The steppes of the Ulyanovsk region prepared a full set of surprises for the participants of the Simbirsk tract. Among them are unusually warm weather for autumn, steppe dust, and difficult navigation. Of course, there were breakdowns and struggles on the brink.
Vladimir Vasiliev started first – he showed the best result in the prologue, and in general his Mini is the fastest car in Russian rally raids. KAMAZ and MAZ trucks rushed after him. The winner of the Silk Road 2023 – the crew of Sergei Vyazovich from MAZ SPORT-auto – performed poorly in the prologue and started only tenth.
Alexander Zhikharev
The starting order is an important parameter in rally raids. More often than not, the fastest ones tend to leave first. In this case, there is a minimum of overtaking ahead and you can race with all your money. But in rally raids you not only need to drive fast, but also solve navigation problems and take all the points. If this is not done, a penalty time will be added and all the hard-earned seconds will be lost. Therefore, in some situations, for example, in the sand or on freshly fallen snow, it is better to follow the leader’s tracks. Sometimes the prologue winner chooses the 3rd or 5th position. But in Ulyanovsk at the end of September there was unexpected summer heat. Behind each car there is a thick plume of dust. Overtaking is not just difficult, it is catastrophically dangerous. Therefore, everyone tried to start first.
Alexander Zhikharev
Vladimir Vasiliev showed the best result.
“In principle, the tracks are the same as last year, but the configuration of the track itself is more interesting,” Vasiliev noted. “We made a more twisted race, fewer straight lines, along the hills.”
In the T2 category, the main fight is between the crew of Andrei Sushentsov and the current Russian champion Anton Melnikov. But Melnikov has not yet fully recovered from the surgery, so he is not riding at full strength.
Alexander Zhikharev
Another crew in T2 – Dinaburgi – experienced difficulties with the brakes and flew off the track. He no longer claims the podium, but does not drop out of the competition. Dinaburg is unlucky – in the Vladimir region his hydraulic booster failed, now his brakes… In T2, Sushentsov is in the lead, followed by Melnikov. The crew of the UAZ factory team – Vadim Novikov and Dmitry Rybin – rose to third place.
An interesting fight is going on in the T3 class – buggy. This is an actively developing class – both in Russia and in the world in general. Almost everyone drives a BRP Maverick X3. Anastasia Nifontova showed the best result, although this crew had a busy day.
Alexander Zhikharev
“We punctured the tire, and when we replaced it and were already setting off, Mironenko overtook us,” said Nifontova. “We signaled to him, but he didn’t let us pass.” Then Andrei Karginov caught up with us, he let him pass, but again held us. And we don’t know what kind of tactic this was… In the dust, we almost made a mistake and flew off the track, then we flew past one turn and had to turn back. There were a couple more minor technical problems…
Alexander Zhikharev
Difficulties also arose for Dmitry Mordkovich, a contender for leadership in T3: “The day was disgusting: our belts broke three times, on the first lap the suspension was set up incorrectly, because during the tests there were flat roads, and then there was this… The car jumped like ball! Between the starts we adjusted the suspension, and we went through the special stage much better.”
For Mordkovich, victory at this stage of the Russian Championship was very important, but due to repairs he lost a lot of time…
The plot in the Raid-sport category is developing curiously. There are five crews performing there. Alexander Semenov and Dmitry Okhotnikov are in the lead on the sports Gazelle NN. Behind them are Konstantin Ivanov and Alexander Gorkov in a Toyota Land Cruiser. In third place was the crew of the GAZ Raid Sport team – Alexey Ignatov and Evgeny Pavlov in the Gazelle NN.
Alexander Zhikharev
“We skied unsuccessfully in the prologue,” said Alexey Ignatov. “As a result, we started at the very end. We overtook five crews, but it’s difficult to overtake – terrible dust. Now we are almost three minutes behind our nearest opponent. We’ll try to win them back tomorrow.
Alexander Zhikharev
In the truck category in the Russian Championship there is a very interesting and extremely intense competition. The champions and prize-winners of the Dakar – the KAMAZ-master and MAZ-SPORTauto teams – are competing. A sporty Ural is driving – an interesting car, but the team is still gaining experience and eliminating childhood problems of the car. Two GAZ Sadko Next trucks will also perform.
Alexander Zhikharev
Alexander Zhikharev
Alexander Zhikharev
Alexander Zhikharev
“Our sports GAZ Sadkos are assembled from standard components and assemblies and are significantly inferior in power to the KAMAZ and MAZ prototypes,” said GAZ Raid Sport team pilot Mikhail Shklyaev. “To be precise, three times.” The use of standard components is the fundamental position of the Gorky Automobile Plant. Thus, in the harsh conditions of a sports race, we check the reliability of the element base and test new engineering solutions. Although we are going confidently. At the end of the day, we overtake one MAZ and one Ural.
Alexander Zhikharev
In the truck category, perhaps the most interesting situation is. In the spring, at a race in Astrakhan, Sergei Vyazovich (MAZ-SPORTauto) surprised everyone by overtaking several KAMAZ vehicles. Many decided that the Belarusian was simply lucky, they say, KAMAZ workers were testing young navigators. Five KAMAZ and three MAZ vehicles fought on the Silk Road. And Vyazovich became the winner, having as his opponents the most powerful team in the world, and essentially on its home track!
Alexander Zhikharev
Alexander Zhikharev
Starting tenth, Vyazovich’s crew on the second day of the Simbirsk Highway showed the second result in the overall standings and the best among trucks. Following the Minsk resident are four (!) KAMAZ trucks. In fact, the best rally cars in the world with the strongest crews, Dakar winners.
Dmitry Sotnikov loses to Vyazovich in less than three minutes, Bogdan Karimov loses three and a half minutes. Anton Shibalov is seven minutes away, and Eduard Nikolaev is 10 minutes away.
Alexander Zhikharev
“Today I spent most of the day driving first among the trucks,” Dmitry Sotnikov shared his impressions of the day. “Navigation was much easier, so we tried to pick up our pace and hit all the turns. There was a little time to spare, and we drove carefully. Tomorrow we have another whole day and we will get ready. And so happy. Thank God, the tires held up, and everything is fine, there is some reserve left, but we’ll probably change them for tomorrow’s racing day.
Alexander Zhikharev
On the third and final day, Vyazovich’s crew needs to escape from Dmitry Sotnikov, one of the strongest pilots on the planet, two-time Dakar champion, driving a wonderful sports truck.
Will Sergei Vyazovich’s crew, contrary to forecasts and probability theory, be able to win for the third time in a row? /m
