Silk Way Enters Sand Dunes, Sherpa on Fifth Place

19.7.2016

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Winner of the Dakar from two years ago Russian Mardeev dominated in stage nine of the rough Silk Way Rally. The race has led the trucks to sand dunes for the first time as well as to one of the lowest-lying and hottest places on the planet. The Sherpa with Martin van den Brink behind the steering wheel arrived to the finishing line on fifth place this time, as a result of the problems with engine temperature. However, he still maintains his position in the lead.

 “The sand and above all the boiling temperatures truly heated things up for us. From the very start we’ve been coping with the temperature of the engine. These extremely hot locations put an immense strain on the technology. Of course, this is why we are here – to sort out these issues and fine-tune the machine for the Dakar, but we’ve set ourselves the goal to jump up on the podium at the end. The team works very hard every day here and Martin drives with forethought and excels in it. So nothing is impossible,” shares Mario Kress, MKR Technology chief constructor, his praise for the development so far.
 The Czech-Dutch crew must cope not only with the technology, but also tough competition. The Russian Kamaz trucks are strong opponents and indeed, they demonstrated their powers in Monday’s stage nine. The stage from Urumqui to Hami was seven hundred and twenty kilometers long and won by the former Dakar champion Airat Mardeev. The Russian pilot passed the 380km special stage in the fastest time of all. Right after him came three other Kamaz trucks. Van den Brink finished on fifth place, losing by almost thirty minutes. “We tackled the initial dunes great but then there was thirty kilometers in fesh fesh and that was a real nightmare. We weren’t able to go faster than 80kph. When the Kamaz trucks were overtaking us it almost looked as if we were standing on the spot. The outdoor temperature reached over forty degrees and inside the truck it was an actual hell. Both the technology and people are suffering, but that’s how Silk Way is. We mustn’t relent. We’re still working on the cooling system, but what’s ahead of us definitely won’t be easier than today,” said the Roudnice based crew mechanic Daniel Kozlovský.
 Following trouble, the second pilot of the Mammoet Rally Sport team, for whom MKR technology built the Renault K520 racing special, finished on tenth place, losing one and half hours on the winner.
 As regard the overall ranking Martin van den Brink successfully maintained the lead, but his headstart has become pretty small. The stage win has moved Mardeev to second position and he is now losing by only one and half minutes. Third in the order Sotnikov is falling behind by only two minutes. Pascal de Baar is currently on ninth place.
 On Tuesday the crews are about to start in stage ten from Hami to Duhuang which stretches over five hundred and twenty-five kilometers, with the special section comprising three hundred and forty kilometers. “It is safe to say that the Silk Way is far more difficult than the Dakar. It really surpasses the Dakar in many respects. However, with its prestige the Dakar is the main goal we’ve been working towards; nevertheless, the Silk Way has given us countless important impulses. It’s a huge lesson to learn and it will be here where we can adjust the technology properly, so that we do away with the little things. Not only the technology is going through certain development. We’ve come to the sand dunes for the first time here. So far Martin has not been driving this type of truck, so it’s new for him as well and he’s intensively learning the new driving style. This hell has been very beneficial for us and we all believe in a positive result, though there are five very hard stages to go,” concludes Mario Kress.

Results – Leg 9 (384.40 km):
1. Mardeev (Kamaz) 3:58:26
2. Nikolaev (Kamaz) +8:58
3. Sotnikov (Kamaz) +12:18
4. Shibalov (Kamaz) +23:19
5. van den Brink (Renault Sherpa) +28:51
9. Vrátný (Tatra) +1:17:36
10. de Baar (Renault K520) +1:26:17
11. Ardavichus (Tatra) +1:41:27

Overall results:
1. van den Brink (Renault Sherpa) 21:01:01
2. Mardeev (Kamaz) +1:41
3. Sotnikov (Kamaz) +2:07
4. Shibalov (Kamaz) +19:05
5. Nikolajev (Kamaz) +56:30
9. de Baar (Renault K520) +2:34:05
11. Vrátný (Tatra) +4:51:40
14. Ardavichus (Tatra) +10:19:07

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