# Cars: 10 out of 10 for Toyota Gazoo Racing Overdrive’s Al-Attiyah-Baumel (Toyota Hilux)

# Trucks: Shibalov moves up the rankings with Kamaz Master

With snow-capped mountains in the background, the prize  podium of the Silk Way Rally 2019, set up at the Grand Cultural Centre in Dunhuang, celebrated the various category winners.

Sam Sunderland (Red Bull KTM Factory) in the bikes, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Toyota Gazoo Racing Overdrive Hilux) in the cars and Anton Shibalov (Kamaz-Master) in the trucks became the new so-called ‘White Tigers’ of the Rally-raid series. At the end of a thrilling race, which covered more than 5,000 kilometres of varied terrain – from the Siberian forests, across the Mongolian steppes, to the giant dunes of the Gobi Desert – this 9th Silk Way sees three new names go down in the race’s history books.

It is never over until it’s over – especially in rally-raid. So even if he had a comfortable lead going into this last stage, Sam Sunderland was clearly relieved to get across the finish line to take victory in the first ever Silk Way Rally for bikes. In the process he increases his lead in the FIM World Championship by a substantial margin.

Sam Sunderland (Red Bull KTM Factory) stated:“It has been an amazing experience, going through so much different scenery, seeing so many different sights. It is one of the things I really like most about our sport. Congratulations to the organisers for putting it all together – they did a great job. As far as the race was concerned it was a tough one. Especially these last three days in China. Fortunately, by the time we got here I had a small lead and was able to manage my race a little bit. Many thanks to my team for all their hard work.”

If there weren’t too many surprises as far as the win was concerned, Andrew Short (Rockstar Husqvarna) certainly wasn’t the favourite to take second overall. Opening the track on the final special stage – something he’d never done before – with both Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha Rally Team) and Kevin Benavides (Monster Energy Honda Team) just seconds behind him, not even Andrew thought he had much of a chance. “For me it was the best-case scenario. I think I was very fortunate that it was really fast and defined on the roads. In terms of navigation it wasn’t too critical today. There were a couple of sections that were tricky and my speed wasn’t bad either. A good experience because in the future I think I will know I can open and it will be OK. Really happy with my result and really happy to have this opportunity with the team to come and do this, because it is a really cool,” he said.

Unfortunately for Van Beveren it was one of Short’s ‘tricky sections’ that stopped the Frenchman from taking second. Leading the special at the refuelling point and ‘virtually’ second overall, the Yamaha rider lost the lead he’d worked so hard to build up just 10 km from the end, only holding off Kevin Benavides by 36 seconds!  “I rode really fast to try to catch Andrew (Short) and then right at the end I lost 2 or 3 minutes in the river bed to find the good way and I lost all the time I taken back ‘til then. I’m disappointed because I pushed so much through all the special to make the difference – it is a shame to have this mistake at the end. It is difficult to take back seconds and so easy to lose minutes. It is like that…”

In the quads Rafal Sonik (Yamaha Raptor 700)from Poland won the battle ahead of Alexsandr Maksimov from Russia, who won the last special to push his rival all the way to the end.

Or 9 out of 9 if you don’t count the liaison stage from Mongolia to China. By winning every stage from Irkutsk to Dunhuang, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Toyota Gazoo Racing Overdrive Hilux) made their mark on this rally in no uncertain style, showing just how determined they were to add one of the few races that escaped them until now to their already impressive tally competing in off-road events. 

Overall winner Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qat/Toyota Gazoo Racing Overdrive) commented: “I am so happy to finally win this Silk Way after having twice finished second. It was important to me because it is a big and beautiful race. We have crossed three very different countries, with completely different stages and terrain. I will never forget the first stage in China. I think it was one of the most difficult of my career. Winning all the specials since the start is simply the cherry on the cake, my seventh victory in row this season. It is the fruit, of course, of the work of a whole team and obviously my co-driver Mathieu, without which none of this would be possible.” 

The best crew currently rallying, in the best car of the entry list: were these ingredients alone enough to achieve such a faultless drive? “An essential ingredient, that we often forget, is that not only is Nasser the fastest driver here but also he drives in complete harmony with his machine,” commented Jean-Marc Fortin, Team Manager of Toyota Gazoo Racing Overdrive.

Beaten by the Qatari driver by 1h25, Han Wei (Buggy Geely SMG) used his knowledge of the desert to finish runner-up, one place higher than his best result to date, back in 2017, when the rally finished in Xi’an.  With a much-improved Buggy, the French pairing of Jérôme Pélichet and Pascal Larroque (Optimus Raid Lynx) finished third, a considerably better result than they’d dreamed of at the start. Proof that on such a long rally as the Silk Way ‘more speed, less haste’ is advise worth heeding.

By winning the three last stages in China to take over from Viazovich (MAZ), Anton Shibalov (Kamaz-Master) has seen his status rise within the Russian team from Nabereinye Tchelny. Kamaz-Master has dominated the truck category in Cross-Country Rallys for the last two decades and with No. 303 on the side of his truck, Anton Shibalov had, in accordance with team tradition and direction, came to the start at Irkutsk, loaded with spares for his teammates starting ahead of him. Very quickly however he emerged as the most competitive challenger to the Siarhey Viazovich and his new long-nosed MAZ Sportauto. Relieved of his load he put together a series of strong results to pull ahead of his teammates, Karginov and Mardeev.

 “I will never forget this race, my first victory on the Silk Way. This edition has been really magnificent, but very tough. So my satisfaction is even greater. The most difficult thing was to navigate off-piste in the dunes on the first stage in China. I haven’t quite taken in what we have achieved. I am going to have a rest before expressing my emotions,” said a very pleased Anton.