The general consensus is that if you take away manufacturers with their multi-million dollar development budgets and household name drivers then the event, or even series, is in free-fall towards an ignominious death… Volkswagen may have withdrawn their works team from the Dakar and its associated Series to focus on other areas of motorsport, but beyond the brightly coloured veneer of marketing strategies and brand awareness the Silk Way Rally is still a thriving battlefield of so-called ‘amateurs’ who build and develop their cars to race across the sands and mountains for one reason and one reason only… because it is their absolute passion!
The name of the event is a throwback to ancient times where cultures from east and west came to meet and trade and its location gives it a special flavour. The Europeans are out in force with teams from Germany, Holland, France and the Czech Republic, as well as those from countries closer to Russia, such as Ukraine and Latvia. But they are jointed on the entry list by some very international entrants, Columbia, China, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and even Egypt. In fact a massive field of 105 cars, followed by a thunderous 34 trucks crossed the podium in Red Square on Saturday 9th July before setting off for the 1st stage at 8 am today morning.
The 3rd edition of Silk Way Rally will have the work cut out for them across 3,891 km (2,448 of which belong to timed sections), which will take them from Moscow to the 2014 Olympic city Sochi, via Astrakhan through the forests, plains, steppe, deserts and mountains of this vast country. And because of the nature of the course, laid out across Russia by the Dakar’s ASO team and passes through some of the toughest terrain the country has to offer.
With its varying terrain, the 2011 Silk Way Rally has all the promise of being a fascinating fight.
Just because VW have gone it doesn’t make the event any easier for any of the competitors. Yet there is one man who can never be counted out of any fight though, no matter if the ground he races on is not that of his birth, and that is the living Rally-Raid legend Stéphane Peterhansel. His victory in the insanely hot Empty Quarter in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge means that between the three of them they all have one win apiece in the FIA World Cup so far.
They might not have the sacred mark of VW embossed on the grills but the vehicles that X-Raid and G-Force will be bringing to the event are stunning beasts; the eye-catching curves of the blood-red Mini with its tried and tested BMW running gear against the awesome fire-spitting 7 litre V8 G-Force Proto. Both X-Raid and G-Force have Russian drivers, but G-Force, with its workshop near the centre of St Petersburg is every bit a local team…
Leonid Novitsky, the reigning Cross Country world champion, was easily beaten by two-time Baja World Cup winner Boris Gadasin at the first round of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Bajas in Italy, but Gadasin lasted just 4km in the next event before barrel rolling through the desert. In the Baja-like stages in the forests near Moscow Gadasin will have the advantage but when the landscape opens up into vast plains of scrub and desert the mid-section sands will play to Novitski’s strengths.
Stéphane Peterhansel and Leonid Novitsky will now be joined by Krzysztof Holowczyc. The Polish driver was the winner of FIA Cross-Country Bajas in 2010 and he was also 5th twice in the Dakar (2009, 2011). He got an opportunity to ride again BMW X3 CC in the highest available specification prepared by X-Raid Team. Their double objective will be to shine on the routes in Russia and develop a BMW X3, with the aim of winning the next Dakar.
In the Truck category, for the kings of the heavy-weight division, the local Kamaz Master Team, just like in the Dakar for the last 10 years, nothing short of a dominant victory will be good enough as they haven’t just got a reputation to uphold, in the Silk Way Rally national pride is at stake!
They are fielding seven competitors, and everyone will be allowed to race their way, with no instructions other than to take their truck to Sochi. Last minute practice took the form of the Simbirsky Rally, part of the Russian Rally Raid championship, held in the deserts around Astrakhan… no co-incidence that it’s the same route the Silk Way will be passing through in a few days. Since the retirement of Vladimir Chagin the team has been investing a lot of training in what the call the ‘new generation’ and taking a big step up to take victory was Ayrat Mardeev, who at a tender age of 24 has now graduated from co-driving for his father Ilgizar on the Dakar to beating him in a Kamaz of his own. But last year’s winner Eduard Nikolaev certainly won’t be keen to relinquish the crown he won last year when he famously beat Chagin through the deserts to Sochi.
Their main rivals will be Gerard De Rooy and Hans Stacey, who will be spearheading Team De Rooy. Together, Gerard De Rooy and Hans Stacey boast four podiums on the Dakar, and two others on the Dakar Series. The pair’s competitiveness is therefore guaranteed, especially since Stacey is the last driver to have beaten the Kamaz trucks and became a Dakar winner in 2007!
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