Silk Way Rally 2011: Cars preview

The third edition of Silk Way Rally is just around the corner so why don’t we take a look at who’s who at this year’s starting list and what chances do Nissan crews have.

ASO already published the third version within last two weeks but none of them will tell you who will be driving what. Based on known information, a bit of web-digging and Google translating and mostly thanks to my vast knowledge of rally-raid I was able to discover mysteries of entries.

Once Volkswagen has cancelled their Dakar program, another Germany team, that of X-Raid, is ready to take the honors. Stéphane Peterhansel will be driving brand new Mini All4 Racing once again. He won Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge with this car, no one can expect anything less than another victory also in a Russia. X-Raid will also plant three BMW X3 CC’s for Leonid Novitskiy, Krzysztof Hołowczyc (yes, who used to drive Nissan before) and Alexander Mironenko.

The only real threat for X-Raid pilots is Boris Gadasin with his powerful G-Force Proto. Last year he was closest to Volkswagens until he crashed pretty heavily. Unless all these drivers made some mistake or became a victim of mechanical failure, all other crews are condemned to fight for the fifth place at the best. Hungarian Balázs Szalay with Chevy powered Opel Antara could be one of them, as well as Bogdan Novitskiy with another G-Force Proto. Then there are plenty of 2WD buggies lead by last year’s class winner Matthias Kahle. Ronan Chabot and Stéphane Henrard will be his main contenders alongside Christian Lavieille.

Yes, that’s another Nissan down. Lavieille was quite good with Dessoude prepared Proto 05, now he will tackle demanding rally behind the wheel of a new BMW-powered buggy. Yet still as a part of a Dessoude Team. Now let’s stay a while with Nissan cars, shall we? Team Dessoude’s Fréderic Chavigny is the defender of T2 class victory from yesteryear. Once again he will start with Nissan Pathfinder. Hardbody Pickup derived Proto 05 will be in hands of Chinese Jihong Zhou, but hardly we can expect him to be in forefront.

Belgian Team Overdrive originally announced two cars to start on SWR 2011, but in most recent starting list there is only Roman Briskindov. He started on ADDC 2011 with G-Force Proto and was pretty fast, yet he ended upside down and in hospital. Rally driver Aleksander Zheludov will start with Nissan Frontier, probably some older evolution purchased from Overdrive. He might be able to make a top 10 result. Then there are four T1 class Nissan Springbok cars by SARL Sodicars team, one of Dakar legends Etienne Smulevici will drive one of them.

For the first time ever a Slovak crew will start on Silk Way Rally. Juraj Ulrich and his wife Danka will take their faithful Nissan Navara Doublecab D40 for its hardest test so far. As usually they will race in T2 class. Probably in the same class will be racing also three Patrols from Turkmenistan and some other Russian Pathfinder and French Patrol.

Now just brief mention on some others. Former biker Thierry Magnaldi will take his chance with single-seater Polaris RZR in T3 class in which he will fight against two Dutch buggies. Loris Calubini doesn’t give up and tries to finish some rally with his tiny Fiat PanDakar 4x4. Let’s see how this attempt ends. Two Czech-built Hummer H3 cars (Toyota powered) will start too, as well as two Mercedes G-Klasse based Lensson CC prototypes from Germany. The only female crew is that of Elena Golubkina and Elena Pravdina with Mitsubishi Pajero.

SWR 2011 cars entries

8th Internext Rally Vsetín: Four championships' conclusion

Cross country rally Vsetín is the only Czech race that has survived for more than two years. Since 2003, when the first edition took place instead of another cancelled race, "Vsetín" became extremely popular amongst drivers and fans. This rally is very specific and is more sprint than long-distance rally. Special stages are usually 10 kilometers long with eight or nine timed sections.

This year’s edition of "Vsetín" has been hit hard by bad weather. Five days of heavy rain has made part of the track very difficult to cross and organizer had to skip this most attractive part of the race. Nevertheless the race didn’t suffer from lack of competition or thrill. The stakes were high, Czech and Polish international championship titles were still in games as well as FIA CEZ Trophy.

In previous seven years only two men shared the title; Miroslav Rís (2003-2005) and Miroslav Zapletal (2006-2009). Now two pilots had a chance to become new Czech champion; provisional leader Zdenek Porízek and Viktor Chytka. Under normal circumstances Chytka with T2 Mitsubishi Pajero wouldn’t stand a chance against Porízek’s X-Raid-produced BMW X5 CC. But with last-minute change for state-of-art Hummer H3 Evo Chytka’s chances rose significantly.

The first to hit the road on Saturday Chytka fully took the advantage of a clean track. He stormed the selection with stunning 24 second advantage on the second Wlodzimierz Grajek (Mitsubishi Pajero MRT). This section was repeated twice and while almost everyone improved its time only Chytka and Grajek were slower due to much dirty track. The second portion of the race consisted of three gravel specials across the forest. Chytka utilized the familiarity of home track and maintained his lead. Chytka is the only one to take part in every “Vsetín” since its creation. Relatively quietly Porízek moved up the order, he overtook Zoli Garamvölgyi (Nissan Pathfinder) and Károly Fazekas (BMW X5) and was only 4 seconds behind second placed Grajek.

The last part of 8th Internext Rally Vsetín happened on the same track but in reverse order. Chytka gave Hummer the second win in Vsetín after last year Zapletal’s triumph. On the very last special Grajek failed to keep Porízek behind and lost the second place. Six minutes behind the winner Dariusz Zyla (Mitsubishi Pajero) finished the race on eighth position to get third place in Czech championship.

Legendary five time Dakar winner Josef Machácek (Yamaha Raptor) came to Vsetín to get his first national title and he succeeded. Second placed youngster Václav Bazika (Yamaha Raptor) tested new machine from Machácek’s production. In thrilling fight for the third place Vlastimil Tosenovský (E-ATV 690) lost to Rudolf Sajan (Gas Gas 450 HP) but kept trio of Polish rivals behind. The only woman behind the handlebars of quad was only 17-year old Sandra Ulrichová.

Note: Cup of Slovak Republic was running concurrently with Czech championship with the same race schedule and classification and thus with the same results.

Final standings of Czech international championship - cars:
1. Zdenek Prízek / Marek Sýkora 85 points
2. Viktor Chytka / Zdenek Ulehla 75 points
3. Dariusz Zyla / Malgorzata Zyla 62 points
4. Juraj Ulrich / Daniela Ulrichová 44 points (1st in T2 class)

Final standings of Czech international championship - quads:
1. Josef Machácek 100 points
2. Klaudiusz Rostowski 82 points
3. Vlastimil Tošenovský 49 points

Thanks to slightly different points’ distribution four pilots were supposed to fight for Polish title; Porízek, Chytka, Zyla and Grajek. Chytka as an event winner took maximum of possible points which shifted him to second place in general ranking of RMPST (Rajdowe Mistrzostwa Polski Samochodów Terenowych) just one point ahead of Grajek.

Note: Rumors that last event of RMPST, planned to take part in Sopot, would be cancelled turned up to be true. This made Zdenek Porízek Polish champion, too.

Final standings of Polish international championship – T1 class:
1. Zdenek Prízek / Marek Sýkora 24 points
2. Viktor Chytka / Zdenek Ulehla 20 points
3. Wlodzimierz Grajek / Rafal Cieply 19 points

Final standings in Polish international championship – T2 class:
1. Juraj Ulrich / Daniela Ulrichová 17 points
2. Zbigniew Wieclawek / Ryszard Wieclawek 12 points
3. Grzegorz Szwagrzyk / Piotr Brakowiecki 8 points

Final standings in Polish international championship – TH class:
1. Robert Lyzwa / Michal Krotiuk 6 points

For second year cross running country rallies have their own Central European Zone Trophy. Premiere edition was won by Balázs Szalay. He had the best conditions to regain the trophy but decided to skip “Vsetín.” So the doors became open for a whole bunch of others. Károly Fazekas was provisional leader, Zdenek Porízek was two points behind, Dariusz Zyla another three and Viktor Chytka with 20 points also had a chance to replace Szalay. At the end Porízek managed to outrun Fazekas and took the honors.

Note: Last round of CEZ Trophy, Baja Montenegro, was called off again this year.

Final standings of CEZ Cross country rally trophy – T1 class:
1. Zdenek Prízek / Marek Sýkora 34 points
2. Károly Fazekas / Péter Maurer 32 points
3. Viktor Chytka / Zdenek Ulehla 30 points

Final standings of CEZ Cross country rally trophy – T2 class:
1. Juraj Ulrich / Daniela Ulrichová 57 points
2. Grzegorz Szwagrzyk / Piotr Brakowiecki 32 points
3. Zbigniew Wieclawek / Ryszard Wieclawek 25 points

Final standings of CEZ Cross country rally trophy – TH class:
1. Robert Lyzwa / Michal Krotiuk 30 points
2. Dávid Czirkelbach / Péter Szász 18 points

Europe is good to Nissan, Part 3

Part three and finally a win for Nissan. But this victory was tainted. Come and see what happened in Poland.

Baja Poland (September, 3. - 5.)

Part three and finally a win for Nissan. But this victory was tainted. Come and see what happened in Poland.

Baja Poland was a big show. HQ of the rally was located in “rally village” – place were service area was right next to various attractions for fans. RC models, kart-racing, balloon flights… everything to please spectators. Many of them came because of one man – Krzysztof Holowczyc. Polish rally idol, European 1997 rally champion and most successful Pole on Dakar was accompanied by his faithful co-driver Jean-Marc Fortin. Their Overdrive Navara was without doubts the best car in race.

Already prologue showed that “Holek” set the pace nobody can match. Only Slawomir Wasiak tried to keep up with Holowczyc. But his SAM MRT 09 (BMW-powered Mitsubishi) didn’t survive the tempo. Older generation of these Polish prototypes driven by Wlodzimierz Grajek was the second after the first day, almost 17 minutes behind leader. The third place belonged to Pole Miroslaw Wozniak with aged Navara and the fifth to Czech Jiří Přibyl with Nissan Kingcar.

Very tense fight for T2-class leadership between Juraj Ulrich and four Polish drivers was also fight of one Navara against four Pajeros. Yes, there were two Toyota Land Cruisers too, but one withdrew and other one was back in rankings. Ulrich once again showed his experience and skills and spent the night as T2 leader and 8th overall.

During Sunday Holowczyc proved once again that he had no competition in home-land. His advantage increased with every finished special to half an hour before the last quarter of rally. But special number 10 brought an unexpected drama. Technical problems with front left wheel slowed Holowczyc down and there was a chance he wouldn’t continue. Only chance to save the victory was an emergency service. But any help on liaison section is allowed only to competitors in race. No spectators, no mechanics. But two Overdrive mechanics worked very busily on crippled Navara. Despite all the people around and even steward watching it closely, provisional leader didn’t receive any penalty. How’s that possible? Stewards believed Holek ho repaired the car himself and nobody from his rivals appeal a protest. And that’s the way Holowczyc won Baja Poland.

Second place went to Grajek who won controversial tenth special. Wozniak ripped off the wheel and lost excellent third place. He was replaced by Dariusz Zyla (Mitsubishi Pajero). Also Přibyl lost position in Top 5 due to break failure of his Nissan Kingcar. Juraj Ulrich with his production Navara finished sixth overall and won T2 class.

photo: www.baja-polska.pl

Prohun 500 race review

Hungarian race Prohun 500 was the longest race of this year’s Central European Zone for cross country rallies and most probably also the hottest one. The temperature very rarely dropped below 35°C and in some occasions exceeded 40°C (around 100°F).

In this tropical weather the competitors had to cover 1000 kilometers of which more than 500 were against time. Stages were mostly straight and fast with very few technical parts which favored high-capacity engines like those in Opel Antara RR. But it was László Palik with SA-built Navara who led the pack after two specials. Close to the end of the third special he missed the turn and broke two ribs in an accident. He was out. Much sooner than skilled Palik ended the race for Andrea Várkonyi. In Hungary very popular TV announcer rolled her car twice just 200 meters after the start.

Her team boss Balázs Szalay fought hard for the first place with another Navara namely that of Erik Korda. At the end of stage 1 rally driver Korda was 1 min 10 sec. slower. The third was Károly Fazekas with another overpowered car BMW X5 followed by two Opels driven by Péter Rónai and Ferenc Vörös. In T2 class Slovakian crew Juraj Ulrich / Danka Ulrichová won all five specials. Oh, they drove home-built Nissan Navara 4.0, didn’t I mention it before?

On Saturday it was even hotter with two short but very intensive rains during fifth and sixth special. Thankfully it didn’t do much harm to cars. Lásló Liszi was penalized and fell down the order, Ferenc Vöros finished ninth special with damaged exhaust muffler and therefore poisoned by carbon oxide. That’s another one out of the race. Korda won three specials of the day same as Szalay but Opel pilot was faster. Nissan occupied places 5 to 7 thanks to Zoltán Bálint (with ex-Palik Navara) Pál Lónyai and Imre Varga. T2 Navara of Ulrich stayed on top of class ranking ahead of Toyota LC 120 and Mitsubishi Pajero, both Polish.

Last four specials on Sunday Korda attacked as hard as he could. Still he finished second behind Szalay. Considering his Navara had the engine of half the capacity of Szalay’s Antara it was sort of expected result. And even with 41,5 points loss in general classification his Korda still has a chance to be national champion. From the very beginning third Fazekas finished… third. The bad luck of Opel Dakar Team, except Szalay’s win of course, ended with withdrawal of Péter Rónai. The fourth place was free for army guy Bálint. Fifth came home Lónyai and sixth Varga - that is four Nissans in top six.

By flawless ride, tenth overall and first in T2 class, finished Slovak Navara of Juraj Ulrich 15 minutes ahead of Polish Alexander Sachanbinski. Desperately last was Márton Kristóf with Nissan Navara. He skipped 4 specials and with huge time penalty there was no chance for better place. His car is brand new and under development so let’s give him some time. And one last Nissan to mention is Navara of Zoltán Csányi. Practically regular road car dominated Sandlander Challenge trophy.

Overall ranking:
1. Balázs Szalay - László Bunkoczi Opel Antara RR 4:50:51
2. Erik Korda - György Tóth Nissan Navara + 01:40
3. Károly Fazekas - Péter Maurer BMW X5 + 07:40
4. Zoltán Bálint - Dániel Marton Nissan Navara + 45:49
5. Pál Lónyai - Zoltán Garamvölgi Nissan Navara + 53:08
...
10. Juraj Ulrich - Daniela Ulrichová Nissan Navara + 1:58:05

Here are some photos of Nissans, more of them and others on my photo gallery on this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Michal.4x4/2010Prohun500#