‘The ships of a desert’: Silk Way started in Kazan
On 9 July, Prologue of the Silk Way Rally started at the Kazanka River embankment. Thousands of people gathered to watch the best racing off-road trucks. About the performances of the teams at the start of the long Silk Way – in the report of Realnoe Vremya.
The waiting was worth the candle
The preparations for the Prologue had begun long before the start. Especially for this event, on the sandy bank of the Kazanka River there was designed the special track. Between Riviera and Chasha there appeared the 2km sandy track.
This track became the first in the Silk Way — it counts for the ranking, previously in Moscow there was only the opening of the races, after which the teams went to the start in Kazan. At the opening, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov spoke about the confidence that it will be the hardest and most interesting race.
Despite bad weather, the audience did not leave their seats and attentively watched the race. More than a thousand people gathered there to watch. In total, all participants will participate in 15 legs of the rally from Kazan to Beijing. After two kilometers in Kazan, where the starting grid of the rally will be determined, more than 4 thousand kilometers of route will await for the drivers.
Chagin is satisfied with the Kazan track
At the special press conference before the start of the rally, the project director Vladimir Chagin told about the uniqueness of the track: 'We arrived at the Kazan-Arena, where there will be given the start for the race at the unique site on the bank of the Kazanka River with the sand like in a desert. All drivers have burning eyes, heat inside. Little rain cooled us a little just in time.' Chagin also praised the organizers of the Kazan section of the Silk Way, noting that everything was done quickly and very efficiently.
The ambassador of the race Luc Alphand also shared his impressions: 'In every section the drivers should be prepared for the difficulties. The best strategy is not to stop and then to check the equipment to move on. At the Kazan 2 km section it will be difficult to win something but there will be a lot to lose.'
First Deputy Minister of Sport of RT Khalil Shaikhutdinov at the press conference noted the importance of such events for Kazan: 'It is a great honour that we have already for the sixth time held such competitions. The Silk Way Rally-2016 for us is the most important contest in the Republic. During this time Kazan also hosts the world championship of beach tennis and synchronised swimming, as well as the World Cup of rhythmic gymnastics!'. Shaikhutdinov also hoped that KAMAZ-Master will represent Tatarstan and Russia on the rally deservedly.
Peterhansel and Loeb in the top three of SUVs
The SUVs were the first ones who started the first stage of the rally. The drivers not very confidently took the track, starting their race with the wide trajectory. Because of this, the most part of the track began to turn into a 'mess' and two crews got stuck on the track, one of whom was Russian. The special KAMAZ trucks, which are called 'brooms' as they clean up the track, went to help these crews.
So, it turned out that those have the best results who went first, those who went not the general rut. The 'broken' track did not facilitate good results. The speed of the 20-30th car became much slower and the drivers often just 'slipped' on level ground.
The favorite at this stage was the French driver of Peugeot crew Stéphane Peterhansel, he has the biggest number of victories in the Dakar rally raid. He and his 'steel horse' showed the result of 1 minute and 31 seconds. The next goes the Russian driver Vladimir Vasilyev of G-Energy team, and the nine-time world champion in classic rally Sébastien Loeb rounded out the top three. Vasiliev and Loeb fell behind by 4 seconds from the winner.
KAMAZ-Master is not in the top three
Due to the fact that two cars got stuck, the start of the race of trucks were delayed. The audience, under the rain, were indignant because of this, because they wanted to see the pride of Tatarstan automotive industry. In general, it's not for nothing people waited until dark for the trucks. Speed immediately increased, at least in the opening kilometer, and jumpings on the trampoline became commonplace. Tatarstan drivers with 'hooters' cheered the local audience, and they in return cheered by the passage of the route by KAMAZ trucks.
However, not only KAMAZ-Master showed good performance. Renault and MAZ also counted on the winning. The race results were a little surprising, because the drivers of the Tatarstan team was not in the top three, and the best of KAMAZ Eduard Nikolaev became only the fifth. The first place in the prologue was taken by the Dutchman Martin van den Brink in Renault with the result of 1 minute 51 seconds. He is followed by the Belarusian Sergey Vyazovich in MAZ truck. Pascal de Baar rounded out the top three, who, like Vyazovich, was behind the leader by 3 seconds.
Next — Ufa
On 10 July, the drivers headed to Ufa. By the way they stopped in Naberezhnye Chelny, home of KAMAZ-Master. There the participants of the Silk Way were warmly welcomed. Earlier on the border with Tatarstan the racers were met with chak-chak. The length of the special section to the automobile capital of Tatarstan will be 136 km. The drivers will have to overcome fast dirt roads, and the co-drivers will need to find the right direction from Tatarstan to Bashkiria.
The rally finishes on 24 July on the Central square of Beijing Tiananmen Square. Given the increased interest in sports in China, we assume that the reception will be very warm. In total, 27 trucks and 110 SUVs are participating in the Rally.
