Hotan (Xinjiang, China)
Maikiti – Hotan: 549,01km – Liaison : 1,42km – SS : 373,37 km – Liaison : 174,22km
After the first rest day, the 2024 Taklimakan Rally welcomes today a long stage 4 with the special stage of 373km and the bivouac transfer from Maikiti to Hotan. Although the stage is long, there are clear marks in the roadbook so getting lost in the special stage is expected to be less. Today’s stage is a combination of the previous days, with high dunes, soft sandy zone, fesh-fesh and the gravel road. There are 2 PC points in the stage which requires special attention for the co-pilots.
In the auto category, Han Wei in his No. 117 racing car is the first to reach the finish line, however, this is not an easy and comfortable stage for him. « 40km after the departure my clutch went wrong and my car stuck in the soft sand. We stopped for a while, chill down and get the car out. Not long after our restart, I found that I couldn’t hang up the second gear, and I couldn’t push it to the first gear neither, so I got stuck again. During the whole stage, I was trapped 3 times due to the broken clutch. But I was lucky because we eventually got the car out instead of digging the sand and wasting too much time. I was quite stressed for losing the time in the sand. »
Fan Gaoxiang, the China Rally Championship winner 2018-2019, came out the second in his JJ racing car. « I started the 5th and arrived the 2nd, I was lucky because the car is in form and everything goes well today. Taklimakan rally is not an easy task, your performance depends on your experiences and your skill. »
In the moto category, Neels Theric dominate the race. In his 001 moto, he arrives at the first place for another time. at the first place for another time. « I like this stage though it is long and the sand is soft. The weather was good, not too hot. My moto is on good form, the roadbook ran smoothly so I really enjoyed my performance today. The only problem is that there is dust in the stage and the view is blocked in certain road section. »
Right after Neels Theric is his teammate Zheng Liansong, who suffered from the roadbook malfunction and followed Neels to come out of the stage.
Tomorrow, the 2024 Taklimakan Rally will pass the Keriya River and enter stage 5. With the total stage length of 697 km, the longest stage of the 2024 Taklimakan Rally waits for the challengers.
Classification Auto SS4 : 1. Su Haotian (CHN) / Wang Yicheng (CHN), Buggy, 4H53’54 ; 2. Zhang Guoyu (CHN) / Li Pengcheng (CHN), Yun Xiang, +0’44 ; 3. Wang Shilin (CHN) / Tian Lei (CHN), JJ Race, +4’24…
Overall Classification Auto after SS4 : 1. Han Wei (CHN) / Ma Li (CHN) Red-line, 15H55’49 ; 2. Tao Yongming (CHN) / Shen Xin (CHN), JJ Race, +37’26 ; 3. Sun Ping (CHN) / Liao Min (CHN), Prodrive, +51’47…
Classification Moto SS4 : 1. Neels Theric (FRA), KOVE, 5H33’52 ; 2. Deng Liansong (CHN), KOVE, +5’24 ; 3. Ayoub Maweixiao (CHN), KTM, +33’35…
Overall Classification Moto after SS4 : 1. Neels Theric (FRA), KOVE, 15H28’25 ; 2. Guan Qige Surong (CHN), KTM, +2H1’26 ; 3. Abbas Gapal (CHN), YAMAHA, +2H02’34…