Jean-Louis Schlesser of France won the fifth stage of the Silk Way Rally in Kalmykia, Russia on Thursday and took over the lead in the general classification from Russia’s Vladimir Vasilyev.
Stage five of the Silk Way Rally took the competitors on a 559 kilometre (347 mile) route back to Astrakhan on Thursday.
Vladimir Vasilyev held a narrow 19-second lead over French rally veteran Jean-Louis Schlesser coming into the stage, but couldn’t hold on and by the end of the day, there was another change at the top of the standings.
Schlesser, twice a winner at the Dakar Rally, won the stage in a time of 5 hours, 38 minutes and 44 seconds, gaining almost half an hour over Vasilyev, who could only finish third behind another Russian, Evgeniy Firsov.
With just two stages to come, Schlesser holds a 25 minute lead over Vasilyev, with Firsov an hour and 17 minutes behind the leader.
In the Truck category, Aryat Mardeev of Russia doubled his overall lead by taking second place on the day behind fellow countryman Eduard Nikolaev.
Nikolaev covered the distance in 5 hours, 39 minutes and 44 seconds, but could only improve to 12th on the overall timesheet.
Mardeev holds an almost impregnable 2 hours and 27 minutes on Siarhey Viazovich of Belarus, but the battle for second place is still very much alive.
Just sixteen minutes behind Viazovich lies Dmitry Sotnikov of Russia and his compatriot Anton Shibalov is only seven minutes further back.
Friday’s penultimate stage takes the field on a loop stage out and around Astrakhan, covering 466 kilometres (289.5 miles).
