Sherpa Holds on to Winners‘ Podium After Penultimate Stage

23.7.2016

Kamaz, kamaz and a kamaz once again. The penultimate racing stage of the world‘s toughest rally was ruled over by the Russian trucks. Leg thirteen of the Silk Way Rally brought problems with electronics to the Renault Sherpa and the truck was eventually classified on sixth place with a fifteen-minute loss. The dream of victory is somewhat further away, but the overall podium standing is indeed very close.

            “We had a great start and were heading for another solid result on the podium, but then problems came with electronics. We had to stop a few times, wait and start the engine again; in conditions like that it‘s really hard to keep up the pace,“ commented the crew mechanic of truck no.301 Daniel Kozlovský from Roudnice nad Labem.

            Stage thirteen from Alshani to Wuhai consisted of seven hundred and twenty kilometers out of which three hundred and sixty were taken up by the special section. The result is not yet decided but the crews had to tackle the tough dunes and offroad. This time the Russian Kamaz trucks demonstrated their power – there was no other machine to be seen in the top five. Despite problems with electronic the Sherpa with the Dutch pilot Martin van den Brink was the only one who was resisting the pressure from the Russian machines. Passing the finishing line in sixth fastest time, he lost seventeen minutes on the winner Nikolaev. Van den Brink‘s team mate Pascal de Baar arrived on eleventh place.

            In the general classification the pilot taming a special built in the north of Czechia is maintaining his place on the podium, occupying third rank and losing by a nearly thirty-minute margin to the leader Mardeev. In the overall ranking Mammoet Rally Sport‘s second pilot de Baar is on eighth place. “Half an hour doesn‘t have to mean anything. In a rally one gets lost in the smallest issue, but we need to be realistic about it. Kamaz trucks won‘t let us steal the win from them and we won‘t take any unnecessary risks,“ admitted Kozlovský.

            The crews have two more days to go, this year‘s concluding weekend, but only leg fourteen will be counted in the overall ranking. The penultimate stage is the last measured one. The crews will have to overcome seven hundred and fifty kilometers from Wuhai to Hohhot with a measured special section of two hundred and sixty kilometers. The final episode is only a transport one to Beijing, where the teams will end this year‘s rally. “We‘ll try to focus on the big picture on Saturday. We came here for a podium ranking, but the main goal was to collect as much data as possible and improve the technology for the Dakar. I don‘t want to jinx it but it seems that all the things we have set out could turn out well. That‘s why we‘ll be driving to secure the podium for ourselves,“ summed up the crew mechanic Daniel Kozlovský.