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Silk Way Rally Stage 12: Loeb looses his way ! - video

Cyril Despres and David Castera (Peugeot DKR 2008), inherit the stage win.

#102 Peugeot: Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena

#102 Peugeot: Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena

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#102 Peugeot: Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena
#102 Peugeot: Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena
#306 Kamaz: Ayrat Mardeev
#102 Peugeot: Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena
#102 Peugeot: Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena
#100 Peugeot: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret
#306 Kamaz: Ayrat Mardeev, Aydar Belyaev, Dmitry Svistunov
#100 Peugeot: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret
#104 Peugeot: Cyril Despres, David Castera
#306 Kamaz: Ayrat Mardeev, Aydar Belyaev, Dmitry Svistunov
#306 Kamaz: Ayrat Mardeev, Aydar Belyaev, Dmitry Svistunov
#306 Kamaz: Ayrat Mardeev, Aydar Belyaev, Dmitry Svistunov
#153 Toyota Land Cruiser: Denis Berezovskiy, Ignat Falkov
#300 Kamaz: Dmitry Sotnikov, Ruslan Akhmadeev, Ivan Romanov

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena (Peugeot DKR 2008) drove brilliantly on the Jiayuguan-Alashan stage, but were penalized four hours for missing two way-points. Cyril Despres and David Castera (Peugeot DKR 2008), inherit the stage win. Airat Mardeev put Kamaz atop the truck category leader board with two stages remaining in the 2016 Silk Way Rally.

So close but not close enough!

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena put in their first dominating performance of edition 6 of the Silk Way Rally on the tracks and dunes of the 425km special stage to take 07’02” from overall leaders Cyril Despres and David Castera. But Loeb and Elena failed to come within the required distance at way-points 75 and 76, resulting in a four hour penalty. “It is frustrating, it’s a heavy price to pay,” said the disappointed Frenchman after arriving at the bivouac. “It is an error we will never make again”. Loeb and Elena are now 10th in the general classification.

Despres and Castera were hampered by a clutch problem, losing third gear in the dunes, but managed to bring their DKR 2008 to the finish and score their fifth victory of the rally. Yazeed Al Rahji and Timo Gottschalk (MINI ALL4 Racing) finished second today at 02’30” and are now heading towards the second step on the podium at the ‘Bird’s Nest’ podium. The Saudi-German crew is 30’30” back from the overall leaders. Vladmir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhlitsov (MNI ALL4 Racing) finished third and are also third overall, 54’04”adrift of the leaders.

Peterhansel and Cottret were fourth, ahead of Han Wei and Jean-Pierre Garcin (SMG Buggy). Sixth in the stage, Harry Hunt and Andreas Schulz (MINI ALL4 Racing) are now fourth overall. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ) and Anton Nikolaev (RUS) move up to fifth in the general classification, making it four Mini ALL4 Racing cars in the Top 5.

T2 At a glance…

With two days to go before the finish in Beijing, Akira Miura and Laurent Lichtleuchter (Toyota VDJ200) are on their way to the laurels in the production category, with another stage win ahead of Denis Berezovskiy and Ignat Falkov (Toyota Land Cruiser).

Mardeev takes overall lead

Edouard Nikolaev (Kamaz) set best time in the truck category, but the big winner on stage 12 was Airat Mardeev (Kamaz). The Russian crossed the line 02’46” behind his countryman, but 17’05” ahead of Martin Van Den Brink (Renault) to take the overall lead by 12’33”. The Dutchman suffered a puncture at the 300km mark in the dunes and was stopped 10 minutes to make repairs. Dmitry Sotnikov set the third best time, at 05’50” to Mardeev and is now second ion the general classification at 07’52”. Nikolaev and Hou Hongning (Kamaz) complete the big rig Top 5.

Upcoming Program

Route

15 legs, 10.734,89 kms, 4.105,05 kms of selective section (*)

China

22/07 Leg 13: Alashan-Wuhai « The mines road » - 724,89 kms

23/07 Leg 14: Wuhai-Hohhot « The right Heading… » - 755,42 kms

24/07 Leg 15: Hohhot-Beijing « The great wall » - 507,68 kms

02.00 pm – 06.00 pm Prize Giving Podium Ceremony in Beijing

*subject to modification by Silk Way Rally organisers.

Silk Way Rally

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