level. A lot depends on the experience and training of the crews. We will do everything we can to finish with a good result.”
Dmitry Sotnikov, pilot of crew №402
"Fesh-fesh made it hard to overtake. Vehicles lifted clouds of dust. We tried to overtake the leeward. Often, where the road twisted, we appeared ourselves in our own cloud of dust. Perhaps it also was the cause of the sad navigation mistake due to which we, unfortunately, lost time. "
Dmitry Svistunov, co-pilot of crew № 400
"The track has become sufficiently faster, which means it's more fun to drive. Road book is not very detailed. Often you have to rely on intuition. It is better not to make mistakes. For example, there were 3-4 canals along the path, laid out like a parapet, and it was possible to cross them only in certain places to which the road book led. Approximately on the 50th kilometer Siarhei Viazovich overtook us. We followed him for about 20 kilometers, we were already going to attack in order to overrun him, but as if bad luck would have it, the course changed and the dust from the ahead MAZ began to go directly to us, worsening our visibility to almost zero. "
Classification in the truck category after 4th stage
1. VIAZOVICH 02:19:07
2. MARDEEV 02:24:55 +00:05:48
3. SOTNIKOV 02:34:41 +00:15:34
4. VASILEVSKI 02:34:41 +00:15:34
5. VISHNEUSKI 02:44:32 +00:25:25
General classification in the truck category after 4th stage
1. MARDEEV 12:55:00
2. VIAZOVICH 13:00:23
3. SOTNIKOV 13:19:02
4. VISHNEUSKI 13:46:55
5. VASILEVSKI 13:58:43
