Silk Way Rally 2017
– Leg 6: Semey –
Urdzhar
-
Despite a difficult Leg 6, Bryce Menzies / Peter Mortensen
retain third place overall. -
Yazeed Al Rajhi / Tom Colsoul complete Leg 6 in sixth place
and break into the top 15 leaders.
Munich. American duo Bryce Menzies and co-driver Peter
Mortensen (MINI John Cooper Works Rally #105) successfully completed
Leg 6 in 11th place and maintain third in the overall
rankings. The change in terrain as the Silk Way Rally 2017 moves
further east across the Kazakhstan plains is also starting to be a
factor for all competitors in this famous cross-country race to China.
Leg 6 saw the competitors taking on a special stage of 387.86km
across dry and dusty tracks that also included small rocks. It was
these rocks and heavy dust that led to a puncture to the Americans’
MINI John Cooper Works Rally and subsequent delay – enough to place
the Silk Way Rally newcomers just outside of the top ten in
11th place at the end of Leg 6.
Menzies: “Stage 6 was really fast and we went really
good at the beginning. We caught the first few cars in front of us.
Then we ended up getting a mystery flat tyre and this kind of set us
back a little bit. We then got caught up behind some cars and it was
really dusty. We fought the dust but it held us up to the end of the
race. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race.”
Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and Tom Colsoul (BEL) maintained their
impressive climb up the leader board with another dazzingly display of
experienced and fast rally driving. At the end of the special stage
they had placed their X-raid Team MINI JOHN Cooper Works Rally car
(#101) sixth across the day’s finish line. Presently they are placed
15th overall in the rankings.
Colsoul: “Today was a completely different stage to
yesterday. We had a flat tyre after 7k – we hit a stone. Then I
couldn’t get the wheel off so we worked for five-to-eight minutes to
get it off and get a new wheel on. After that we didn’t actually push
because the result for this stage was already set. So it wasn’t a
fantastic day but not a dramatic day.”
Tomorrow’s Leg 7, Urdzhar – Karamay, features a shorter (412.90km)
race distance as the competitors cross the Kazakhstan border and into China.
Silk Way Rally 2017: Ranking after Leg 6