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RALLY: TransSyberia Rally Blog Day 4: Terrain Torture
Written by: Brian Ghidinelli   
07/17/2008
Charlotte, North Carolina
 
Following in the footsteps of the first stage, the terrain has proven difficult for many teams. (Photo: Brian Ghidinelli) ยป More Photos

The 2008 TransSyberia Rally has covered more than 3000km across Russia completing four of five scheduled stages. Organizers were forced to cancel stage four when conditions were so brutal that medical crews would not have been able to access participants in the event of an emergency. Teams reported relief knowing the organizers put safety first but as racers they were disappointed to lose one of fourteen competitions.

Following in the footsteps of the first stage, the terrain has proven difficult for many teams. Team Canada nearly completed stage two before their transmission gave up and entered limp mode. They worked to find a transmission but two days of maximum penalties putting them more than 15 hours behind the leaders and only a limited hope of making the repair mid-route led them to cancel their 2008 effort. Martin Rowe and Richard Tuthill escaped yesterday from their Cayenne before it burned to the ground on stage five after overheating.

The challenges haven’t stopped the leading teams from putting their experience to work. Team Germany 1 with Armin Schwarz and Andreas Schulz won stages two and five outright to control 6th place overall while Team Portuguese has continued a string of strong runs to maintain 1st place just more than one minute ahead of the 2nd place Team Middle East. Porsche Italia and Team France hold positions three and four respectively. The top five teams are the rally equivalent of a dead heat within six minutes of the leaders rounded out by 20-year old driver Larz Kern of Team Germany 3 in fifth place.

Americans Ryan Millen
and Colin Godby are recovering from their first stage to steadily move up the leader board. 10th, 9th and 7th places over the past three stages have improved their position overall to 12th. They have a lot of time to make up but with over 4500km still to go they are still within striking distance. In Russia the transits are very long but the timed stages are as short as 10km. In Mongolia timed stages are much longer creating a great opportunity for times to equalize.

Teams drive today from Omsk to Russia’s third largest city and Trans-Siberian Railway stop Novosibirsk. The stage has a total length of 712km. Teams are currently competing on the special stage with a few teams already en route or in the city center ready for rest and recuperation before covering another 890km to Kosh Agash. That will be the last Russian stage as the remaining teams will cross over into Mongolia on their way to Ölgy, Mongolia. As fatigue begins to set in, teams will need to focus to avoid making mistakes and stay on the pace as much remains to be decided over the next 4500km.

Got a question for Brian while he's in Russia or Mongolia with Porsche following the TransSyberia Rally? Email him HERE

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TransSyberia Rally 2008
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