Defect Costs Sherpa Leader Position

21.7.2016

One single defect is enough to make the leader drop to third place. Leg twelve of the Silk Way, the world’s longest rally, has brought some bad luck to the north of Czechia. Following an unwanted stop, Martin van den Brink piloting a truck built by MKR Technology crossed the finishing line on fourth place and due to the minimal margin in the overall results dropped to third place. However, he’s ready to put up a good fight!

            “That’s how rally is. What happened to us today can happen to anyone else tomorrow. Differences in the lead are minimal, and so any hesitation can cost you a valuable position. The winner is usually the one whom fortune has favoured. Changing a tyre took about fifteen minutes, a time we eventually missed at the end,” commented the Roudnice based crew mechanic Daniel Kozlovský from MKR Technology driving with the Dutch pilot Martin van den Brink.

            The crews were forced to take a day off, as the preceding stage eleven had been cancelled due to a sand storm. The teams just moved by five hundred and sixty kilometers for twelfth day of the rally. As if the stage from Jiayuguan to Alashan suggested a devilish development with its length of 666km, it was the Renault Sherpa’s crew who got stuck on its 425km special stage changing a burst tyre. The guys were able to sort out the defect without any problems but eventually arrived to the finish on fourth place, losing almost twenty minutes on the winning Russian Nikolaev. Second rank was occupied by Mardeev with a three-minute margin, a result which secured the overall lead for him. Van den Brink’s Mammoet Rally Sport team mate Pascal de Baar arrived at the finish on fifth place. “In Pascal’s case we made some adjustments on the suspension system and the changes demonstrated immediately. I’m happy we’re pulling him closer to the Sherpa and the Kamaz trucks. Were it not for the defect, we could have been more than satisfied today. The temperatures are no longer that extreme, so we didn’t even have an issue with the engine temperature in Martin’s truck. We’re going in the right direction, we simply have to keep fighting,” bolsters the boss Mario Kress the team’s morale.

            Top of the general classification is currently occupied by the former Dakar winner Airat Mardeev on a Kamaz. Sotnikov follows on second place with 8-minute margin and van den Brink on third is losing by twelve and a half minutes. Pascal de Baar is currently on eighth place. “Until today the Kamaz trucks had been chasing after us. The roles have been reversed and it will be us doing the chasing now. It’s gonna be pretty exciting. Even if don’t make any further progress, we can be satisfied. Nevertheless, there are still two more stages to go and the differences are not that big. I’m sure it’s gonna be hell of a fun,” smiles the optimistic crew mechanic Daniel Kozlovský.

            The penultimate stage thirteen from Alashan to Wuhai stretches over seven hundred and twenty kilometers, out of which three hundred and seventy form the special stage. The last special section in which a turn of events could be expected is planned for Saturday. The final leg to Beijing on Sunday will be a transport and festive one concluded with a prize ceremony.