Three trucks passed the WP8.2, and Karginov won another 1.5 minutes from Vyazovich. Nikolaev lost five minutes to Karginov’s crew.

Trucks at WP8.2:

1. Karginov (KAMAZ) – 3:00:29.
2. Vyazovich (MAZ) +3:18.
3. Nikolaev (KAMAZ) +5:00.

SSVs at WP8.1, and Sergey Karyakin is three minutes faster than Roman Rusinov.

The best time was set by Dmitry Mordkovich.

T3 at WP8.1:

1. Mordkovich – 1:51:55.
2. Karyakin +5:54.
3. Nifontova +6:56.
4. Rusinov +9:06.
5. Mironenko +9:58.

T1 at WP8.1:

1. Vasilyev – 1:47:32.
2. Rudskoy +10:38.

Andrey Karginov checked at the waypoint, and he is one and a half minutes faster than Vyazovich.

Trucks at WP8.1:

1. Nikolaev (KAMAZ) – 1:50:26.
2. Karginov (KAMAZ) +0:31.
3. Vyazovich (MAZ) +1:59.

According to spectators from the track, the crew of Yuri Nayman from the Ural Motorsport Team faced technical problems, The crew is repairing the truck and hopes to continue moving along the selective section.

• Distance: total 772.86 km
  SS: 314.12 km
• Surface: 88% soil, 10% sandy tracks, 2% dunettes

This is a traditional selective section consisting of soil roads and dunettes of the Archeda-Don Sands. The stage will be a real challenge for the crews and vehicles. Experienced competitors know how treacherous sandy viscous roads are in these places.

Oleg Pavlenko got to the finish line and lost almost 26 minutes to his main rival in the overall standings of motorcycles. The G-Moto Challenge leader had several problems with navigation.

Oleg Pavlenko, “At the very beginning I rode the wrong way and I was so lost that I didn’t know where I should go back. So I climbed the hills across the virgin soil – there are white-white hills, like chalk. I was just riding in azimuth. Then I saw the Organizers’ car and joined the field. Then I got lost again for a long time. I let everyone go forward, then overtook them one by one. But I didn’t catch up with Ilya Shcheglov. It was a tough selective section with hard bumps. And it was such a slippery, rough, hot day. We drove through some deserted steppes – a typical Volgograd. And now I’m at the finish line.”

The first motorcyclist at the finish of the second selective section of the seventh stage is Ilya Shcheglov, the winner of the first-ever Silk Way Snow Journey Snowmobile Rally-Raid.

Ilya Shcheglov (Doc_32): “The day was difficult both in terms of the duration of the selective sections and their nature. It started with mud and puddles. It was very slippery, we all got dirty. Then it dried into concrete and became madly slippery. Then dry grass began, it is even more slippery. The most important thing is that all the roads are just completely broken. Everything is bumpy, there’s not a single flat place. I couldn’t even get on the bike. And there were unexpected blows – I didn’t even understand where they came from. I fall once. The rutting is very high. It’s hard to hold a motorcycle in a slippery rut. The front wheel went out and the bike lay down on its left side at speed, but I seemed to finish without consequences. The result should be good. Oleg Pavlenko, my main competitor in the overall standings, is somewhere very far away. When I left the gas station, he wasn’t there yet.”

Aleksey Ignatov (GAZ Raid Sport), “The second selective section was very good – fast and fairly smooth, and the first one was more bumpy with a lot of dirt. Unfortunately, we had a broken steering rack there, and we spent a lot of time repairing it, so the day didn’t go well from the very beginning. Further we went at a good pace, but still many time was lost.”

Crews in the T2 production cars continue to finish, but no one manages to reach Melnikov’s time…

T2 at SS7B finish:

1. Melnikov (Toyota) – 3:08:46.
2. Sukhovenko (LADA) +4:45.
3. Voronov (LADA) +6:58.
4. Gurbanov (Nissan) +20:39.
5. Toylyyev (Nissan) +21:26.
6. Petrov (Toyota) +22:09.
7. Danatarov (Nissan) +32:43.

Yuri Nayman completed the second selective section of the seventh day and set the ninth time. In the finish area the brakes of the Ural Motorsport truck were smoking, but the fire brigade on duty prevented the fire from starting.

Yuri Nayman (Ural Motorsport), “The rear brakes are smoking, which means we drove well. Somewhere in the middle of the first part we punctured the rear left wheel and changed it. At the second part we decided to drive more quietly. At the third part something was pounding in the cockpit – we slowed down a little bit more and were carefully driving to the finish line. Yesterday we helped Murylev – we saw that he went into the swamp in the left corner. The crew asked for help, we drove up, started to pull them, but also got stuck a little bit. Then two crews dug out our Ural, it drove out, and we pulled out the MAZ. It took a little bit more than an hour. The guys wouldn’t have found their way out without our help and would have retired, and we were one of the last trucks on the track – only GAZ was behind us, but he wouldn’t have coped. Vitaly Murylev thanked us.”

Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-Master), “The first selective section was very fast with many smooth long straights. Navigation was not difficult, we tried to drive as accurately as possible. There were some subtle corners, but in general we drove the first part well. At the neutralization zone KAMAZ trucks gathered together. The second part was longer, less fast, but more overgrown and invisible. There was a lot of navigation, it was necessary to get on the road very carefully. Today our tactic was to secure Andrey Karginov, it was quite difficult for the presenter because of the invisible roads – the pace slowed down involuntarily. We followed each other and sometimes had to wait for each other.”

Anton Melnikov, the T2 standings leader, reached the finish line of the second selective section of the seventh stage.

Anton Melnikov (Podmoskovye), “Until the last 80 kilometers everything was fine, but someone miscalculated the fuel. But we are here, there was enough fuel, we will draw conclusions for the future. In general the selective section is excellent, very beautiful, everything is wonderful and interesting. It’s a pity that the last 80 km, which were speedy, had to be driven slow, at 1500 rpm in order to save the remnants of fuel. But in general it’s great!”

Alexander Rusanov (GAZ Raid Sport): “Today we had a real challenge and a long distance, and the vehicle had already accumulated fatigue. Today our wheels have burst, our brakes have failed, and there have been steering and navigation – it has been a real rally-raid, a sound marathon stage. Unfortunately, we lost some time to overcome these hardships, but we are at the finish line – this is the most important thing. The fight continues!”.

Sergey Karyakin (Snag Racing), “It was a cool selective section with good driving, I liked it. At the beginning of the selective section our car became capricious – we stopped four times. Problems with the variator can’t be solved, so we drove through the entire selective section at a speed of no more than 115 kph. The belt didn’t overheat, it just turned over and exploded. It was interesting to watch how the vegetation and the land change from the beginning of the selective section to the end. It seems that we really came from black earth to sands, to swirling 3D elements – I really liked it. Therefore, today is a good day, even if not very successful in terms of the result.”

According to spectators from the track, Dmitry Kalinin is towing Alexander Gilemov, who seems to be losing time.

We would like to remind you that Dmitry Kalinin is competing on a quad bike in the G-Moto Challenge standings.

Roman Rusinov (G-Drive Racing): “Today we strayed 2-3 times, especially at the end. In general, it was interesting – complex pits, dried up fords. I don’t feel tired at all and I don’t even look at the time. We’re just driving. If you focus on how others drive, it will not lead to anything good. So I try to just ride at our pace. We caught up with MAZ today, it smoked for a long time, we beeped him for a long time – he let us through late. Difficult day today, especially for technology. But we’re moving on.”

Andrey Karginov (KAMAZ-Master), “The stage was difficult. It was a very long and navigational day, because we drove many odd kilometers. There were difficult navigation, inconspicuous roads, tall grass – it was very difficult to find our way. We were in the lead, but it was hard.”

The One Belt One Road crew completed the second selective section of the seventh stage, and according to the online monitoring system, the Chinese-Russian crew set the third time!

And it was done despite the fact that in the course of the stage the crew of Hou Hongning had problems with the fuel tank, and he lost about two minutes in troubleshooting.

Trucks at SS7B finish:

1. Nikolaev (KAMAZ) – 2:56:26.
2. Vyazovich (MAZ) +3:40.
3. Hou (KAMAZ) +5:48.
4. Sotnikov (KAMAZ) +6:16.
5. Kupriyanov (KAMAZ) +6:19.

Anastasia Nifontova (G-Drive Racing), “15 km before the finish line we drove to the second corner and understood that we needed to be on the other side. We wanted to return, but there is a very high afforestation. A Chinese KAMAZ was rushing behind us, I understood that it would be oncoming, but everything went well – we drove away very carefully, and KAMAZ sped away. We returned – cut through that afforestation and drove along the right track. All in general today was a fun day. In the morning I was faded and sad, and Sergey Karyakin said, “It will be gorgeous 200-odd kilometers, and then another 100, come on!” so Ekaterina and I immediately cheered up.”

Andrey Rudskoy (NG-Energo): “It was a tough day and the longest one – more than 400 km. It was fast, winding, but in some places hard and the navigation was challenging – several times we drove in the wrong direction. In general, both the car and the crew are undamaged. Now it’s time to prepare for the remaining two days. My spine feels great – we have a chic suspension and special seats – we drive in a “luxury” car, so we feel good. The homologated seats have a special membrane layer. When the shocks run out, these two membranes start to work, so I didn’t feel any discomfort during the entire rally. This is a special development for the rally-raids, a personal seat, according to my height and weight.”

Eduard Nikolaev (KAMAZ-Master), “The stage turned out to be interesting. In the end we saw that the crew of Andrey Karginov had gone astray. Perhaps, they didn’t take the point and drove towards us. For a while we went first, but then they were behind us again, and we let them through, stood behind Andrey and drove like that to the finish line. Throughout the route there were pits and ditches, especially at the first part, which was dirty and dangerous. The second part was more dynamic – the brakes overheated, I even had to throttle down a little bit. It was a very busy day and saturated selective section.”

The T1 category leaders Vladimir Vasilyev and Andrey Rudskoy reached the finish line, and according to the online monitoring system, Vasilyev is 15 and a quarter minutes ahead of his main pursuer.

Vladimir Vasilyev (VRT), “Yesterday we had technical problems, as a result, today we started eleventh, but, as I understand, we finished first – we overtook 11 cars. Our mechanics are great, they do an awesome job. Yesterday at the bivouac they removed the gearbox once again and checked whether they did everything right — at the liaison they changed it in a hurry, in a record 45 minutes.”

Sergey Vyazovich (MAZ-SPORTauto), “We took a good pace, but at the 140th kilometer of the first selective section the left rear wheel collapsed once more. We decided not to change it again, as a result this wheel damaged the truck. We got to the finish line, came to the service and changed the wheels – we took them from the service vehicles. But two kilometers before neutralization zone they also exploded. We lost about eight minutes to replace the wheels and pushed hard. After 20 kilometers the left rear wheel started to flatten again. We remembered that during the replacement I didn’t return to the wheel and didn’t screw it up. It unscrewed, so we had to stop and screw it up. Another two minutes were lost. We took risks everywhere, in all bottlenecks, so we even managed to approach to the KAMAZ-Master crews.”

Just before the finish of the selective section Sergey Vyazovich managed to win back four minutes from Eduard Nikolaev. According to the online monitoring system, Nikolaev set the best time of the selective section, Vyazovich lost three minutes and 40 seconds to the KAMAZ-Master driver and became the second.
Dmitry Sotnikov lost about six minutes before the finish – he scored the third result, and Karginov lost to Nikolaev more than eight minutes.

Trucks at SS7B finish:

1. Nikolaev (KAMAZ) – 2:56:26.
2. Vyazovich (MAZ) +3:40.
3. Sotnikov (KAMAZ) +6:16.
4. Karginov (KAMAZ) +8:23.

Sergey Vyazovich lost 8 minutes before WP7B.2!

The best time at the second WP was set by Eduard Nikolaev, the second result, according to online monitoring, is scored by Dmitry Sotnikov, and Alexey Vishneuski set the third time.

Trucks at WP7B.2:

1. Nikolaev (KAMAZ) – 1:06:57.
2. Sotnikov (KAMAZ) +0:28.
3. Vishneuski (MAZ) +1:10.
4. Karginov (KAMAZ) +1:51.
5. Vyazovich (MAZ) +7:43.

In the meantime, we are summing up the results of the T2 crews at the first selective section, where the leader of the overall standings Anton Melnikov set the best time.

Т2 at SS7A finish:

1. Melnikov (Toyota) – 1:53:32.
2. Petrov (Toyota) +0:14.
3. Sukhovenko (LADA) +6:04.
4. Danatarov (Nissan) +6:34.
5. Voronov (LADA) +9:17.

Two leaders of the T1 standings completed the SS7A, and according to the online monitoring system, Vladimir Vasilyev won another six minutes against Andrey Rudskoy. Thus, the gap was 11 minutes.

Т1 at SS7A finish:

1. Vasilyev (BMW) – 1:25:30.
2. Rudskoy (G-Force) +10:54.
3. Vavrenyuk (GAZ) +16:06.
4. Rusanov (GAZelle) +19:02.

The first trucks reached the finish line of the first selective section of the seventh stage – and according to the online monitoring system, the best time is still set by Eduard Nikolaev. Sergey Vyazovich was 15 seconds behind the KAMAZ-Master crew, but 52 seconds ahead of Andrey Karginov.

Trucks at SS7A finish:

1. Nikolaev (KAMAZ) – 1:31:53.
2. Vyazovich (MAZ) +0:15.
3. Sotnikov (KAMAZ) +0:28.
4. Karginov (KAMAZ) +1:07.
5. Vishneuski (MAZ) +2:27.
6. Murylev (MAZ) +6:43.
7. Kupriyanov (KAMAZ) +7:24.
8. Hou (KAMAZ) +10:35.

T1 cars are at WP7A, and, according to the online monitoring system, Vladimir Vasilyev is five minutes ahead of Andrey Rudskoy. Bogdan Vavrenyuk lost another three minutes, while Alexander Rusanov is still nine and a half minutes behind the leader.

T1 at WP7A:

1. Vasilyev (BMW) – 38:34.
2. Rudskoy (G-Force) +5:01.
3. Vavrenyuk (GAZ) +8:07.
4. Rusanov (Gazelle) +9:29.

Five trucks passed the WP at the first selective section of the seventh stage of the Silk Way Rally. And, according to online monitoring data, Eduard Nikolaev set the best time. Dmitry Sotnikov lost 25 seconds to his KAMAZ-Master teammate, and Sergey Vyazovich lost 28 seconds. Karginov scored the fourth results 16 seconds behind the leader of MAZ-SPORTauto.

Trucks at WP7A:

1. Nikolaev (KAMAZ) – 41:25.
2. Sotnikov (KAMAZ) +0:25.
3. Vyazovich (MAZ) +0:28.
4. Karginov (KAMAZ) +0:44.
5. Vishneuski (MAZ) +1:40