OREANDA-NEWS. July 12, 2012. Volgograd – Elista Stage 3 of the Silk Way’2012 rally raid was won by KAMAZ-Master pilot Eduard Nikolaev.

The route of Silk Way Stage 3 was changed because of the weather. The organizers had to postpone its start because of heavy rains which hit Volgograd Oblast and washed out the first part of the route. The racing drivers had to detour the impassable road. So, the special section of the stage was shortened from 491 km to 275 km.

5.5 minutes after Nikolayev, Czech Ales Loprais (MAN) followed by Ayrat Mardeev (KAMAZ) finished the stage. Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ) finished fourth, and Anton Shibalov’s crew (KAMAZ) took sixth place. Ilgizar Mardeev’s repair truck took 8th place, and Sergey Kupriyanov’s crew finished 15th. It should be recalled that the Kazakh crew headed by Artur Ardavichus (KAMAZ) was faced with technical difficulties on the first and second stages. However, mechanics managed to eliminate defects, which enabled Ardavichus to start and finish fifth.

After three days of the Silk Way’2012 rally, the leader of the race in the truck category is still the Russian crew of the KAMAZ-master team consisting of pilot Eduard Nikolaev, navigator Sergey Savostin, and mechanic Vladimir Rybakov. Loprais is second to him losing 13 minutes and driving 43 seconds in front of Mardeev Jr.

Today, the racing drivers will have to pass over the longest section of the rally. Stage 4 of the Silk Way Rally will be circular – Elista – Elista. 70 km after the start, the sportsmen will get over the Astrakhan desert – the most difficult, dry and hot part of the race route. The length of SS will be 506 kilometers.

It became known that, because of the Krymsk tragedy, the organizers canceled the last stage of the Silk Way’2012 rally which was planned to pass along the route Maykop – Gelendzhik on July 13. The contest will finish a day before, on July 12, in Maykop.