MINSK, 18 July (BelTA) – Two crews of the MAZ-Sport Auto Team finished one of the most difficult legs of the 2016 Silk Way Rally in top 10. Sergei Vyazovich remains in sixth place, while Alexander Vasilevsky has climbed to the eighth position overall, BelTA learned from the team.
The first section of the eighth stage of the rally had quite a few surprises for the racers. A fast, winding track had alternate sections of roadless terrain. The 257km-long special became a serious challenge for both the drivers and the navigators. Moreover, it was boiling hot with the temperature rising in some places to as much as 40 degrees Celsius. Many trucks did not make the finish before the sunset.
Alexander Vasilevsky crossed the finish line in seventh place clocking 3h48m, 21 minutes off the stage leader, Dutch pilot Martin van den Brink. He posted the best time among the Belarusian racers. Sergei Vyazovich covered the stage in some four hours and placed ninth. Aleksei Vishnevsky came in 13th posting a time of 4h57m.
After the eighth leg of the rally, Sergei Vyazovich maintains sixth position in the general standings, 1h11m off the overall leader. Alexander Vasilevsky has moved from 10th to 8th place with 1h23m separating him from the Dutch racer.
The ninth leg of the rally will remind the drivers of a typical African rally. They will run a distance of 384km with walls of dunes and canyons.
