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RALLY: TransSyberia Rally Blog: Triomphe! Team France Wins!
Written by: Brian Ghidinelli   
07/28/2008
Charlotte, North Carolina
 
Christian Lavieille and Francois Borsotto of Team France cruised to overall victory in the 14-stage tour of Russia and Mongolia. (Photo: Brian Ghidinelli) ยป More Photos

Finishing 6th on the final stage of the 7500km TransSyberia Rally 2008, Christian Lavieille and Francois Borsotto of Team France cruised to overall victory in the 14-stage tour of Russia and Mongolia.

Pau Soler and Laia Peinado of Team Spain, who were ranked as low as 14th early in the rally ran clean and consistent to finish 2nd 2:15:25 behind Team France and ahead of Armin Schwarz and Andreas Schulz of Team Porsche Germany 3 who trailed by just under six minutes. Schwarz and Schulz rebounded from mechanical difficulties to win the 13th stage and challenge Team Spain but the final stage was not long enough for the WRC and Dakar veterans to overtake. Porsche dominated the event taking the top three positions and nine of the top ten spots with their Cayenne S TransSyberias.

Team Portuguese who led early in the rally finished 4th overall 2:54:36 behind Team France and the Russian Porsche Team of Denis Levyatov and Sergey Talantsev rounded out the top five.

The Suzuki Grand Vitara driven by Andreas Kramer and Kurt Ettenberger won the 2A class and finished 12th overall and Uta Baier and Mario Steinbring of Teambuctou won Class 2B and finished 7th overall. Teambuctou’s Toyota HZJ 80 was the only non-Porsche to finish in the top ten and her performance received much applause at the award ceremony.

“These cars are tough”, said Paul Watson of Team Australia Unfinished Business. After crashing out of the TransSyberia 2007 and breaking his back, Watson and co-driver David Morley were determined to return to the event and complete what they started. At the Hotel Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar, the team removed the “un” stickers from their car to punctuate their performance. Terrain in Mongolia featured sharp rocks, canyons, riverbeds and numerous water crossings. Colin Godby of Team USA described the terrain, “as tough as Baja” referring to the popular desert race in Mexico.

First-time rally participants
Team USA encountered several difficulties late in the rally. Starting from 17th after the first stage, they suffered two punctures on stage 11 and a six-foot deep ditch on the 12th stage that stranded their Porsche Cayenne with nose and tail embedded in the walls and all four wheels freely spinning. It took two teams to pull them out and a severe time penalty shuffled the hard chargers back in the standings from 7th to 12th. When the 13th stage claimed their alternator in a water crossing, son of last year’s winner Ryan Millen and co-driver Colin Godby were forced to throw in the towel just a few hundred kilometers from the finish. “It’s frustrating since we had good pace, but we learned a lot” said Millen. Both said they hope to return next year for 2009. Pulling out on the last leg left the team in 15th place overall.

The country of Mongolia played host to the final half of the rally. The country of three million people has a wide variety of open expansive countryside unspoiled by development. The emptiness is mesmerizing. The sky is big and blue like Montana and the people are incredibly friendly, easy going and full of smiles. Millen and Godby spent their day off visiting a traditional Ger (a round-shaped mobile hut) and lunching with a Mongolian family. Their diplomatic behavior was rewarded when the locals helped them with key logistics of a two-week rally like finding hot showers.

The finale, Ulaanbaatar, is a city of approximately one million
people in a country of three million. Adjusting to the time difference ahead of the final stage, we journalists had the opportunity to explore some popular sites outside of the city and spent time with a local family as well as visit a local market. Unlike in more touristy countries, the vendors do not yell and try to sell you everything at inflated prices. The market sold everything from raw meat and vegetables to clothing to housing materials. Relatively few people speak English although the population is 98% literate and many children go on from twelve years of public education to university or vocational schools. The urban area is a mix of laborers and professionals while the countryside is populated by nomadic families who move as many as ten times per year searching for grass and water for their livestock.

The difference between rural and urban is not divided strictly on an economic or education basis. The family we visited lived in Ulaanbaatar until their youngest child moved out. After they decided to move to the country and be closer to nature. While the people are nomadic, they are not without services. Many have cars and in certain areas electricity is available. We saw Gers with solar panels and satellite dishes that connect them to the rest of Mongolia. Locals from both the city and mountains were out to watch the rally cars as they sped through their beautiful countryside.

The finale headquarters and award ceremony tonight were at the Hotel Mongolia. The parking lot was bursting with rally cars and support vehicles. A walk around the impromptu paddock showed the cars were in surprisingly good condition. Many teams even took the opportunity to wash them to make sure their sponsor stickers were displayed fully. A few broken bumpers or dents could be seen but by and large the teams who avoided the 50% attrition rate kept their cars clean and out of trouble and that strategy paid off.

Hotel Mongolia provided a wonderful reception. Owned by the same company who makes Khan Brau, the national beer of Mongolia, the party was well-catered and the bench racing was in full swing ahead of the trophy presentation. The organizers presented the winners of each class and overall with trophies and a traditional Mongolian hat and a photo opportunity before Team France was awarded their unique timepieces from Vogard. The organizers specifically called out the mechanics and support personnel without whom a race like this would not be possible. Many on-the-fly changes were required to adjust to conditions and while many racers complained about rules and procedures, most racers we overheard were discussing what their cars would need in order to return and compete in 2009.

It was not the first place on my list of destinations but Mongolia proved to be a beautiful and fascinating country. The unspoiled countryside is the perfect backdrop for an all-out time attack. With the cancellation of the Paris-Dakar Rally, the TransSyberia Rally stands out as one of the last great adventure races. The particular focus on near-standard vehicles opens up this competition to everyone from World Rally Championship and Dakar winners to first-timers. We expect to see another incredible drama unfold in 2009 as Team France defends their title and other pilots return to take it for themselves.

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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