Silk Way Rally 2016 – Al Rajhi retains third overall after Stage 10 in the Chinese desert. Five MINI ALL4 Racing inside top eight. Today’s Stage 11 cancelled due to sandstorm.

Press release

20 July 2016

 

Silk Way Rally 2016 – Al Rajhi retains third overall after
Stage 10 in the Chinese desert. Five MINI ALL4 Racing inside top
eight. Today’s Stage 11 cancelled due to sandstorm.

 

Today’s MINI ALL4 Racing family plan to push hard for leading positions
postponed until tomorrow after Stage 11 is cancelled. MINI ALL4 Racing
crews fill positions three to sixth overall.

 

Munich. Hot and dusty racing continues to cause
problems for competitors in Chinese territory as the Silk way Rally
progresses east across the Gansu desert region.

 

Tuesday’s Stage 10 (19-07-2016) was the last day an official stage
result was given because today’s 609.66 km Stage 11 had to be
cancelled. Support aircraft were grounded due to a sandstorm in the region.

 

The Silk Way Rally entourage and frustrated car and truck competitors
then had to make their way in convoy to the Jiayuguan bivouac in
preparation for tomorrow’s Stage 12.

 

Stage 10’s 525.24 km route proved to be a good one for Harry Hunt
(GB) and Andreas Schulz (GER) in MINI ALL4 Racing #105. They completed
this stage in third place to position them third overall.

 

“It was a good clean stage with no real problem. I’m happy,” said
Hunt. It was quite bumpy in the middle and my neck and arm are still
quite bad. But it was fast and so the heat didn’t really cause a
problem even though it was still 45-degrees. I didn’t think we would
get to our present position after getting stuck in the first, second
proper stages. There are still some big days to go so… who knows?”

 

The MINI ALL4 Racing (#103) crew of Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and Timo
Gottschalk (GER) completed Stage 10 in fifth. Presently they are still
the highest placing of the MINI ALL4 Racing family in third position overall.

 

Al Rajhi: “It was a good track even though it was very bumpy and, at
190 km exactly, we lost the power steering. But we made it ok to drive
the last kilometres, and finally we do it well and not lose too much
time, maybe three or four minutes.”

 

MINI ALL4 Racing #103 of Russian pairing Vladimir Vasilyev and
Konstantin Zhiltsov (X-raid Team) are relentless in their consistent
pace and retain fourth overall after completing Stage 10 in sixth.

 

Stage 10 saw the two Astana Motorsport MINI ALL4 Racing crews cross
the stage finish point in tandem. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ) / Anton
Nikolaev (RUS) completed in seventh. With just two seconds time
difference, Bauyrzhan Issabayev (KAZ) / Vladimir Demyanenko (RUS) in
MINI ALL4 Racing #109 followed up for eighth place. Rakhimbayev sits
in sixth place overall with Issabayev at position eight.

 

Weather conditions allowing, Stage 12 will see the MINI ALL4 Racing
crews taking part in the longest stage of the Chinese route. A total
of 666.92 km will cover many dunes and sand sections before moving
lower into the valley area and onto hard-packed terrain.

 

For further information about the Silk Way Rally 2016, please visit:
www.silkwayrally.com

Silk Way Rally 2016: MINI ALL4 Racing Overall Classification
after Stage 10

 

 

Find reports, photos and videos in high resolution of previous MINI
ALL4 Racing activity on the BMW Media Website by clicking here.