Our objective was to gain more experience
with the car and the crews, to reach Beijing
with all three cars and win. We succeeded in
ticking all those boxes!”
While Peugeot triumphed, MINI also impressed, beginning with Yazeed Al Rahji and
Timo Glottschalk. The X-Raid prepared cars
were a model of consistency: the Saudi-German duo led the ALL4 Racing effort, finishing
25’51” adrift of Despres and Castera. Russia’s Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstanin Zhiltsov
gave Team X-Raid two medalists on the Silk
Way podium. The international theme continued with England’s Harry Hunt and Germany’s Andreas Schulz fourth overall, while
the Kazakah-Russian pairing of Aidyn Rakhimbayev and Anton Nikolaev gave the German
constructor four places in the Top 5.
With six trucks entered in the Silk Way Rally, the Kamaz Master Team was looking good
for yet another overall triumph. Clearly the Naberejnhye Chelny armada didn’t foresee their
two impending rivals: the desert and the allnew Renault ‘Sherpa’ of Holland’s Martin Van
Den Brink. Winner of six stages, the ‘Flying
Dutchman’ gave the Russian squad plenty to
worry about. Edouard Nikolaev in the all-new
‘Kapotnik’ suffered an oil pan issue, Andrey
Karginov was slowed in the Gobi and Anton Shibalov had too many mechanical problems to count. But Dmitry Sotnikov and Airat
Mardeev kept marching on. The Renault had
far too many hiccups; from re-cooling to punctures and electrical concerns, but that didn’t
stop VDB and crew from finishing third overall.
But in the end, the law of big numbers saw
Kamaz do what they now best…win. Airat
Mardeev was too strong and too consistent;
as he accepted the laurels form the top step of
the Beijing podium as his runner-up team mate
Dmitry Sotnikov looked on from step two.
After seeing their bid
for victory end when
they rolled on Leg 5,
Stéphane Peterhansel
/ Jean Paul Cottret
provided invaluable
rear-guard assistance
and flawless solidarity
to the finish, helping
the #102 and #104
Peugeots on several
occasions. They felt
comfortable in their
role and admitted that
the fortnight had been
tremendous fun and given
them a completely fresh
take on the sport.