Linked in categories: 2018 | Dakar 2018 | Rallyraid

Qatar Cross Country: Second Vladimir Vasilyev - ´Qatar is always memorable´

lang Editor: Hansy Schekahn lang Photos: See credits under article   lang In database since April 23, 2018

After five days of racing, the Russian G-Energy Team crew overcame 1,360 racing kilometers of Qatar Cross Country Rally and finished the race in second place with their private X-raid Mini, directly behind the X-raid Mini of Jakub Przygonski / Tom Colsoul and in front of the Overdrive Toyota Hilux of Yasir Seaidan and Laurent Lichtleuchter.

At this competition the organizers tried to introduce some rules for the co-drivers to work with road books, isolated them from the outside world and limited the help of team cartographers, limited the time and determined the place where the co-drivers were dealing with the race documents. This should encourage them to show their real skills of working with the road book, navigating the terrain, reading the "legend" and solving navigational problems.

Only two co-drivers coped with all the difficulties of the route; they found all the points on the course with the lack of penalties and showed a great ability to navigate the Qatari roads, as well as the skills of using navigation devices to determine the course. They are Tom Colsoul, the winning crew co-driver, and Konstantin Zhiltsov, who assisted the G-Energy team driver.

It is necessary to note this race has always been characterized by difficult navigation: A desert area, dotted with paths and directions far and wide, where you cannot even see traces of a passing car because of the ground peculiarity. Given the small number of participants, this only added complexity. The set of points prepared by the organizers for the participants did not allow the co-drivers to see the landscape, sometimes simply looking from the road book meant missing the position in the "legend" and further searching for the right course in order to reach the desired road.

The well-coordinated work of the crew and its cohesion was more important than ever in this area – a clear co-driver’s guidance, as well as the acceptance and execution of information by the driver. A lot of hidden points that could be detected only moving on the right road multiplied the penalty minutes in the each day protocol of penalties, and in the final protocols – should the crew miss the point, but take the next one, there is no opportunity to score the previous ones...

"The impression is good, Qatar is always memorable," said a happy Vladimir Vasilyev after the race. Qatari silver awards go to Russia, and the G-Energy Team crew begins preparations for the next race – Rally Kazakhstan that will be held in Kazakhstan from 27 May to 2 June.

2018 Qatar Cross-Country Rally – Final positions after SS5 CARS

01) Przygonski, Jakub / Colsoul, Tom I X-raid Mini I 14:14:46 I 00:00:00
02) Vasilyev, Vladimir / Zhiltsov, Konstantin I X-raid Mini I 14:54:59 I 00:40:13
03) Seaidan, Yasir / Lichtleuchter, Laurent I Toyota Hilux Overdrive I 16:30:02 I 02:15:16
04) Domzala, Aron / Marton, Maciej I Toyota Hilux Overdrive I 16:48:36 I 02:33:50
05) Prokop, Martin / Pabiska, David I Ford F-150 Evo I 16:50:51 I 02:36:05
06) Shegawi, Ahmed / Kuzmich, Alexej I Nissan Patrol Y61 (T2) I 25:22:18 I 11:07:32
07) Van Loon, Erik / Rosegaar, Wouter I Toyota Hilux Overdrive I 114:05:03 I 100:20:17

2018 Qatar Cross-Country Rally – Final positions after SS5 SSV

01) Fournier, Claude / Delaunay, Sebastien I Polaris RZR 1000 I 22:40:34
02) Pena Campo, Jose Luis / Tornabell, Rafael I Polaris RZR 1000 I 25:26:42
03) Navarro, Santiago / Lopez, Pedro I Yamaha XYZ 1000R I 213:45:18

2018 Qatar Cross-Country Rally – Final positions after SS5 BIKES/QUADS

01) Giemza, Maciej I KTM 450 Rally Replica I 21:50:07
02) Maksimov, Aleksandr I Yamaha YFM 700R I 26:17:16
03) Koolen, Kees I Barren Racer BR 1690 I 26:48:06

FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies – Standings after RD-4 (unofficial)

01) Jakub Przygonski (POL) I 144 pts
02) Martin Prokop (CZE) I 113 pts
03) Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS) I 111 pts
04) Yasir Seaidan (SAU) I 58 pts
05) Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT) I 30pts, etc





Photos: G-Energy Racing

QATAR CROSS COUNTRY RALLY   QMMF


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