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Silk Way Rally: Peugeot in command as Loeb chases Despres

Peugeot's Cyril Despres has arrived at the rest day of the 2016 Silk Way Rally in the lead, with teammate Sebastien Loeb his closest rival eight minutes back.

#104 Peugeot: Cyril Despres, David Castera

#104 Peugeot: Cyril Despres, David Castera

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#104 Peugeot: Cyril Despres, David Castera
#104 Peugeot: Cyril Despres, David Castera
#102 Peugeot: Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena
#100 Peugeot: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret
#100 Peugeot: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret
#101 Mini: Vladimir Vasilyev, Konstantin Zhiltsov
Eduard Nikolaev, Sergey Savostin, Vladimir Rybakov
#310 Kamaz: Eduard Nikolaev, Evgeny Yakovlev, Vladimir Rybakov

However, the French marque's reigning Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel is no longer in contention, losing almost nine hours after rolling his 2008DKR16 during the fifth stage.

Peterhansel had topped the timesheets after the 2km prologue in Kazan, but, with the second stage cancelled, it was Despres who led the way in the first timed marathon run on Day 3.

Recovering from two punctures in that stage, Peterhansel was comfortably quickest through on Day 4 – which was shortened for rain washing out the pathway – and thus retook the lead from Despres, the latter handicapped by having to run first on the road.

But after Peterhansel rolled, Despres was back to first place, although his lead would go from 14 minutes to just eight on Day 6.

Only a third of the Day 6 stage was actually run – due to rescue helicopters being unable to take off In severe rain – and the honours went to Damen Jefferies in the self-built Jefferies buggy, the American still a full hour off Despres in the general classification.

Having placed third in four of the five stages so far, Loeb is Despres' closest rival, albeit Mini trio Vladimir Vasilyev, Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Aidyn Rakhimbayev are all within striking distance of the nine-time World Rally Champion.

Kamaz leads trucks race

Meanwhile, the Truck category is headed by Kamaz driver Eduard Nikolaev, with six representatives of the Russian marque in the top seven.

Nikolaev's closest rival, however, is Martin van den Brink, whose Renault K520 is 8m37s adrift.

After the rest day, which takes place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the Silk Way Rally entrants will complete nine more stages, arriving at the finish line in Beijing on July 24.

Cars classification (top 10):

Pos. Crew Car Time/Gap
1

Cyril Despres

David Castera

Peugeot 11h06m35s
2

Sebastien Loeb

Daniel Elena

Peugeot 8m00s
3

Vladimir Vasilyev

Konstantin Zhiltsov

Mini 9m50s
4

Yazeed Al-Rajhi

Timo Gottschalk

Mini 12m50s
5

Aidyn Rakhimbayev

Anton Nikolaev

Mini 14m58s
6

Evgeny Firsov

Vadim Filatov

Toyota 32m57s
7

Wei Han

Jean-Pierre Garcin

SMG-ORC 34m13s
8

Yury Sazonov

Dmytro Tsyro

Toyota 45m34s
9

Bauryzhan Issabayev

Vladimir Demianenko

Mini 48m04s
10

Jerome Pelichet

Eugenie Decre

Toyota 51m00s

Trucks classification (top 5):

Pos. Crew Truck Time/Gap
1

Eduard Nikolaev

Evgeny Iakovlev

Vladimir Rybakov

Kamaz 11h47m18s
2

Martin van den Brink

Peter Willemsen

Daniel Kozlovsky

Renault 8m37s
3

Anton Shibalov

Robert Amatych

Almaz Khisamiev

Kamaz 15m05s
4

Dmitry Sotnikov

Ruslan Akhmadeev

Ivan Romanov

Kamaz 16m48s
5

Andrey Karginov

Alexander Kupriyanov

Igor Leonov

Kamaz 18m44s

 

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