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Taklimakan Rally 2024: The Breath-taking Landscape Before the Last Long Special Stage
Aksu - Aksu: 532,07km
Liaison: 166.18km
SS: 219,56 km
Liaison: 146,33km
The rally comes to stage 8 which signifies that the competition draws to the end. Today the competitors will face a stage dominated by mountainous terrain. The drivers will move forward along the narrow mountain roads, so no worry about getting lost in the stage, however, the co-drivers need to focus on attentively the roadbook because there will be plenty road section marked with 3 exclamation marks, which means, very dangerous!
In the auto category, the 220 km special stage did not make a significant time gap between the competitors with the time difference between the top 15 drivers being only 10 minutes.
Zhang Huijun in his CR6 racing car gained the stage victory followed by Fan Gaoxiang from JJ Race and Zhang Dejin who also drives the CR6.
Fan Gaoxiang really enjoyed this stage, “The scenery of this stage is beautiful, not too much sand, I like this terrain. My 2 teammates have already won the first 2 difficult stages and now they are listed in the top positions in the overall classifications so our team has basically completed the mission. This is my second time to the Taklimakan Rally, I want to gain more experiences in this field, try not to make mistakes and enjoyed the rally till the end.”
In the general classification, Han Wei is now in the leading position with around 50 minutes advantage, “Our strategy is a smooth transition till the end of the rally. So today we did not push to our limit. Since the roadbook is not that accurate, we want to make sure our car won’t be flipped over due to the high speed. Though we are in the leading position, we need to always stick to the roadbook and be very careful for the unexpected situation.”
In the Moto category, Neels Theric dominates this group right from the beginning of the rally. Today he also is the first to arrive the finish line. “This stage is not difficult, I really enjoyed my riding today as the scenery of this stage is amazing. The altitude of this stage is relatively high so the performance of the moto is affected. In general, I like this stage a lot!”
Fang Mingji in his No. 003 racing moto came to Taklimakan Rally with his son, Fang Xiangliang for the second consecutive year. He arrived the finish line the 3rd place, “The track for today was quite bumpy, I paid lots of attention to the roadbook to make sure I have every point. In fact, I am not worried about my son, he has his own pace. We have discussed yesterday, I am now in the front so I will run with all my efforts to compete for a better classification. This stage could be risky for high-speed rider because there are hidden pits caused by the rainfall and that could be very dangerous to the new comers.” After this stage, Fang Mingji is now listed the 3rd place in the general classification.
Tomorrow, the 2024 Taklimakan Rally will enter stage 9, the last long special stage before the end of the rally. There are still 200 km for the competitors before they pop the champagne and celebrate their victory.
Classification Auto SS8
1. Zhang Huijun (CHN) / Peng Yibo(CHN), CR6, 2H17’28”
2. Fan Gaoxiang (CHN) / Yue Cailei (CHN), JJ Race, +0’13”
3. Zhang Dejin (CHN) / Chen Qingkai (CHN), CR6, +1’06”
Overall Classification Auto after SS8 is yet to come
Classification Moto SS8
1. Neels Theric (FRA), KOVE, 2H29’34”
2. Deng Liansong (CHN), KOVE, +5’48”
3. Fang Mingji (CHN), KOVE, +19’28”
Overall Classification Moto after SS7
1. Neels Theric (FRA), KOVE, 22H51’48”
2. Abbas Gapal (CHN), YAMAHA, +2H58’31”
3. Fang Mingji (CHN), KOVE, +3H53’10”
Source: Taklimakan Rally official press release via FB
Helder