A dupla vencedora do último "Dakar", Giniel de Villiers / Dirk von Zitzewitz, venceu a quinta etapa do Rally Rota da Seda, que atravessa a Rússia, Casaquistão e Turcomenistão e, consequentemente, reduziu a sua diferença na classificação geral. Num total de 480 quilómetros ao longo do Cazaquistão, entre Beyneu e Janaozen, De Villiers derrotou os seus colegas de equipa Nasser Al-Attiyah / Timo Gottschalk, por uma pequena margem de sete segundos. Mark Miller / Ralph Pitchford e Carlos Sainz / Lucas Cruz terminaram a 2m 57s e 4m 13s do vencedor, respectivamente. A segunda maior etapa do rally foi novamente marcada pelas altas velocidades em zonas planas. A classificação das quatro primeiras posições à geral mantém-se inalterada quando se atinge nesta altura o final da primeira metade do Rally Rota da Seda: Al-Attiyah/Gottschalk ampliaram sua vantagem sobre Sainz / Cruz, enquanto Miller / Pitchford e de Villiers / von Zitzewitz estão mais juntos novamente.
Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
"With today’s leg we’ve completed about half the distance of the Silk Way Rally. All four Race Touareg vehicles are running in front and without any problems – we can be happy with that. But to actually win the rally, we’ve got to first reach Ashgabat. This continues to be our goal for the next four legs.”
#100 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 1st place leg / 4th place overall
"I’m very happy with the stage win. The changes we made to the suspension set-up of the Race Touareg were clearly noticeable and my teamwork with Dirk in the cockpit is perfect as well. We’ve found our rhythm. Other than that, driving as fast as we could was what counted again today.”
#101 – Carlos Sainz (E), 4th place leg / 2nd place overall
"The leg was largely flat and fast but also included a stony and twisty section towards the middle. Navigating was difficult, so we met our team colleagues again in between. After passing Nasser, we missed another branch-off and lost some time.”
#103 – Mark Miller (USA), 3rd place leg / 3rd place overall
"The narrow outcome shows that all four Volkswagen teams again tried to give their very best. The fact that all of us got off the track more or less at the same places could not be attributed to our four co-drivers – the road-book just wasn’t perfect.”
#104 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 2nd place leg / 1st place overall
"It was an interesting day. I caught Mark, hit a rock and had to stop for a tyre change. After that I attacked to make up the time again. When Mark and Carlos missed a branch-off, we were able to pass. Second place is an optimal result for Timo and me as we don’t half to open the course tomorrow.”
Standings after leg 05, Beyneu (KZ) – Janaozen (KZ)
424.71 km
Pos., Team, Vehicle, Leg 05, Total time
1 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 3h 41m 44s (2), 12h 13m 44s
2 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 3h 45m 50s (4), +6m 09s
3 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 3h 44m 34s (3), +11m 23s
4 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 3h 41m 37s (1) +11m 50s
5 Matthias Kahle/Thomas Schünemann (D/D), Honda, 4h 23m 59s (6), +1h 56m 58s
6 Alexey Berkut/Konstantin Meshcheryakov (RUS/RUS), Mitsubishi, 4h 31m 36s (9), +2h 18m 10s
7 Bernard Errandonea/Jean-Pierre Garcin (F/F), SMG, 4h 19m 25s (5), +2h 23m 24s
8 Ruslan Misikov/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS/RUS), Nissan, 4h 26m 34s (8), +2h 30m 35s
9 Maris Saukans/Didzis Zarnis (LV/LV), OSC, 4h 32m 08s (10), +2h 42m 21s
10 Ilya Kuznetsov/ Andrey Neshin (RUS/RUS), Mitsubishi, 4h 32m 42s (11), +2h 43m 44s
Coming up next…
At the end of the sixth leg across 698 kilometres from Janaozen (Kazakhstan) to Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan) the Volkswagen drivers will reach the Caspian Sea, the world’s largest lake. Before the contenders arrive in the port city they have to complete a special stage of 514 kilometres featuring a tricky mix of varying terrain – such as rocky mountain paths, extremely dusty trails, soft dunes, small canyons and dry lakes.
