Press release
13 July 2016
Silk Way Rally 2016 – three MINI ALL4 Racing finish SS5 in top
four. Al Rajhi in third place overall.
Strong performances from the MINI ALL4 Racing today enabled Yazeed Al
Rajhi (KSA) and Timo Gottschalk (GER) to regain a top three position
overall after a difficult day on stage 4 yesterday (12.07.16).
Munich. Stage 5 of the 2016 Silk Way Rally from
Moscow to Beijing saw the MINI ALL4 Racing pairings return to strong
form after a challenging day of racing yesterday.
Today’s stage, from Astana to Balkhash, saw a reversal of fortunes
though with three MINI ALL4 Racing finishing the leg inside the top
four. There was also a change in early race leader.
The longest stage of the race was still eventful for the leading MINI
ALL4 Racing #103 of Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and Timo Gottschalk (GER)
though. Despite suffering from three punctures at different stages of
SS5 and then stopping to clean the screen due to the amount of mud
making it difficult to see the road, they still completed today’s
section of the 2016 Silk Way Rally from Astana to Balkhash in second position.
This sees the pairing move up from 6th position in the overall
classification to 3rd, and they are confident of making up further
time in the next stages to challenge for the lead.
Al Rajhi said: “I think this was the longest stage in my life because
it is not only long but also technical; it’s very difficult when you
have a stage like that. The goal today was to attack and I told my
co-driver that the aim was to finish 3rd. He was not sure that we
could do it, but I told him to fasten his seatbelt and enjoy the
drive! After 50 or 60k we caught up to Cyril [Despres] and then it was
attack, attack, attack to pass him, but after 80/90k we have first
puncture, after 150k we have second puncture and at 180k to 200k third
puncture. Even after that and stopping to clean the mud from the
screen, we finished 2nd, which was better than our target!”
Today’s stage was also good for the #106 MINI ALL4 Racing of Aidyn
Rakhimbayev (KAZ) and Anton Nikolaev (RUS) who secured a top three
finish, just behind Al Rajhi to consolidate their 5th position overall.
The true reversal of fortunes though was that of the #105 MINI ALL4
Racing of Harry Hunt (GB) and Andreas Schulz (GER). They drove a
strong and steady stage to finish today in fourth, making up 20 of the
23 places they lost in the overall standings yesterday in just one
leg. Now sitting in 12th position, Hunt is determined to break back
into the top 10 in the next stages.
Hunt: “Today was good; it was the longest stage I’ve ever done, so it
was interesting. We had a couple of small issues but nothing major so
it was a nice and steady pace for a good finish.”
Just two places behind the British driver today was the #101 MINI
ALL4 Racing of Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS) and Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS)
who crossed the line in sixth place to secure 4th position overall.
Co-driver Zhiltsov said: “Today was a good stage, even though it long
and very physically demanding after only two hours sleep. The last 50k
was very fast and dusty so we wasted a lot of time with braking, but
the race is not finished yet. I think the real race will start after
the Chinese border!”
The final MINI ALL4 Racing of Bauyrzhan Issabayev (KAZ) and Vladimir
Demyanenko (RUS) ended the day in 13th to consolidate a top 10
position overall.
The Silk Way Rally action continues tomorrow as the teams make their
way from Balkhash to Almaty for stage 6 of the 15-leg race that
crosses 3 countries.
For further information about the Silk Way Rally 2016, please visit: www.silkwayrally.com
Silk Way Rally 2016: MINI ALL4 Racing SS5 result
Silk Way Rally 2016: MINI ALL4 Racing Overall Classification
Find reports, photos and videos in high resolution of previous MINI
ALL4 Racing activity on the BMW Media Website by clicking here.