Silk Way Rally – Ideal start for Al-Attiyah and Baumel

The first stage of the 2018 edition of the Silk Way Rally, held around the city of Astrakhan (Russia), saw the victory of the duo Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Toyota). On board their Hilux 4×4, the ushers of the rally-raid passed the soft dunes and woops without complications, unlike several challengers for the final victory.

Stage1 #cars
Al-Attiyah is the first at the finish and also wins this first stage. Harry Hunt +00:02:30 behind. Al Rahji takes provisional 3rd place, +00:20:27 behind the winner of the day. pic.twitter.com/cL7BU0TGUT

— Silk Way Rally (@silkwayrally) July 21, 2018

From the first timing point, the leader of the X-Raid team, Nani Rome (Mini) turned back towards the bivouac. The Spaniard, double winner of the Dakar on motorcycle and car, is not 100% recovered after-effects of his spectacular accident at the 2018 Dakar. Complaining about his head and neck, he was taken care of by the medical service of the event. Even if he should leave on Sunday for the second day, the driver of the 4×4 Mini missed any chance of winning the Silk Way Rally.

Due to health reasons Nani had to stop today's special stage. But tomorrow he will be back at the start… #pushpush pic.twitter.com/VhwJqpNHpm

— X-raid Team (@XraidTeam) July 21, 2018

The buggy Peugeot 3008DKR from the British Harry Hunt suffered a puncture to the right rear wheel in the middle of the special. His delay of 2'30'' on the winners of the day is partly explained by this incident. The outsider from Mini, Yazeed Al-Rajhi experienced the same misadventure, but the outlay is more worrying: 20'27'', but finished third.

Matthew Serradori (Buggy SRT) could claim a finish on the provisional podium when around fifteen kilometers from the finish, the fuel tank ran dry, the consequence of overconsumption.