"Ural Frontier": rain affected the track — Sotnikov took the lead

** The load is increasing**

On Saturday, September 12, the crews had to complete 421.44 kilometers of the route. The basis of the sports distance of the third stage was the double passage of the 115.11-kilometer special stage. Between the passes along the highway of the high-speed section, the crews covered about 49 km of the lane, after which they again entered the same segment of the sports track.

The route started in the vicinity of Magnitogorsk and turned towards Verkhneuralsk, passing through the foothills of the Southern Urals and crossing the border of the Chelyabinsk Region and the Republic of Bashkortostan. From the start, after high-speed open sections, the track took the sports caravan into the foothills and forest, then became more winding: The crews had to work on rocky roads, among tall grass, in narrow and hard-to-read areas, with bumps, holes and fords.

The third day also required the crews to adapt, but now another aspect has been added to the terrain features — the weather itself was constantly changing traffic conditions. It rained with varying intensity throughout the day. On the second pass, the track was already noticeably different from the one that the crews had seen in the morning: the surface became more slippery, and the stones hidden in the ground during the first pass gradually came out.

Therefore, repeated passage of the same route did not become a repeat of the first attempt, which turns out to be noticeably faster. Where, after a morning ride, one would like to rely on an already familiar trajectory, after the rain and numerous traces of past sports equipment, it was necessary to read the road again: it had changed, and driving actions had to be adjusted.

Vyazovich won the day, Sotnikov leads after three stages

Sergey Vyazovich from "MAZ-SPORTauto" showed the best time at the end of the third day — 2 hours 36 minutes 51 seconds. Dmitry Sotnikov lost to him in just 1 minute and 38 seconds on KAMAZ, Pavel Murylev (MAZ) lost another 46 seconds at the end of the day. Yuri Naiman finished the day fourth in the "Urals".

But the general classification became much more important than the result of the current day. After the second day, Bogdan Karimov was ahead of Sotnikov by 2 minutes and 22 seconds. Today, Sotnikov was faster than his teammate by more than six minutes and not only eliminated the gap, but also created a new handicap. In Karimov's KAMAZ, the engine stalled several times during the race due to wet electrics. Thus, after three stages, Dmitry Sotnikov leads the intermediate classification with a total time of 6 hours, 3 minutes, 54 seconds. Bogdan Karimov is four minutes behind. In one day of racing, the leadership in the "Ural Turn" has completely changed.

A tight battle for the third position remains behind the duo of leaders. Pavel Murylev takes it with a gap of 15 minutes 46 seconds from the leader and defends himself from Yuri Naiman, who is fourth only 45 seconds behind. The fifth is Vitaly Murylev, who is already 40 minutes and 50 seconds behind.

Sergey Vyazovich, the leader of the "MAZ-SPORTauto" team, rose to seventh place in the overall standings after winning today's race. At the same time, his lag from the leader is 51 minutes and 33 seconds — part of this loss was due to yesterday's episode in ford, when MAZ had to be pulled out of the viscous soil.

Almaz Akhmedov, the winner of the prologue, was classified eighth after three days, losing more than an hour to the leader of the cargo category. Thus, in three days, the starting line-up has undergone major changes: from eight seconds between the five leaders of the cargo standings to the current four-minute advantage of Dmitry Sotnikov.

The track changed right during the race

Today's route has shown well why repeated passage of the same section does not guarantee crews advantages due to the experience already gained.

Eduard Nikolaev, the head of "KAMAZ-master", got into a sharp pit on the second pass at maximum speed. During the first pass, the truck drove through the center of it, and the suspension worked normally. For the second time, the pilot chose a trajectory to the left: there was a slightly larger height difference, which caused the bridge to work at an angle, and when the suspension was compressed, the driveshaft pierced the engine pan.

The problem was not immediately discovered — attention was drawn to it after stopping to fix the hood, which was torn from its fastenings when the crew noticed a small trickle of oil. The hole was sealed, but the repair cost time. Despite this, Nikolaev himself noted the technical nature of the route on the third day and was satisfied with its taxiing configuration.

This episode became one of the most vivid examples of how the second pass was different from the first: the same pit, but a different track condition, a different trajectory, and a completely different result.

Dmitry Avdeev from "KAMAZ-master" turned out to be a separate line in the protocol: the crew stopped at the SU-4 due to a coolant leak, could not identify the breakdown on their own and remained waiting on the evacuation route by the technical support team. For the unfinished special stages, the crew received a fixed penalty of 17 hours, and by the time of writing this text, the reason had not been established.

** The stones have become another challenge**

On the second special stage of the day, the stone caused a serious loss of time for Anton Melnikov. After the passage of the previous crews, one of the stones presumably came out of the ground and ended up on a trajectory. "Nissan" ran into him, after which the wheel was literally broken along with the disc. The crew stopped to install a spare tire.

Mikhail Mityaev also collided with a stone on the highway, but at the end of the first drive around this circle. His NIVA Sport Turbo suffered wheel damage, after which the crew stopped for a replacement. The procedure was delayed due to problems with the jack and took about five to ten minutes.

Anton Kushnikov also encountered a larger obstacle on the first pass at the "Ural". The truck hit a boulder, which caused the wheel disk to bend towards the brake mechanism. It was possible to remove the wheel only after the crew straightened the disc with a sledgehammer. It took about 18 minutes.

After the repair, Kushnikov continued to move at his own pace. On the second pass, the URAL MOTORSPORT crew was in visual contact with Eduard Nikolaev for some time, but later Nikolayev's KAMAZ went ahead.

When accuracy brings results

Not all the stories of the third day were related to losses. Ivan Korolev completed the race without serious technical problems, maintaining a steady pace. During the first lap, he followed Sergey Vyazovich for a while, learning from the experience of a more qualified pilot. After three days, Korolev is in sixth place in the overall standings, 49 minutes and 53 seconds behind the leader.

Yuri Naiman spent the day with several technical issues, which, however, did not significantly affect his final position after all the previous stages. A small problem with the wheel pumping system was quickly fixed. On the first run, there were problems with the turbocharger, but on the second, the turbine was already working normally. Naiman retained the fourth position in the overall standings and is within attacking distance of Pavel Murylev.

The leaders have strengthened their positions in the other competitions

In the off-road categories, the crews that took the lead only increased their advantage.

Alexander Semenov from "GAZ Raid Sport", who took this position after the SU-2, is still in the lead in T2. His closest pursuer, Andrei Sushentsov, is about 11 minutes behind, followed by Leonid Petrov and Leonid Panfilov, who have been behind the leader for about an hour, having won special stages in their standings today.

In the lightweight T3 prototype category, Vitaly Lubeshkin retains the lead, while Tatiana Sycheva is still second.

In "Raid" Sport standings, Maxim Kirpilev leads the way on "Gazelle NEXT" with a comfortable margin. Despite all the adventures, Anton Melnikov's crew continues to pursue him with a lag of 9 minutes and 13 seconds. Alexey Khlebov is third, and Mikhail Mityaev, who has already collected a collection of various kinds of penalties, closes the four crews of this category.

Any penalty affects the result

On the third day, the athletes also accumulated penalty times. Mikhail Mityaev deviated from the route prescribed by the organizers by 3.7 km after the first special stage and received an hour's penalty. In addition, five minutes were added to his result for being late at the time control point. As a result, Mityaev completed the third day with a total score of 12 hours, 47 minutes, and 50 seconds. At the same time, in his case, today's loss was not only due to the events on the track: 1 hour and 5 minutes of penalties were added to the result of the special stages.

Several other crews also received fines for speeding. Ivan Korolev received the largest amount among them — 2 minutes and 50 seconds. Tatiana Sycheva got 40 seconds, Alexander Semenov — 20 seconds, Anton Kushnikov — 1 minute and 20 seconds.

The nature of the fight has changed, but the race is not over yet

After three stages, 23 crews remain in the classification of the Russian Rally Championship. Over the past few days, "Ural Frontier" has already managed to consistently offer various tests to the crews. Now the last question remains: who will be able to best manage the advantage that he has earned over these days and withstand the final breakthrough?

On Sunday, September 13, the participants will have a final special stage 112.5 kilometers long. The route will take the crews from Magnitogorsk towards Miass.

After 890 kilometers of distance and three days of completely different wrestling, the "Ural Frontier" has not yet put an end to it. The finale will be short, but the price of the slightest mistake will be maximum.