Transsyberia Rally 2008, Leg 3 Kazan - Yekaterinburg: Porsche teams reach
Asia
Three of the fourteen legs of the Transsyberia Rally 2008 powered by Sony Ericsson are over. Crossing the Urals the rally left Europe and reached Asia. The shortest stage of the entire rally, ten kilometres, was part of the third leg between Kazan and Yekaterinburg. The stage led over fast gravel with huge puddles, bumps and several crests.
Comments from the Porsche pilots:
Pedro Gameiro: “That was an incredibly fast stage. Great! It was great fun tackling it with the Porsche. The car can handle this kind of track fantastically.”
Armin Schwarz: “Today’s stage was very short. That’s why we drove with the smallest possible risk. It was not possible to gain a lot of time, but it was easy to lose a lot. We experienced a lot of big stones and tough bumps on the way. But we took care and everything went well. If we continue like this we might be at the top of the time sheets by the end.”
Lars Kern: “Short and hefty – that was today’s stage. It was seriously fast and had a few really dangerous corners. We were very quick on some of the crests, but the car just went over them and ironed them out. This is great.”
Pau Soler: “We didn’t stress today, we took it easy. That was the plan. The stage was only ten kilometres. On such a short distance you can’t win anything. The only thing you could do today was to remain calm and bring the car home in one piece. After all, we’ll need our Cayenne to last much, much longer.”
Ryan Millen: “It was lucky for us that today’s stage was only short, because we had to start behind a much slower competitor. They held us up but it only cost us a little time thanks to the short distance. We had no problems and didn’t put one scratch on the car. That’s what counts.”
Said Rashid Al Hajri: “Today’s stage was great and fun to drive. I really enjoy tracks like this. The suspension seems to be made for them. At the end of the stage the car’s temperature rose a little bit. But after a few kilometres it was back to normal.”
David Morley (Australia): “We had a ball! That was a very fast leg, which suits us. And the special stage reminded me a lot of the stages back home in Australia. The
Cayenne is perfect for them. The handling of this Porsche is simply wonderful. A big compliment to the designers!”
Carles Celma: “This is what makes the Transsyberia great fun. All-in-all I like it much better than last year. The mix of the most versatile stages is perfect. Naturally we didn’t go for it today. At ten kilometres there’s no reason to take too many risks.”
Antonio Tognana: “It was quite easy getting through the stage well today, but I wasn’t able to make up much time. The motto of the day was not to damage anything because it was impossible to make up for lost time.”
Adel Abdula: “The stage was extremely fast, and it seemed natural to put the pedal down. But this is exactly what we made up our minds not to do. There was simply no reason to take a risk. After ten kilometres the stage was already over. That’s a pity. But tomorrow’s is double the distance.”
Martin Rowe: “Today’s stage was in true rally style. That’s what we like and what suits us perfectly. Shame, that we were only able to enjoy it for ten kilometres. Hopefully there will be a similar stage in the next days. Then we’ll show what we and the Cayenne are capable of.”
The fourth of a total of 14 legs runs over 493 kilometres from Yekaterinburg to Tyumen on 14th July, including a 21 kilometre special stage. The Transsyberia Rally started on 11th July on Moscow’s Red Square and finishes on 25th July in the Mongolian capital of Ulaan-baatar after a total of over 7,000 kilometres.
Overall classification 2008 Transsyberia Rally after the 2nd of 14 legs
1. Gameiro/Figueiredo Team Portugal Porsche 2:22.50 hours
2. Lavieille/Borsotto Team France Porsche 0:05.45 hrs behind
3. Kern/van Kan Team Germany 3 Porsche 0:06.38
4. Al Hajri/Trenker Team Middle East Porsche 0:10.25
5. Tognana/Cassina Team Italy Porsche 0:15.29
6. Schwarz/Schulz Team Germany 1 Porsche 0:45.53
7. Levyatov/Talantsev Team Russia 1 Porsche 1:19.30
8. Pfeil-Schneider/Steuer Colombian Arrow Porsche 1:20.24
9. Baier/Steinbring Teambuctou Toyota 1:36.53
10. Rowe/Tuthill Team Great Britain Porsche 2:01.10
