It's the Silk... VW Rallye!

« It was a very pleasant stopover, in a magnificent landscape », explains Christian Lavieille at the finish of the special. The Nissan-Dessoude driver sets the scene for us: “ at the beginning there was a lot of vegetation, the track meandered through the grass, it was not too fast. Then the terrain became more varied, with chotts and plateaus, a bit like in Tunisia. The pitfalls were rare, the road book was very good, but you had to stay focused, especially when navigating. »

Starting like an arrow, Nasser Al Attiyah points first halfway through. But he suffered a flat tire while crossing a military zone, and he lost a few minutes changing his wheel. However, on arrival, he only conceded one minute and fifty seconds on Sainz, winner of the stage. The Qatari therefore remains in the lead, ahead of the Spaniard, the American Mark Miller and the South African Giniel De Villiers.

Behind Christian Lavieille, fifth in the stage and overall, the buggies made a group shot. Philippe Gache? despite having lost around ten minutes due to a navigation error? finishes sixth in the special, ahead of Matthias Kahle, but the latter is still ahead overall. Due to a small engine problem, the Basque Errandonea, on the other SMG buggy, found himself behind the team boss, Philippe Gache.

Tomorrow?s stage, between Beyneu and Janaozen, will mark the halfway point. The 425 on the program should be substantially identical to those of today. The light breeze that sweeps the steppe makes the temperature pleasant, with the sun still radiant since leaving Kazan?