Yesterday, the young Andrey Karginov had his share of problems and this morning he started in 9th place. But oh what a difference a day can make in rally-raid and even more so on this Volgograd-Volgograd loop. It was a day the n°305 Kamaz team of Karginov/Mokeev/Devyatkin won’t soon forget! « It was classic Russian terrain with areas where you could choose which track to take, « said Karginov. “You had to be quick when deciding because the direction changes are legion and we drive at very-high speeds! Today, we were lucky, although we did make a few mistakes, but very soon after we were back on the proper track. On the other hand, it was intense because we had to pass several vehicles that started much earlier than us this morning. The second-half of the stage was very fast and difficult but at the finish, we were rewarded with a superb result.”
The n°300 Kamaz driven by Ayrat Mardeev finished second on the stage and is the new leader in the truck category. “I was forced to stop towards the end of the second half of the stage that was very fast and, which caused the rear right tyre, which we had to change”, said Mardeev.
In fourth place, just behind his team-mate, Dimitry Sotnikov, was yesterday’s winner Anton Shibalov. «Yesterday was a really unexpected result for us, but today, we had navigation problems in both sections of the stage and lost time …However, the stage was really interesting for us. It was very scenic and difficult.”
PROVISIONAL RESULTS STAGE 2
1.Karginov (Kamaz) in 6h01’49
2.Mardeev (Kamaz) + 13’46
3.Sotnikov (Kamaz) + 16’58
4.Shibalov (Kamaz) + 22’17
5.Viazovich (Maz) + 37’42
6.Vildman (Liaz) + 51’23
7.Valtr (Liaz) + 58’26
8.Loprais (Tatra) + 1h00’03
9.Vasilevski (Maz) + 1h08’45
10.Szustkowsk (Tatra) + 1h26’14
PROVISIONAL OVERALL CLASSIFICATION
1.Mardeev (Kamaz) in 10h47’38
2.Shibalov (Kamaz) + 6’26
3.Karginov (Kamaz) + 24’52
4.Viazovich (Maz) + 44’41
5.Sotnikov (Kamaz) + 50’09
6.Loprais (Tatra) + 52’18
7.Valtr (Liaz) + 57’13
8.Vildman (Liaz) + 1h04’46
9.Kupriyanov (Kamaz) + 2h03’51
10.Szustkowski (Tatra) + 2h08’18
