12th - 13th stage : 2008 Transsyberia Rally updated!

.
July 24th, 2008, Bayankhongor - Mongol Els, 339 km.

Spanish team wins the day - Germany 1 falls behind - Team France extends lead in the overall standings

13th stage of 14
Liaison 1: 14 km
Special stage: 172 km
Liaison 2: 105 km.

The Transsyberia Rally 2008 powered by Sony Ericsson is drawing to a close. On the way to the destination Ulaanbaatar the 13th stage took place today. It led for 339 km from Bayankhongor into the sand dunes of Mongol Els in the province Middlegobi.

After lots of dust, a special stage containing water was lined up. Before the start, many drivers, who took part in the rally last year, were looking forward to today's special stage. Others fostered unpleasant memories of 2007, when they took a bath with their car. "I have respect for the rapid waters in Mongolia. At home in Spain we don't have those. I was happy that the water was only one meter deep today", said Laia Paneido, navigator of Team Spain at the destination.

Last night the organizers already shortened the special stage a few kilometers because the tow and rescue vehicles wouldn't have been able to get through the last section due to the water level. Consequently, the teams were left with 172 km. The stretch led along the Shargaljuut River and Mountain through impressive nature, into the vicinity of the former Mongolian capital Karakorum.

After 3:16:30 hours Pau Soler and Laia Paneido (Team Spain) crossed the finish-line first in their Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia and moved up in the overall standings from third to second place. Christian Lavieille and Francois Borsotto (Team France) defended their lead in the overall standings. With a lag of 5:09 minutes they landed in third place at today's special stage. Team France appeared reluctant: "We doing well, we had no problems with the car. It would be nice, if we could bring the rally victory to Ulaanbaatar."

Electronic problems threw the fivefold daily winner Armin Schwarz from the second to the third place in the overall standings. For to date unexplained reasons the car didn't react the way it used to. With the help of another team, Team Germany 1 made it into 11th place in the daily standings.

Today's stage primarily belonged to the outsider teams. With a lag of 4:31 minutes, the Austrian Christof Danner secured the second place in the daily standings. "For a while the Transsyberia seemed jinxed for us. A lot of small unforeseeable malfunctions, which all had to be repaired by us in the evening, after the stages. Now it's working!", explained the pilot of the Danner Racing Team and added: "I was one with the car, we really got along well." Diligently Danner kept pulling ahead of teams, who had started ahead of him, overtook Team France in muddy terrain and followed the towing maneuver between Team Germany 1 and Team USA, while passing by.

Suzuki pilot Andreas Kramer seemed satisfied too. "We would've made minimum time today", the pilot was sure. After starting in 16th position, the Suzuki Team kept moving ahead. "In the end we had five Porsche in tow who followed our tracks." A few kilometers before the destination, co-pilot Ettenberger however made a navigation mistake and the crew got stuck in a swamp, from which they were able to free themselves on their own though. " That definitely cost us seven minutes", said Kramer. In the end it was enough for 5th place (+ 0:09:35).

Panos Meyer and Birger Veit got their best daily results to date in their Land Rover Defender 90. To be on the safe side, the JoeVito Team had mounted a floating tire to their car in the morning, but it didn't come into operation. "We managed the water without it", the pilots said pleased.

Today Team Germany 2 was, above all, occupied with recovering other teams. First Carles Celma and Wolf-Hendrik Unger towed Armin Schwarz's car out of the mud, then they helped the Columbian Team Arrow change a tire and finally they towed the Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia of Ryan Millen into the next village. There, nothing worked any longer, so the car of Team USA was loaded onto a tow truck with transmission damage and brought to camp.

Yesterday's third-placed Adel Abdulla and Norbert Lutteri from Team Qatar couldn't start today. The damage to their car which occured during yesterday's stage couldn't be repaired overnight.

July 23rd, 2008, Altai - Bayankhongor, 519 km.

Team Germany 1 wins longest special stage of the Transsyberia

12th stage of 14
Liaison 1: 10 km
Special stage: 407 km
Liaison 2: 102 km

With 407 km, today's longest special stage of the Transsyberia Rally 2008 powered by Sony Ericsson took place under sunny azure skies. The entire leg ran for 529 kilometers from the village of Altai to the district of Bayankhongor.

Mechanics and service crews worked all night in order to prepare the cars for the long stage. 24 of the former 34 teams, who started off in Moscow, were able to accept today's challenge. Before the start, the organizer Richard Schalber said: "It proves true that the Transsyberia is the most difficult rally in the world."

Team Germany 1 continued its winning streak. Just as they did yesterday, duo Armin Schwarz/Andreas Schulz arrived first at the destination. The day's winner was in an extremely good mood in the camp: "On this terrain, one can easily overlook something. In the steppe one is fast, and then suddenly a ditch appears, which the water has torn. We didn't go full throttle, because on easily overlook those kind of traps. Andi did a perfect job today. We gave everything that was difficult a wide berth and could therefore play out our speed", said Schwarz in the evening. In the overall standings, Team Germany 1 kept closing in on the leading Christian Lavieille and Francois Borsotto (Team France) who crossed the finish line in sixth. (+ 0:34:53). "To catch up with the French is pretty much impossible. They're a well-rehearsed team with off-road and Dakar experience. They don't make any navigation mistakes and they don't damage their car. In order for us to catch up with them before Ulaanbaatar, they would have to make a really crass mistake", stated Schwarz. The distance of Team Germany 1 to Team France is 1:24:54 hours.

Other placements: Pilot Pau Soler (Team Spain) steered his car about 20 minutes behind Schwarz/Schulz into second place. Thanks to the accomplished navigation by co-pilot Laia Peinado the Spaniards pushed into third place in the overall standings.

About nine kilometers before the destination, Team Qatar drove into a hidden cross groove at high speed. They broke the rear suspension of the Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia as a result. Adel Abdulla and Norbert Lutteri rolled over the finish line on three wheels (+ 0:32:01). The mechanics will have another long night, in order to get the car of last year's third placed ready for tomorrow's special stage and river crossings.

After yesterday's setback, Team Portugal was on the road to success again today. In the special stage, Pedro Gameiro and Pedro Figueiredo drove into fourth place (+ 0:32:36).

The Danner Racing Team is satisfied with the course of the day. With his Mercedes G 320 the Austrian Christof Danner reached the destined camp near Bayankhongor in 1:06:14 hours (9th place). "After the malfunctions it was about time! The repairs were worth it. The stretch was variable, we were always on the move and we didn't get lost", navigator Jan Szekeres stated satisfied. "I just had to slow Christoph down, when the helicopter with the TV crew and the photographers flew over us. He automatically sped up to present himself well. But I had to still follow the drawings in the road book and apply them", said Szekeres.

The day turned out less satisfactory for Lars Kern and Daniel van Kan (Team Germany 3). Yesterday's second placed weren't able to continue the stage due to presumed engine failure and were towed into the camp.

Navigation and technical ability played as important a part during the fourth section in the Mongolia, as did endurance and team spirit in the cockpit. Lots of grooves, potholes and hidden ditches hampered the crossing of the terrain. The heat and dust made matters worse. In addition, the last segment led uphill through a silty riverbed, which was barely wider than the cars of the rally participants. In other passages, the wide Mongolian plain invited high speeds. Some teams saw this as an opportunity to overtake at high tempo and make some places good. "Attack was the only chance to play in the upper league of the rally again", said Ryan Millen (Team USA), who lost several hours yesterday.

Tomorrow the second to last stage of the Transsyberia Rally 2008 powered by Sony Ericsson, takes place. It runs for 339 km to Mongol Els, before, on Friday, the final destination of the rally, Ulaanbaatar, is focused on.

Result :

Daily Standing | Overall Standing | Overall Standing by Categories.

Images Gallery :

July 24th, 2008 Bayankhor - Mongol Els, 339 km.