Sharpa Celebrates Second Win in Two Days!
18.7.2016
Photo gallery
Total 7
They’ve gone crazy! The truck built by the North Bohemia based MKR Technology wins another stage at Silk Way, the world’s longest rally. Adding another victory to his record Martin van den Brink dominated in stage eight, confirming his overall lead.
“The results so far have been amazing. We’ve been all working hard and the reward is coming. We’ve been going long kilometers, the technology is under immense pressure and all of that yields valuable data that help us with the general development. Atmosphere on the team is excellent,“ commented MKR Technology’s Mario Kress, chief constructor of the Czech team developing racing truck specials.
Stage eight was the first one that took place on Chinese ground in its entirety. First of all, the pilots were challenged by a long road section. During Sunday they had to tackle more than five hundred kilometers from Bortalo to Urumqui, which made it one of the longest road sections of this year. The special section stretched a little over two hundred and fifty kilometers and that’s when the Dutch pilot Martin van den Brink unleashed his force. Along with it he has brought worries to the Kamaz supremacy because they’re simply not a match for the Sherpa these days. Van den Brink won the stage in nearly three and half hours. Runner-up Mardeev from Russia came to the finishing line six minutes after the winner. Minor problems caused his team mate from Mammoet Rally Sport Pascal de Baar to lose by more than half an hour and eventually arrive to the finish on tenth place.
As a result, van den Brink’s lead is even more solid now. Second in the ranking Russian Sotnikov is currently losing by nineteen-minute margin and also the next three places are occupied by Kamaz pilots, with Mardeev, Dakar champion from two years ago, on fourth place so far. Following the Sunday stage Pascal de Baar dropped by two ranks and after the weekend he concludes the top ten.
The crews are about to start the new racing week with leg nine from Urumqui to Hamio which consists of seven hundred and nineteen kilometers with the special stage taking up nearly four hundred kilometers of that. However, for the first time this year the teams will experience the treacherous sand dunes. Combined with the conditions in the lowest-lying spot in China, which is among the hottest places on the planet, all of this will put the Czech technology to a thorough test. In the Turfan depression, whose depth in some points reaches 154 meters, the temperature may reach up to sixty degrees Celsius. “The stage will open with an impressive climb of a dune wall, then there will be offroad sections changing into sand ones. It will literally be a purgatory, also with respect to the fact that we’re still adjusting the engine temperature. The technology will be under extreme strain but I believe we can successfully complete the stage,“ says the hopeful Mario Kress.
Results – Stage 8 (256.93 km):
1. van den Brink (Renault Sherpa) 3:27:30
2. Mardeev (Kamaz) +5:47
3. Sotnikov (Kamaz) +6:11
4. Shibalov (Kamaz) +18:12
5. Hongning (Kamaz) +18:28
10. de Baar (Renault K520) +36:22
12. Ardavichus (Tatra) +1:28:39
14. Vrátný (Tatra) +1:30:03
Overall results:
1. van den Brink (Renault Sherpa) 16:33:44
2. Sotnikov (Kamaz) +18:40
3. Shibalov (Kamaz) +24:37
4. Mardeev (Kamaz) +30:32
5. Hongning (Kamaz) +56:40
10. de Baar (Renault K520) +1:36:39
13. Vrátný (Tatra) +4:02:55
15. Ardavichus (Tatra) +9:06:31
They’ve gone crazy! The truck built by the North Bohemia based MKR Technology wins another stage at Silk Way, the world’s longest rally. Adding another victory to his record Martin van den Brink dominated in stage eight, confirming his overall lead.
