The overall leader in the trucks category also made a big leap towards the final victory today. Indeed, in this especially strong category, Russian Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz) made a statement by becoming the first truck driver to seize a 2nd stage win in the 2011 Silk Way. On his way to the win, the leader took advantage of Czech Ales Loprais (Tatra) faltering towards the end of the stage.
Loprais’ co-driver suffered from several headaches after having been shaken around at high speed. As a result, Kabirov came in ahead of German Franz Echter (MAN), who was today’s runner-up 3:10 minutes behind the winner, i.e., 1:07 ahead of Loprais. Nevertheless, the Czech with the yellow truck is pretty much isolated in 2nd place, 52:08 mins behind Kabirov but 43:16 mins ahead of the other Kamaz in the provisional top 3, that of Andrey Karginov (who only managed to finish 10th today).
But chickens should not be counted before they hatch. Indeed, while the current time differences may seem unassailable under normal circumstances, the race is still not over and the leaders still have the most difficult part before them. They will have to manage their lead until Sochi without making catastrophic mistakes but maintaining a high pace. And all drivers dread this rigorous test of concentration.
Tomorrow (Friday) crews tackle two short special stages en route to Maykop. The day begins with a 36km liaison section to the first 113.68 km timed stage. The terrain features wide, open grassland and narrow, winding paths before heading into a 30km neutralization zone. The second timed section will be extremely fast, according to race officials, and will feature numerous 90-degree bends.
Silk Way Rally RESULTS: Stage 5 Astrakhan-Stavropol Trucks Top 10 Day/All
Top 10 Trucks Stage results SS05 Astrakhan-Stavropol
01) Kabirov/Mokeev/Tanin (RUS) I Kamaz I 07:12:28 I 00:00:00
02) Echter/Ruf/Echter (D) I MAN TGS I 07:15:38 I 00:03:10
03) Loprais/Holan/Stajf (CZ) I Tatra Proto I 07:16:45 I 00:04:17
04) Ardavichus/Turlubaev/Kuzmich (KZ) I Kamaz I 07:34:19 I 00:21:51
05) Van Ginkel/Wams/Van Veenendaal (NL) I Ginaf I 07:47:31 I 00:35:03
06) Stacey/Willemsen/Kinderen (NL) I De Rooy Iveco I 07:50:59 I 00:38:31
07) Behringer/Kupper/Karg (D) I MAN TGS I 07:52:55 I 00:40:27
08) Mardeev Jr./Belyaev/Mirniy (RUS) I Kamaz I 07:53:23 I 00:40:55
09) Maardev/Sotnikov/Yakovlev (RUS) I Kamaz I 08:01:34 I 00:49:06
10) Karginov/Mizyukaev/Devyatkin (RUS) I Kamaz I 08:02:41 I 00:50:13
Top 10 Trucks Overall results after SS05 Astrakhan-Stavropol
01) Kabirov/Mokeev/Tanin (RUS) I Kamaz I 29:30:19 I 00:00:00
02) Loprais/Holan/Stajf (CZ) I Tatra Proto I 30:22:27 I 00:52:08
03) Karginov/Mizyukaev/Devyatkin (RUS) I Kamaz I 31:05:43 I 01:35:24
04) Stacey/Willemsen/Kinderen (NL) I De Rooy Iveco I 31:31:58 I 02:01:39
05) Echter/Ruf/Echter (D) I MAN TGS I 32:22:40 I 02:52:21
06) Van Ginkel/Wams/Van Veenendaal (NL) I GINAF I 32:35:46 I 03:05:27
07) Mardeev Jr./Belyaev/Mirniy (RUS) I Kamaz I 32:36:58 I 03:06:39
08) Versluis/Bruynkens/Schuurmans (NL) I MAN TGA I 33:19:34 I 03:49:15
09) Maardev/Sotnikov/Yakovlev (RUS) I Kamaz I 33:55:06 I 04:24:47
10) Adua/Marco/Busoms (F/ES) I De Rooy Iveco I 34:25:46 I 04:55:27