Rally Raid
Are you ready to go racing in the Gobi Desert?
Watch the closing stages of the Silk Way Rally being contested over the highest dunes on the planet.
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1 min
Silk Way Rally 2016 China video highlights
Take a look at the Silk Way Rally enter the perilous terrain of China’s Gobi Desert.
The 2016 Silk Way Rally is now deep into its third and final country as the finish line beckons in Beijing. Having conquered testing terrain in both Russia and Kazakhstan, the Silk Way convoy is currently locked in an intense battle over the sands of the Gobi Desert in China.
With well over 1,000km of timed racing across perilous terrain still to go there’s plenty of scope for a final sting in the tail. Cyril Despres currently leads the car race and he will need to avoid the misfortune that has already visited his Peugeot team-mates. Team Peugeot-Total’s Stéphane Peterhansel suffered a spectacular crash on stage five while fellow Peugeot driver Sébastien Loeb was hit with a four-hour penalty for a navigation mistake on the 12th stage of the rally.
We had backtracked thinking that we returned to the missing points, but unfortunately Daniel (Elena, co-driver) made a mistake and it turned out we came up 40 metres shy of validating the missing waypoints.
The first 13 stages of the Silk Way have also tested the resolve of Team Kamaz Master as they bid for success in the truck category. For nearly a week the Kamaz crews were caught in the dust of Martin Van Den Brink’s Renault, but yesterday the Russians finally managed to catch and pass the Dutchman. 2015 Dakar winner Ayrat Mardeev now leads the truck race and has given Kamaz renewed hope that they will have a win to celebrate once the rally concludes in Beijing.
Cyril Despres has his eyes on the prize
© Florent Gooden/DPPI/Red Bull Content Pool
Ayrat Mardeev takes hold of the Silk Way lead
© Bastien Baudin/DPPI/Red Bull Content Pool
Sébastien Loeb at the wheel of his Peugeot
© Florent Gooden/DPPI/Red Bull Content Pool
We’re expecting plenty more drama on the final two days of racing, so make sure to stay on top of the action with our dedicated event page.
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