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Photos courtesy of ALDO Racing, Red Bull and X-Raid
Silk Way Rally
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Photos courtesy of ALDO Racing, Red Bull and X-Raid
Silk Way Rally
Peugeot’s Despres conquers the sand dunes of the Gobi Desert to win the Silk Way Rally.
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Photos courtesy of ALDO Racing, Red Bull and X-Raid
Silk Way Rally
The Ceremonial finish of the Silk Way Rally at the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, China.
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Florent Gooden Florent Gooden / DPPI
Silk Way Rally
The terrain did not suit the 4WD Minis, but all four vehicles finished in the top 5 regardless.
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Photos courtesy of ALDO Racing, Red Bull and X-Raid
Silk Way Rally
Canada’s David Bensadoun and Patrick Beaulé piloting their T1 class Toyota Tacoma.
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Photos courtesy of ALDO Racing, Red Bull and X-Raid
Silk Way Rally
A rollover in the last stage put a halt to the Canadians attack on a top 10 finish.
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Photos courtesy of ALDO Racing, Red Bull and X-Raid
Silk Way Rally
Russia’s Ayrat Mardeev won the always-entertaining truck class.
Story by Budd Stanley
Canadian duo conquer demanding Silk Way Rally marathon
Representing a clear and present danger to the spectacle of the iconic Dakar Rally, the Silk Way Rally arrived triumphantly in Beijing, China, laying to rest 15 arduous days of competition over 10,000 km of brutal terrain that could be described as anything but silky smooth. Longer than the Dakar, the Silk Way took teams from the start ramp in Moscow, Russia, over the Russian steppes, across the Kazakhstan and over the towering dunes of the Chinese Gobi Desert.
A total of 103 competitors took to the stages in the car classes, but by the time the rally arrived at the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, it would be the Peugeot 2008 DKR of Cyril Despres that would stand on top of the podium, Despres taking his first rally win at the wheel of a four-wheeled vehicle, while Team Kamaz Master driver Ayrat Mardeev took top spot in the truck category.
Despres and his co-driver David Castera, cruised through the last 261 km of timed racing on the rally's final stage to secure their overall win. The Frenchmen coped with the pressure of leading the race from the sixth stage until the finish, and demonstrated consistent speed to win a total of five stages during the event.
“Winning is an incredible, fantastic feeling,” commented Cyril Despres. “It still hasn’t really sunk in. It’s the first time I’ve won a rally with David. We have learned so much since the start in Moscow!”
Despres and Castera’s closest competitors for much of the Silk Way were his Peugeot teammates, the ever-dangerous Sébastien Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena. Loeb had been slowly reeling Despres in and was about to steal the lead on the 12th stage when he was penalized four hours for missing two waypoints. The costly navigational mistake sent the nine-time WRC champions down to 7th position overall.
The third Peugeot 2008 DKR, and 2016 Dakar winner, Stéphane Peterhansel and co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret, took an early lead in the rally, but a spectacular crash on stage five effectively ended any chance of victory. The team put the car back together and Peterhansel was relegated to a support vehicle for their teammates. Regardless, the Frenchman was able to secure a 15th place finish.
With two-thirds of the Peugeot team faltering, the highly competitive X-Raid ALL4 Mini team would fill in the vacuum left by disadvantaged Peugeots. Saudi, Yazeed Al Rajhi, would inherit second place after a consistent drive, followed by teammate, Vladimir Vasilyev, to finish out the podium. Mini drivers, Harry Hunt (GBR) and Aidyn Rakhimayev (KAZ) would make it four Minis in the top five places.
While the Silk Way saw a dramatic fight between the top rally raid factory teams, the Canadian privateer ALDO Racing team was also in the fight with their top spec T1 class Toyota Tacoma. Montreal’s David Bensadoun (driver) and Patrick Beaulé (navigator) were hoping for a good result in their first rally of the year, missing out the Dakar earlier last January. The team likely saw the opportunity for a possible podium with the lack of high-budget factory teams on the entry list. However, late entries by both the X-Raid Mini team and Team Peugeot-Total 2008 DKR’s meant that the Canadians would also need a bit of luck on their side to come away with some hardware.
ALDO Racing came into the mid-rally rest day sitting in 18th overall. Bensadoun was driving at a fast pace with the leaders in the early days of the event but encountered a mechanical problem on Day 5 in the Special Stage between Astana and Balkhash in Kazakhstan. The team lost one hour to repairs before finding its way back on course.
"It turns out Moscow is very far from Beijing!" said driver David Bensadoun days into the race. "The mileage we're doing each day is incredible. Because of a few cancelled race sections, the liaison mileage is much too long. What's interesting is that the off-road terrain in Kazakhstan is so fast that our average speeds are faster off-road than on road! As long as the special stage is pointed in the right direction, we sometimes end up back on the paved assistance route before our service trucks come by!”
"The race terrain so far has been straightforward favouring the 2WD cars and their longer suspension travel," continued Bensadoun. “We're looking forward to more technical rocky terrain where the 4WD will have an advantage. After six days, we're happy with our current position as we head into the second half of the race, which in fact holds 2/3 of the race mileage. The car and team are in great shape and ready for a serious challenge."
The team continued to push throughout the remaining half of the rally, picking up several places in their bid for a top 10 finish. Cruelly, the last day of competition in the Gobi desert would deal a blow to their charge as deep sand put the team’s Toyota Tacoma on its side.
"The organizer warned us that Saturday would be another very tough day. Lots of dunes and in the final section, they would be approached on the soft side, which would make it very hard at the top for the navigator", said Beaulé. “We were ready to go after car 152 of Andrey Dimitriev, which was only 11 minutes ahead, and then, it happened. We tipped over on the left side. We entered a corner too quickly. This was right after a very rough section of ultra deep sand. The compacted sand under our Toyota compressed the brake calipers and when David needed to brake, the pedal went to the floor, Thanks to the G-Energy Engine Oil Scania truck crew; we made it out of our jam. The front bumper, front left fender and the front left door were damaged but it could stay that way for the remainder of the rally. No one was injured! Then, we had a flat tire. We lost nearly half an hour to fix all this and eventually missed 11th spot by a mere 27 minutes. We pushed the ALDO Toyota to its limit. It was a tough day and the dunes were very, very, very difficult to handle. Soft and steep! The toughest we ever encountered."
Despite the last day dramas, the team secured a fantastic 12th place in the overall standings, 3rd in the T1.1 class and was the 2nd highest finishing privateer team.
At the race finish in Beijing, China, Bensadoun declared, "Thank God it's over! We made it. We wanted to be top amateurs and top 20 overall. We battled with some very fast privateers and professionals. We ended out second fastest in the privateer class and third in the T1.1 class. Wow! A dream come true! The team was amazing, the Toyota flawless and the navigation was outstanding. The effect of the jet lag, the bad quality of food, the extreme noises from the VIP party tent until 4 am along with tools and generators, some nights at +36C in our tent and the very long distances we had to travel everyday, made the Special Stages only one part of the challenge."
Despite the marathon distances and extreme terrain, the Silk Way Rally only saw 31 retirements in the car class, and unbelievably, every single truck found its way to the finish line in Beijing. From here, the factory teams will be shipped to Hungry to do battle once again at the Hungarian Baja. As for ALDO Racing, we’ve yet to hear if they plan yet another attack of the 2017 Dakar, or will concentrate their efforts on the new larger-than-life rally, the Silk Way.