Media Information
Silk Way Rally 2017
15 July 2017
Silk Way Rally 2017
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Leg 8: Karamay – Urumqi
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Bryce Menzies / Peter Mortensen claim another top three Silk
Way Rally finish on Leg 8 -
Yazeed Al Rajhi / Tom Colsoul break into the top 10 on the
leader board after finishing 5th on today’s stage.
Munich. Following their first ever Silk Way Rally stage win
yesterday, American pairing Bryce Menzies and co-driver Peter
Mortensen opened today’s stage from Karamay to Urumqi in the #105
MINI John Cooper Works Rally. It was a daunting task for the duo on
the final stage of the rally before entering China, but they handled
it well, claiming another top three finish to retain third place
overall.
Menzies led the way for the early part of the day’s 436.34km stage,
which included a special distance of 250.37km that was faster and more
technical than last year’s route, with many turns and uphill and
downhill sections on sandy terrain.
Menzies: “Stage 8 went really well. I was a little
nervous about opening but the first 20km was really quick and then
there was some sand track and it got really rough; probably the
roughest stage I’ve done. We pushed hard but we were passed about
100km before the finish and then we just followed them to the end,
took care of the car and tried to make up some time. The MINI ran
great and I felt really good. We’re happy to come away with third
today and looking forward to a rest day now.”
Not far behind Menzies, in fifth position at the finish line today,
was the #101 MINI John Cooper Works Rally of Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and
Tom Colsoul (BEL). It was a strong stage for the pairing and sees them
break into a top 10 position overall, with 9th place ahead
of a rest day for all competitors tomorrow.
Colsoul: “Today was a really nice day, for the first
time since the start I enjoyed every metre of the stage. We were going
pretty well – I think we were third for most of the day – but about
50km from the end we got close to a bike and he just didn’t move and I
think as he was not pushing anymore it affected us mentally and we
didn’t push as hard as we could in that final part. That may be why we
finished fifth instead of third but I’m happy and it was a really nice track.”
The Silk Way Rally 2017 competitors and support crews will now enjoy
a hard-earned rest day tomorrow before the route re-commences on
Monday with the competitors crossing into China to take on the
challenge of the Gobi Desert.
Silk Way Rally 2017: Ranking after Leg 8