Sucesso após uma dura tarefa: O piloto oficial da Volkswagen, Carlos Sainz e seu co-piloto Lucas Cruz, venceu a quarta e, com 878 quilómetros, a mais longa etapa do Rally Rota da Seda que atravessa a Rússia, o Casaquistão e o Turcomenistão - embora com uma vantagem muito curta: Sainz / Cruz ganharam apenas 20 segundos aos seus colegas de equipa, Mark Miller / Ralph Pitchford, com quem tiveram um duelo à distância durante o dia. Na classificação geral a dupla Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk, que sofreu um pequeno azar no dia de hoje, continua na frente do Rally. Esta dupla perdeu vários minutos devido a um furo lento e consequente troca de pneus. Al-Attiyah terminou a etapa em terceiro lugar, à frente de Giniel de Villiers / Dirk von Zitzewitz. Os quatro Race Touareg terminaram com uma diferença de apenas 3m 12s entre si - um claro sinal do domínio da equipa Volkswagen. Na quarta etapa os pilotos correram contra o cronómetro no oeste do Cazaquistão, com início em Oral (em russo: Almaty) e final em Beyneu (Cazaquistão). Esta era uma etapa de altas velocidades ao longo de uma região totalmente plana.
Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
"Today’s leg was the first real endurance test, very long and difficult. It demanded the full concentration of the drivers and co-drivers for hours and seeing all four Race Touareg vehicles finish in such close succession is a tremendous result. But the day also showed that we’ve still got some potential in terms of suspension set-up. The rally provides the best opportunity to test various settings in preparation for the Dakar Rally.”
#100 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 4th place leg / 4th place overall
"The leg today was pretty fast to drive, for a large part on sand – a genuine cross-country marathon leg. But I’m a bit disappointed with our result because we were lacking the necessary speed. When Mark overtook us, we weren’t able to follow. We’ll work on the set-up of our car till tomorrow.”
#101 – Carlos Sainz (E), 1st place leg / 2nd place overall
"This was a really long day. The leg was totally flat, very quick and, in some parts, very hard to cope with for the navigators. That the gaps between the members of the Volkswagen team on such a long leg are so close shows how strong our whole squad is. Tomorrow we’re in for another tough leg.”
#103 – Mark Miller (USA), 2nd place leg / 3rd place overall
"We set a very good pace today and were clearly leading over long stretches. Unfortunately, navigating was pretty difficult and we lost some time as a result. The characteristics of the leg, particularly towards the end, reminded me of the off-road sections of the Dakar Rally.”
#104 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 2nd place leg- / 1st place overall
"On the whole, I’m happy with the result because over such a long distance it’s never easy to open the course and find the right way. Nevertheless, we were running well until we caught a puncture and had to change the wheel. After that, we again fought a nice duel with Carlos and Lucas.”
Standings after Leg 04, Uralsk (Caz) – Beyneu (Caz)
580.95 km
Pos. Team, Vehicle, Leg 04, Total time
1 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 5h 14m 58s (3), 8h 32m 00s
2 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 5h 13m 05s (1), + 2m 03s
3 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 5h 13m 25s (2), + 8m 33s
4 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 5h 16m 17s (4), + 11m 57s
5 Christian Lavieille/Jean-Michel Polato (F/F), Nissan, 5h 54m 11s (5), + 1h 03m 22s
6 Matthias Kahle/Thomas Schünemann (D/D), Honda, 5h 59m 26s (7), + 1h 14m 43s
7 Philippe Gache/Fabrice Gordon (F/F), SMG, 5h 59m 10s (6), + 1h 37m 39s
8 Bernard Errandonea/Jean-Pierre Garcin (F/F), SMG, 6h 28m 32s (11), + 1h 45m 43s
9 Ruslan Misikov/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS/RUS), Nissan, 6h 22m 09s (10) + 1h 45m 45s
10 Maris Saukans/Didzis Zarnis (LV/LV), OSC, 6h 17m 57s (9), + 1h 51m 57s
Coming up next…
On the way from Beyneu to Janaozen the route covering a total distance of 480 kilometres will first lead to the Ustjurt plateau featuring desert- and steppe-like terrain. The changing vegetation will look familiar to the Volkswagen drivers because it strongly resembles the deserts in Africa and South America. "Lunar landscapes” with sand and dunes alternate with stony, twisty trails through mountains and rocks.
