The ring stage near the Mongolian city of Khovd became the longest on the route of the Silk Road Rally and took participants through the first dunes of the marathon, which became the main highlight of the special stage. The total distance was 542.30 km.

Serial SUVs

Andrey Sushentsov won another victory in the T2 series SUV classification and significantly strengthened his advantage in the overall standings. The fact is that one of his main rivals, Mikhail Mityaev from LADA Sport ROSNEFT Raid, encountered technical problems after an unsuccessful descent from the dune and completed the special stage on an asphalt road - the crew was counted ten hours behind. And Anton Melnikov from the Podmoskovye team had an engine jam, and the crew finished the race ahead of schedule.

Now the main pursuer of Sushentsov was the crew of the brothers Merdan and Shohrat Toyliyev, who won the Silk Way rally in 2022. Both are representatives of the "Turkmenavtoulaglary" agency. Now, however, they are more than two and a half hours behind the leader, but have a chance to catch up. The Silk Road Rally will last until July 15.

Another crew of the Automobile Sports Federation of Turkmenistan under the control of pilot Maksatmyrat Danatarov and navigator Didar Orazmedov rose to third place.