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2009 REGULATIONS
Download the regulations of the Silk Way Rally 2009 (.pdf)
SILK WAY RALLY: A MAJOR ENDURANCE TEST
The Dakar Series label gathers rally-raid events where the best drivers in the World are bunched together to share with the amateurs a highly intense competition. While the competition standards offered by A.S.O. are part of the Dakar Series, they apply to races with different formats. The first edition of the Silk Way Rally is precisely at the heart of the founding principles of the Dakar: the idea is to offer extreme endurance challenge while discovering amazing landscapes.
HOLD THE DISTANCE
Between Kazan and Ashgabat, from the 5th to the 13th of September, the car and truck crews that will register for the Silk Way Rally will battle it out during nine days of competition. Over a certain distance, the drivers and co-drivers enter a context where coping with the race becomes even more important than pure performance. Therefore, to test the crews as much as the vehicles, the Silk Way Rally can be considered as an ideal preparation to the 2010 Dakar.
FEW LIAISONS: A DENSE AND DEMANDING RACE
On a total distance of 4500 kilometres, the competitors will be timed on 3200 kilometres of specials. The 5th of September with a super-special of around 10 kilometres, will establish a starting order for the next day and will also count for a first overall standing. Then the first “rally-raid” special will be covered after a long 400 kilometres liaison. The remaining part of the program will indeed be dense and demanding with race days mainly occupied by pure competition. The competitors will therefore be asked to keep a high level of focus, but will also have the satisfaction of reaching the bivouacs after short liaisons.
KARAKOUM: A FINAL WITH SUSPENSE
The discovery of the Orient and of its mysteries will also be an opportunity to be overwhelmed by the diversity of landscapes of the three host countries. Variety is naturally found through the terrain covered by the race that will allow all types of driving to be expressed. The table-top mountains and the steppe of the first part of the course will suit the more powerful vehicles. The more technical aspect of the rocky paths of Kazakhstan, as well as the lunar landscapes will remind many of Morocco.
In off-road rallies, it is often the desert and the dune crossings that end the debates between the best. The desert of Karakoum that occupies most of the Turkmenistan territory should offer to the elite drivers a perfect battle terrain for a final with suspense. On each one of the last two stages of the rally, the hierarchy at the top could be troubled: that is where the experts of sand will have to play their cards right.
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