"Ural Frontier": after the first long day, the leaders are no longer the same
📅 13 September 2026🏷️ Cars
After a short prologue by Bach, "Ural Frontier" took the athletes to the longest sports distance of the entire race. On Friday, September 11, the participants of the third stage of the Russian Rally Raid Championship overcame two high-speed sections with a total length of 310.82 kilometers, taking into account the ranges, the daily route was 444.77 kilometers. Rain, changing terrain, forest roads, open fast stretches and deep fords made the second day the first serious test for crews and equipment.
Another route — other tasks
If yesterday's short SSU largely tested the crews' ability to see the right direction in the tall grass without noticeable landmarks, today the nature of the track was completely different. After starting from Chelyabinsk, the route gradually went into the forested areas of the Southern Urals. The crews were waiting for black earth roads, tall grass, narrow forest areas and fast stretches where the surface became slippery after the rain, and mud ruts appeared in some areas. Here it was necessary not only to maintain the pace, but also to constantly read the terrain and follow the road book exactly. In the afternoon, the forest was replaced by open spaces, and one of the main challenges of the day was the abundance of fords. The crew had another task: to choose the right entry into the water, assess the condition of the ground and choose the speed so as not to waste time and create problems for the equipment.
The weather additionally changed the conditions along the route. The first half of the day was spent in rain, sometimes turning into heavy downpours, while closer to Magnitogorsk it became drier and warmer. As a result, the crews had to adapt to the track almost on the move.
Karimov is the new leader of the cargo standings
If in the prologue the five cargo crews were separated by only eight seconds, then after two days the arrangement at the top of the classification became completely different. Bogdan Karimov's crew from the "KAMAZ-master" team became the leader of the competition. His teammate Dmitry Sotnikov takes second place with a gap of 2 minutes 22 seconds. At the same time, yesterday Sotnikov opened the cargo standings and completed the prologue only sixth, and today he took off from a favorable starting position, which allowed him to drive at a higher pace. Pavel Murylev from "MAZ-SPORTauto" finished the day third, 17 minutes 22 seconds from the leader. Yuri Naiman, who is in fourth place, lost to him by only 26 seconds at "Ural". This is followed by another MAZ by Vitaly Murylev, fifth in the cargo standings, 38 minutes 33 seconds from Karimov.
Almaz Akhmedov, yesterday's winner of the prologue, was ninth today — he is 59 minutes 58 seconds behind the leader. Eduard Nikolaev, who finished fourth in yesterday's SSU, takes 12th place in the overall standings after two days due to a failed turbocharger, which the crew spent about an hour replacing. After 310 kilometers of high-speed distance, not only pure speed came to the fore, but also the ability of the crew and the car to withstand a long day.
The distance began to determine the result
The second day immediately provided several examples of how the price of an individual solution or technical problem changes with increasing distance. Sergey Vyazovich lost about 24 minutes passing one of the fords: the MAZ was blown off the hard part of the road onto soft, marshy ground, from where Vitaly Murylev helped the crew to get out. At the same time, Vyazovich finished the day eighth in the overall standings. For Yuri Naiman, the ford and the soaked ground also caused a loss of time. His "URAL" got stuck on the track, and Ivan Korolev, who started next, helped his teammate get out. The loss was about six minutes.
Anton Kushnikov's problem was of a different nature. At one of the fords about 70 centimeters deep, the crew entered the water too optimistically, after which the protection was torn off by a rising wave and the electrical wiring of the gearbox was damaged. The crew stopped for about half an hour to reconnect and continued driving. After that, the fords were much more careful, and further rain made the forest track even more slippery.
Technical problems also arose where the route did not require crossing fords. Mikhail Shklyaev's power steering hoses wound onto the front driveshaft at about the hundredth kilometer of the SU-2, which caused the truck to lose power steering. After completing the special stage, the problem was fixed on a remote service. On the SU-3, about 30 kilometers from the start, the car's right front wheel collapsed — the crew replaced it right on the highway. Before Magnitogorsk, the tire on the right front wheel was damaged again, and Shklyaev arrived at the time control point just 40 seconds before the expiration of the norm.
Anton Melnikov, after yesterday's navigation error, today he faced other difficulties: on each of the two sus, the crew changed one damaged wheel. Closer to the finish line of the first section, the car turned around and was thrown into the field, but the crew avoided overturning and continued the race.
Penalty time is part of the result
Over a long distance, the consequences of individual sports episodes quickly turn into extra hours in the protocol. Time was lost not only as a result of the passage of the route: several crews received serious fines.
Mikhail Mityaev encountered a turbine failure after the ford, and then the crew moved about 1.3 kilometers against the direction of the special stage. In addition, a checkpoint was missed. As a result, a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes of penalties were added to the total time. Dmitry Avdeev had a similar episode at the second special stage: the crew drove about 4.9 kilometers against the direction of travel and received a two-hour fine. Thanks to this amount of penalty time, both teams fell back to the bottom of the standings.
Other crews also received separate temporary charges for speeding. With such a long distance, even relatively small penalties are already becoming part of the result and the overall struggle for positions.
For some crews, the day ended with a gathering
Tatiana Sycheva, yesterday's leader of the T3 standings, stopped at the first special stage of the day after her ATV got into a washout, tearing off a wheel and suspension arms. The crew received a fixed penalty for incomplete special stages, but will continue to participate in the race. In the classification of their standings, the crew finished second on the second day.
Bogdan Vavrenyuk, who finished third in the "Raid-sport" yesterday, was unable to continue the race today. At the same special stage, the crew encountered an electrical problem and a loss of power, after which they finally withdrew from the competition.
Alexey Khlebov, who is also named "Raid-sport", had a difficult day. It all started with a punctured wheel, then the Gazelle NEXT was left without all-wheel drive and brakes, followed by damage to the steering knuckle in the same washout that brought Tatiana Sycheva out of the fight. After the suspension failure, the crew spent about 40 minutes repairing it right on the track, but still completed the route and remained in the classification.
Who has avoided major losses
Against the background of a large number of technical episodes, the crews who passed the day without serious losses became especially noticeable.
Alexander Semenov passed the track, continuing to fine-tune the "NN Sable", declared in the T2 standings. The crew passed both special stages without serious technical problems and after two days leads its class, also taking 11th place in the overall standings.
In "Raid-sport", a stable day allowed Maxim Kirpilev to maintain his leading position. The crew completed the race without problems, receiving only a ten-second penalty for speeding. According to the pilot, the nature of the track reminded him of the final day of the previous stage of the championship in Ulyanovsk: there were many large stones on the road, so it became an important task to keep the car on the right trajectory.
After two days of racing, the T3 leadership passed to Vitaly Lubeshkin, who also leads in the overall standings among all the announced SUVs. And despite the ten-second penalty he received today for speeding, he remains the only representative of this class in the overall standings of the truck-dominated race.
** The second day changed the nature of the struggle**
After two days of competition, 23 crews remain in the race. After the first long day, it became obvious that it was not enough to just drive fast at the "Ural Turn". The track constantly sets new challenges for the crews, and the price of each event — whether it's a technical problem, an unsuccessful decision, or a time penalty — is no longer measured in seconds of lag.
Tomorrow, Bach will continue with a completely different scenario. The leaders in the cargo category received a handicap, but with it a new responsibility: now this reserve of time has to be defended. In the SUV standings, the price of one racing episode is even higher: here yesterday's confident position can turn into a completely different picture in one day. Stability starts to cost as much as speed, especially where one nuisance quickly leads to the next. And those who lost dozens of minutes today and fell back to the bottom of the table will have to decide how justified it is to take risks in an attempt to recoup.
There are two more racing days ahead. And now every next special stage will check not only who is able to add, but also how strong today's advantages really are.
Author: Vengr