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One of the world’s most thrilling and picturesque races finished this week after 130 competitors raced across two continents and three countries during the sixth Silk Way Rally.
The drivers set off from the Russian capital of Moscow on July 9 on a route that took them though forests and grasslands, before crossing into the dusty steppes of Kazakhstan, and finally drifting through what drivers have dubbed the ‘dunes of no return’ in the deserts of northern China.
After 14 legs - there should have been 15 but Stage 11 was cancelled due to sandstorms in the Gobi Desert - the drivers raced into Beijing on Sunday after 10,734km of gruelling competition. Frenchman Cyril Despres and co-driver David Castera of the Peugeot team were crowned the winners, with a total time of 36 hours, 15 minutes and 18 seconds, finishing 25 minutes and 51 seconds ahead of second-placed Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi and German co-driver Timo Gottschalk.
The Silk Way Rally is fast becoming one of the most popular races on the rally-raid circuit, with its more famous cousin the Dakar Rally facing criticism and declining interest after moving to South America in 2009.
Silk Way director, Vladimir Chagin, nicknamed the ‘Tsar of Dakar’ for winning that rally’s truck category seven times and having the second-most stage wins of all categories with 63, believes there is nothing-else quite like the sport.
He said: “It’s an extreme sport stretched out over time, over two weeks, not a jump or flight that lasts minutes or seconds.
“They say the rally is won not by the one who goes fastest but by the one who doesn’t break down. It’s a perfect mix of driver and machine, skill and performance, and concentration and reliability.”
