– Three Mini All4 Racing vehicles in the top five
– Al-Rajhi / Gottschalk the quickest MINI ALL4 Racing pairing
Today, on the way from Astana to Balkhash, the teams contesting the Silk Way Rally had to cope with the longest special stage. The MNI ALL4 Racing pairings weren’t ready to get scared by the massive 568.24-kilometre distance and secured the positions two to four, six and 13!
The fastest Mini All4 Racing pairing in today’s special stage was Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA) / Timo Gottschalk (GER) who suffered three tyre damages and came second, nevertheless. Third position was clinched by Kazakh Aidyn Rakhimbayev and his Russian navigator Anton Nikolaev, followed by young Briton Harry Hunt and Andreas Schulz (GER). The Russian pairing Vladimir Vasilyev /Konstantin Zhiltsov finished sixth, with Bauyrzhan Issabayev (KAZ) / Vladimir Demyanenko (RUS) crossing the finish line in 13th position.
Today’s special stage was not only the longest on the 2016 Silk Way Rally schedule but also represented a particular technical challenge – for both the drivers and the co-drivers. “Navigating was anything but easy,