Just one day away from reaching Sochi, where the 3rd Silk Way Rally will come to an end, two Russian drivers took the spoils in the 6th stage, marked by a special which was divided into two timed sectors. This may be the reason behind Russian Vladimir Vasiliev’s surprise win in the car category, where he beat the rock-solid Peterhansel and Hołowczyc. Mardeev took his 2nd stage in the truck category, while Kabirov, with his comfortable lead in the GC, took his time to do good deeds.
Vasiliev saves the G-Force’s honour! The Russian pilots had only seized one stage win since the beginning of the race, when Alexander Zheludov and his Nissan Frontier prevailed in stage 1. It must be said that the 2011 Silk Way Rally has been especially difficult for the top local team, G-Force. Its leader Boris Gadasin left the race early due to an engine breakdown, and Ukrainian Bogdan Novitsky was disqualified later on. The Russian team’s 3rd and last driver, Vladimir Vasiliev, set the record straight during today’s stage. The Russian put the pedal on the metal from the very beginning of the stage, and also benefitted from Mini driver Stéphane Peterhansel’s flat and fellow Russian Zheludov’s cooling problems. He saved the Slavs’ honour, finishing 1’14” ahead of “Peter” and 6’48” ahead of GC leader Krzysztof Hołowczyc.
With a margin in excess of two hours in the GC, the Polish driver had more to lose than to gain this morning, so he preferred to drive conservatively during today’s fast special. Nevertheless, he still has a very comfortable buffer in the general classification, where he lies 1h 59’28” ahead of his teammate “Peter” and 3h 24’33” ahead of Zheludov.
The loser of the day was the 3rd X-Raid driver, Alexander Mironenko, who had a scare when he slipped on the hill roads of the second timed sector and finally came to a stop at the edge of a deep hole. But he was stuck because both of his front wheels were hanging in the void! The Russian finished the stage in 18th place and lost 25 minutes. Things could have turned out much worse if the truck GC leader and fellow Russian Firdaus Kabirov had not stopped and towed him to safety. Belgian Stéphane Henrard (Buggy VW TDi) certainly will not approve of this good deed. He finished 9th in the stage, 15’55” back, and the Kamaz driver’s action blew his chances to take the 5th place in GC under normal circumstances.
On the other hand, Russian drivers continue to flaunt their vice grip on the truck category. Today’s winner Ayrat Mardeev (Kamaz) took the 5th local victory in six stages, which was also his 2nd individual win in this rally. Nevertheless, he only just beat Dutchman Hans Stacey (Iveco, 21″ back) and his teammate and fellow Russian Andrey Karginov (Kamaz, 2’48”). After playing the role of the Good Samaritan on the trail, Kabirov lost 16’11” to the stage winner, but this is just a small bite off his lead in the general classification, where he now sits 43’19” ahead of Czech Aleš Loprais (Tatra) and 1h 21’55” ahead of Karginov.
Fotos: Pep Cifre
