Martin van den Brink Triumphs in Leg 5 of Silk Way Rally

14.7.2016

Fantasy! The truck built by MKR Technology in North Bohemia wins the fifth stage of the Silk Way Rally. The pilot Martin van den Brink tackled the longest special stage of this year‘s rally in the fastest time of all. The joy is even bigger given the fact that the crew carrying a Roudnice mechanic onboard proved that, despite the technical issues they had faced, their renault is able to cope with the Kamaz dominance

            “We‘re really happy. We dominated in this year‘s longest stage. We had expected that it would  put our technology to a thorough test and many things may have happened along the way. Actually, we didn‘t even sleep for two nights to work on the problems with engine temperature. We successfully removed a part of them but it‘s still not what we‘re aiming for. However, Martin was able to accelerate the whole time, so we have made a major progress,“ commented Mario Kress, the satisfied constructor and executive manager of North Bohemia‘s MKR Technology.

            In terms of special stages, the fifth leg from Astana to Balkash was the longest of all this year. The crews had to tackle five hundred and sixty kilometers and in total they drove over eight hundred. In the end, Renault Sherpa number 301 with the Dutch van den Brink behind the steering wheel and the Roudnice-based mechanic Daniel Kozlovský onboard did not find a match. Nikolaev finished on second spot nine minutes later. Shibalov on third place was beaten by more than fifteen minutes. Van den Brink‘s Mammoet Rally Sport team mate ranked on eighth place, which he occupies also in the overall ranking. “In Pascal‘s case we need to work on the suspension. In this respect Sherpa is performing better,“ commented Mario Kress.

            The victory shot Van den Brink up to the second place in the overall ranking. First position belongs to the Russian Nikolaev on Kamaz, who‘s leading by an eleven-minute margin. Karginov on the third is losing by another nine minnutes.

            Sixth day of the race, Thursday, will take the crews from Balkhash to Almata, where they‘re going to enjoy the much-desired day of rest on Friday. But before they get there, they will have to tackle another portion of  kilometers. Leg six stretches over eight hundred and fifty kilometers, with over four hundred consisting the special stage. “Stage six will resemble today‘s programme a lot. If only it would have the same outcome,“ concludes the hopeful Mario Kress.