Silk Way Rally

Category	Rally raid
Region	Eurasia
Inaugural season	2009
Drivers' champion	Alexander Rusanov (Cars) Alexey Naumov (Bikes) Dmitry Sotnikov (Trucks) Dmitry Kalinin (Quads) Toylyev Merdan (Production) Nikita Mazepin (SSV)
Constructors' champion	GAZ (Cars) KTM (Bikes) Kamaz (Trucks) Can-Am (Quads) Lada (Production) Can-Am (SSV)
Official website	www.silkwayrally.com

The Silk Way Rally (Russian: Шёлковый путь) is an annual rally raid type of off-road race. The first Silk Way Rally was raced in 2009 from Kazan, Russia to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. From 2010 to 2013, the race has taken place in Russia. The 2016 edition had a Moscow-Astana-Beijing route, the 2017 edition starts in Moscow and finishes in Xi'an, China.

From 2009 to 2011, the rally was part of ASO's Dakar Series. In previous editions several stages of Silk Way Rally also constituted a part of Russian Rally Championship as well as the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.

In 2023 Bulat Yanborisov, a director of Silk Way was exposed as a GRU Russian agent and that Silk Way had a geo-political agenda to aid Russia.^[1]

Rules

Silk Way Rally is a rally raid that goes both through off-road spaces and by public roads. Each crew, which usually consists of a driver and a navigator (with a mechanic for truck crews and only of a rider for motorcycles), must complete the Selective Sections (also called Special Stages) of the itinerary indicated in the Road Book (the legend) and pass through all compulsory Waypoints. The crew with the shortest total time on all specials of rally route becomes the winner.

Road sections (or liaisons) between the specials go on public roads and highways and must be covered within the target time, observing Road Traffic Code. The failure to respect the target time incurs a penalty, which is marked on the control card (carnet) and is taken in account during the calculation of total results.

Since 2012 any competitor that fails to complete a special stage is allowed to continue the race with a penalty of 50 hours, added to the total time. This option can be used only one time and must be performed on the next day after the failed stage.

The rally compete in three categories: moto, cars and trucks. The motorcycle class was added in 2019.^[2] Along with the division into basic categories of moto, cars and trucks, each of them having its own overall classification, all vehicles that participate in Silk Way Rally are split into separate competition groups as required by FIA.

Winners

Year	Route	Cars		Trucks		Bikes		Quads
		Driver Co-Driver	Make	Driver Co-Driver Mechanic	Make	Rider	Make	Rider	Make
2009	Kazan-Ashgabat	Carlos Sainz Lucas Cruz	Volkswagen Touareg	Firdaus Kabirov Andrey Mokeev Tanin Anatoly	Kamaz	Not held		Not held
2010	St. Petersburg-Sochi	Carlos Sainz Lucas Cruz	Volkswagen Touareg	Eduard Nikolaev Viatcheslav Mizyukaev Vladimir Rybakov	Kamaz
2011	Moscow-Sochi	Krzysztof Hołowczyc Jean-Marc Fortin	BMW X3	Aleš Loprais Vojtěch Štajf Milan Holáň	Tatra
2012	Moscow-Gelendzhik	Boris Gadasin Dan Schemel	G-Force Proto	Ayrat Mardeev	Kamaz
2013	Moscow-Astrakhan	Jean-Louis Schlesser Konstantin Zhiltsov	Sonangol Schlesser Original	Dmitry Sotnikov Viatcheslav Mizyukaev Andrei Aferin	Kamaz
2014-2015	not held
2016	Moscow-Beijing	Cyril Despres David Castera	Peugeot 2008 DKR	Ayrat Mardeev Aydar Belyaev Dmitriy Svistunov	Kamaz
2017	Moscow-Xi'an	Cyril Despres David Castera	Peugeot 3008 DKR	Dmitry Sotnikov Ruslan Akhmadeev Ilnur Mustafin	Kamaz
2018	Astrakhan-Moscow	Yazeed Al Rajhi Timo Gottschalk	Mini John Cooper Works Rally	Andrey Karginov Andrey Mokeev Igor Leonov	Kamaz
2019	Irkutsk-Dunhuang	Nasser Al-Attiyah Mathieu Baumel	Toyota Hilux	Anton Shibalov Dmitry Nikitin Ivan Tatarinov	Kamaz	Sam Sunderland	KTM 450 Rally Factory	Rafał Sonik	Yamaha Raptor 700
2020	not held
2021	Omsk-Gorno-Altaysk	Guerlain Chicherit Alexandre Winocq	Century Racing CR6	Dmitry Sotnikov Ruslan Akhmadeev Ilgiz Akhmetzianov	Kamaz	Matthias Walkner	KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica	Alexander Maximov	Yamaha YFM 700R Raptor SE
2022	Astrakhan-Moscow	Alexander Rusanov Evgeny Pavlov	GAZelle NEXT	Dmitry Sotnikov Ruslan Akhmadeev	Kamaz	Alexey Naumov	KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica	Dmitry Kalinin	Can-Am Outlander

History

Summary

YEAR	START		FINISH		# STAGE	DISTANCE, КМ
	DATE	CITY	DATE	CITY		Special Stage	Liaison	TOTAL
2009	5 September	Kazan	13 September	Ashgabat	9[3]	2,621	2,007	4,628
2010	11 September	Saint-Petersburg	18 September	Sochi	8	2,014	2,845	4,859
2011	10 July	Moscow	16 July	Sochi	7	2,450	1,490	3,940
2012	7 July	Moscow	13 July	Gelendzhik[4]	7[3]	2,083	1,776	3,859
2013	7 July	Moscow	13 July	Astrakhan	8[3]	2, 822	1173	3,995
2016	9 July	Moscow	24 July	Beijing	15	4,105	6,630	10,735
2017	7 July	Moscow	22 July	Xi'an	14	4,094	5,50	9,599
2018	15 July	Astrakhan	29 July	Moscow	7	2,327	873	3,488
2019	6 July	Irkutsk	16 July	Dunhuang	10	2,589	2,414	5,003
2020	not held
2021	1 July	Omsk	6 July	Gorno-Altaysk	5	651	2,457	3,108
2022	6 July	Astrakhan	16 July	Moscow	10	2,800	1,580	4,380
Note: the data are listed nominally - due to cancellations, abbreviations and changes in the stages may actually differ.

2009

Edition 1 of the Silk Way Rally set off from Kazan in Tatarstan and headed to Ashgabat in Turkmenistan. The nine days, 4,500-km rally featured 3,900 km of special stages. Carlos Sainz won his 1st international Rally-Raid. A perfect rehearsal for "El Matador" who the following January won the Dakar Rally in his 4th attempt. In the truck category, Kamaz dominated with two-time Dakar winner Firdaus Kabirov taking top honours in what was his last major international victory.

STAGE	DATE	START	FINISH	DISTANCE, КМ
				SS	LIAISON	TOTAL
prologue	5.09	Kazan	Kazan	2	-	2
1	6.09	Kazan	Buguruslan	141	337	478
2	7.09	Buguruslan	Uralsk	231	316	547
3	8.09	Uralsk	Beyneu	580	296	876
4	9.09	Beyneu	Zhanaozen	424	55	479
5	10.09	Zhanaozen	Türkmenbaşy	514	184	698
6	11.09	Türkmenbaşy	Balkanabad	345	72	417
7	12.09	Balkanabad	Türkmenbaşy	360	154	514
8	13.09	Türkmenbaşy	Asgabat	24	593	617
TOTAL				2 621	2 007	4 628
Note: Green color is allocated distances, cream — not included.

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES - 25

TOTAL ROUTE LENGTH - 4628 km

62 CARS AND 20 TRUCKS ENTERED THE MARATHON

34 CARS AND 16 TRUCKS FINISHED THE MARATHON

113 MEDIA ACCREDITED - 347 JOURNALISTS

753 TV-BROADCASTS WITH TOTAL DURATION OF 2,260 MINUTES

3,167 PUBLICATIONS IN MEDIA

TEAM SERVICE CARS - 96 CREWS

17 CREWS PRESENTED THE RAID CATEGORY

60 Т OF PETROL, 210 Т OF DIESEL FUEL AND 325 Т OF AVIATION KEROSINE WERE USED

ESCORT PROVIDED SUPPORT TO 160 VEHICLES OF PARTICIPANTS AND 120 VEHICLES OF

ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE] 526 VIPS FROM FOUR STATES VISITED THE RALLY

2010

STAGE	DATE	START	FINISH	DISTANCE, КМ
				SS	LIAISON	TOTAL
1	11/09	Saint-Petersburg	Staraya Russa	85	330	415
2	12/09	Staraya Russa	Vyazma	209	575	770
3	13/09	Vyazma	Lipetsk	210	395	605
4	14/09	Lipetsk	Volgograd	300	490	790
5	15/09	Volgograd	Astrakhan	450	150	600
6	16/09	Astrakhan	Elista	400	105	505
7	17/09	Elista	Maykop	340	440	780
8	18/09	Maykop	Krasnaya Polyana	20	360	380
Toral				2 014	2 845	4 859

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES - 22

TOTAL ROUTE LENGTH - 4859 km

48 CARS AND 16 TRUCKS ENTERED THE MARATHON

29 CARS AND 13 TRUCKS FINISHED THE MARATHON

168 MEDIA ACCREDITED - 507 JOURNALISTS

918 TV-BROADCASTS WITH TOTAL DURATION OF 3,660 MINUTES

4,015 PUBLICATIONS IN MEDIA

TEAM SERVICE CARS - 96 CREWS

12 CREWS IN CARS AND MOTOBIKES PRESENTED THE RAID CATEGORY

51,675 L OF PETROL, 289,912 L OF DIESEL FUEL AND 160 Т OF AVIATION KEROSINE WERE USED

2011

First departure from Moscow for the Silk Way Rally, which saw its number of entries rise, to the delight of the thousands of Muscovites who came to Red Square for the ceremonial start. Ahead of the competitors, seven days of racing and 3,983 km, with 2,366 km of special stages. After the week of hard-fought action it was Poland's Krzysztof Holowczyc scoring the biggest win of his career, ahead of the disciplines greatest driver, Stéphane Peterhansel, while in the truck category, Alès Loprais got revenge from the previous year.

STAGE	DATE	START	FINISH	DISTANCE, КМ
				SS	LIAISON	TOTAL
1	10/07	Moscow	Lipetsk	260	310	570
2	11/07	Lipetsk	Volgograd	480	365	845
3	12/07	Volgograd	Astrakhan	430	160	590
4	13/07	Astrakhan	Astrakhan	400	15	415
5	14/07	Astrakhan	Stavropol	690	75	765
6	15/07	Stavropol	Maykop	170	220	390
7	16/07	Maykop	Sochi	20	345	365
ВСЕГО				2 450	1 490	3 940
Note: green color marked distances included in the overall standings , cream — distance not included in the overall standings.

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES - 28

TOTAL ROUTE LENGTH – 3,940 km

95 CARS AND 35 TRUCKS ENTERED THE MARATHON

50 CARS AND 26 TRUCKS FINISHED THE MARATHON

138 MEDIA ACCREDITED - 605 JOURNALISTS

969 TV-BROADCASTS WITH TOTAL DURATION OF 3,983 MINUTES

4,518 PUBLICATIONS IN MEDIA

TEAM SERVICE CARS - 153 CREWS

50,000 L OF PETROL, 551,700 L OF DIESEL FUEL AND 160 Т OF AVIATION KEROSINE WERE USED

2012

The start once again from Red Square for the Silk Way Rally, which the number of entries is on the rise. On the programme, a completely new 4,000-km route to Sochi. Storms that battered southern Russian forced the race to stop at Gelendzhik. Boris Gadasin became the first Russian driver to win in the car category, while Kamaz returned to its winning ways thanks to another of its young hopefuls, Ayrat Mardeev, the future winner of the 2015 Dakar!

STAGE	DATE	START	FINISH	DISTANCE, КМ
				SS	LIAISON	TOTAL
prologue	7/07	Moscow	Ryazan	-	184,85	184,85
1	8/07	Ryazan	Volgograd	258	620	878
2	9/07	Volgograd	Volgograd	309	125	434
3	10/07	Volgograd	Elista	488	189	677
4	11/07	Elista	Elista	506	159,5	665,5
5	12/07	Elista	Maykop	453	230	683
6	13/07	Maykop	Gelendzhik	69	266	335
TOTAL				2 083	1 774	3 857
Note: Green color is allocated distances, cream — not included.

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES - 25

TOTAL ROUTE LENGTH – 3,550 km

118 CREWS: 93 JEEPS AND 25 TRUCKS ENTERED THE MARATHON

TEAM SERVICE CARS - 143 CREWS

270 MEDIA ACCREDITED - 581 JOURNALISTS

712 TV-BROADCASTS WITH TOTAL DURATION OF 2,074 MINUTES

4,312 PUBLICATIONS IN MEDIA

360 000L OF MOTOR FUEL ARE USED

2013

STAGE	DATE	START	FINISH	DISTANCE, КМ
				SS	LIAISON	TOTAL
пролог	6/07	Moscow	Tambov	-	452,91	452,91
1	7/07	Tambov	Volgograd	373,43	370,69	744,12
2	8/07	Volgograd	Volgograd	478,38	68,39	546,77
3	9/07	Volgograd	Astrakhan	485,74	144,29	631,03
4	10/07	Elista	Astrakhan	485,00	49,67	534,67
5	11/07	Astrakhan	Astrakhan	499,00	60,25	559,25
6	12/07	Astrakhan	Astrakhan	512,00	54,02	466,02
7	13/07	Astrakhan	Astrakhan	87,36	74,65	162,01
TOTAL				2 822	1 275	4097

2016

STAGE	DATE	START	FINISH	ALTITUDE, М		DISTANCE, КМ
				MIN.	MX.	SS	LIAISON	TOTAL
1	9/07	Moscow	Kazan			2	852	854
2	10/07	Kazan	Ufa	64	188	136	490	625
3	11/07	Ufa	Kostanay	254	467	200	615	815
4	12/07	Kostanay	Astana	108	378	345	510	856
5	13/07	Astana	Balkhash	408	998	569	253	821
6	14/07	Balkhash	Almaty	336	580	411	445	856
7	16/07	Almaty	Bortala	1072	2575	77	505	582
8	17/07	Bortala	Urumqi	294	471	257	648	905
9	18/07	Urumqi	Hami	58	974	384	335	720
10	19/07	Hami	Dunhuang	553	1916	340	144	484
11[5]	20/07	Dunhuang	Jiayuguan	1376	2508	330	231	561
12	21/07	Jiayuguan	Alashan	1148	1811	425	242	667
13	22/07	Alashan	Wuhai	1159	1792	367	357	725
14	23/07	Wuhai	Hohhot	1039	1224	261	494	756
15	24/07	Hohhot	Beijing			-	508	508
Total						4 105	6 630	10 735
Note: the distances included in the overall standings are highlighted in green , cream is canceled. The actual numbers may differ from the sum of the intermediate numbers, since all the numbers are rounded.

10735 km - total route length 17 days - rally duration, 14 bivouacs 41 countries presented their participants 1,100 participants and team members More than 2,500 people in Europe, Russia and China in the Rally organization 145 Russian and international journalists received permanent accreditation 560 media representatives received temporary accreditation TV reports from the "Silk Way 2016" Rally were broadcast in 196 countries of Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa Bivouac hosted up to 2,200 people daily 550 vehicles arrived daily to the bivouac and went further along the rally route 125 sports crews (102 SUVs and 23 trucks) entered the rally 192 "Assistance" crews Up to 15,000 people visited the spectator areas along the rally route every day 16 aircraft 14 auto transporters moved along the rally route

2017

For the Silk Way Rally of year 2017 the Organization Committee prepared a new route project, which includes the best features of the 6th edition as well as some developments and surprises. The rally once again took the form of a marathon through Russia, Kazakhstan and China, which proved itself successful last year. The rally's organisation was commended by the Russian President Vladimir Putin.^{[citation needed]}

STAGE	DATE	START	FINISH	DISTANCE, КМ
				SS	LIAISON	TOTAL
1	8/07	Moscow	Cheboksary	61,43	665,72	726,95
2	9/07	Cheboksary	Ufa	157,00	628,63	785,63
3	10/07	Ufa	Kostanay	329,25	567,14	876,39
4	11/07	Kostanay	Astana	373,22	192,69	908,80
5	12/07	Astana	Semey	484,47	365,07	849,54
6	13/07	Semey	Urdzhar	387,86	209,27	597,13
7	14/07	Urdzhar	Karamay	106,60	306,3	412,90
8	15/07	Karamay	Urumqi	250,37	185,97	436,34
9	17/07	Urumqi	Hami	421,00	392,89	813,89
10	18/07	Hami	Dunhuang	360,28	157,25	517,53
11	19/07	Dunhuang	Jiayuguan	488,65	208,85	783,84
12	20/07	Jiayuguan	Alashan	254,75	229,04	483,79
13	21/07	Alashan	Zhongwei	318,66	236,48	690,31
14	22/07	Zhongwei	Xi'an	100,67	643,76	716,56
Total				4 094	5 505	9 599
Note: the distances included in the overall standings are highlighted in green , cream is canceled. The actual numbers may differ from the sum of the intermediate numbers, since all the numbers are rounded

2018

• The distance of the route of the Silk Way Rally 2018 (Russian part) - 5169 km, 3127 are special stages

• 94 crews took part

• Permanently accredited media - 214

• TV channels - 85

• 196 broadcast countries

• 3,500 people took rally bivouacs daily

• Up to 20,000 people were in spectator areas daily

• 13 aircraft of aviation support (6 aircraft, 7 helicopters)

2019

On 6 July 2019 the Rally officially took off from Irkutsk.

STAGE	Date	Start	Finish		DISTANCE, km
				liaison	ss	liaison	Total
1	7 /07	Irkutsk	Baikalsk	71,03	50,87	133	254,9
2	8 /07	Baikalsk	Ulan-Ude	134,57	207,67	67,1	409,34
3	9 /07	Ulan-Ude	Ulaanbaatar	362,07	243	86,28	691,35
4	10 /07	Ulaanbaatar	Ulaanbaatar	3,54	470,19	3,23	476,96
5	11 /07	Ulaanbaatar	Mandalgovi	21,64	337	5,95	364,59
6	12/07	Mandalgobi	Dalanzadgad	1,25	408,17	2,33	411,75
7	13 /07	Dalanzadgad	Bayinbaolige	370	-	181	551
8	14 /07	Bayinbaolige	Alashan	430,37	326,6	29,14	786,11
9	15 /07	Alashan	Jiayuguan	29,17	290,3	181,73	501,2
10	16 /07	Jiayuguan	Dunhuang	96,26	255	205,04	556,3
Total				1519, 9	2588,8	894,8	5003,5

2020

The 2020 Silk Way Rally was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6]

2021

The 2021 Silk Way Rally was held but the Mongolian portion was cancelled due to COVID-19 and bubonic plague outbreaks in the country.^[7]

2022

The 2022 race was held in July 2022 solely in Russia and had limited overseas entrants due to sanctions imposed on Russia relating to the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Podium

Cars

Year	1st		2nd		3rd
	Driver	Car	Driver	Car	Driver	Car
2009	Carlos Sainz	Volkswagen	Mark Miller	Volkswagen	Giniel de Villiers	Volkswagen
2010	Carlos Sainz	Volkswagen	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Volkswagen	Mark Miller	Volkswagen
2011	Krzysztof Hołowczyc	BMW	Stéphane Peterhansel	MINI	Alexander Zheludov	Nissan
2012	Boris Gadasin	G-Force	Balázs Szalay	Opel	Miroslav Zapletal	Hummer
2013	Jean-Louis Schlesser	Sonangol Schlesser	Vladimir Vasiliev	G-Force	Evgeny Firsov	Toyota
2016	Cyril Despres	Peugeot	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	MINI	Vladimir Vasiliev	MINI
2017	Cyril Despres	Peugeot	Christian Lavieille	BAICmotor	Wei Han	Geely
2018	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	MINI	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Toyota	Cyril Despres	MCM Origina
2019	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Toyota	Wei Han	Geely	Jérôme Pelichet	OPTIMUS
2021	Guerlain Chicherit	Century Racing	Denis Krotov	MINI	Jérôme Pelichet	MD Optimus

Trucks

Year	1st		2nd		3rd
	Crew	Truck	Crew	Truck	Crew	Truck
2009	Firdaus Kabirov Andrey Mokeev Anatoly Tanin	Kamaz	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Darek Rodewald	Iveco	Ales Loprais Jaroslav Miskolci Milan Holáň	Tatra
2010	Eduard Nikolaev Viatcheslav Mizyukaev Vladimir Rybakov	Kamaz	Vladimir Chagin Sergey Savostin Ildar Saysultanov	Kamaz	Firdaus Kabirov Aydar Belyaev Andrey Mokeev	Kamaz
2011	Ales Loprais Milan Holáň Vojtěch Štajf	Tatra	Firdaus Kabirov Andrey Mokeev Anatoly Tanin	Kamaz	Andrey Karginov Vyacheslav Mizyukaev Igor Devyatkin	Kamaz
2012	Airat Mardeev Aydar Belyaev Anton Mirniy	Kamaz	Peter Versluis Jurgen Damen Harry Schuurmans	MAN	Anton Shibalov Robert Amatych Ildar Saysultanov	Kamaz
2013	Dmitry Sotnikov Vyacheslav Mizyukaev Andrey Aferin	Kamaz	Anton Shibalov Robert Amatych Almaz Hisamiev	Kamaz	Siarhei Viazovich Alexander Polishchuk Dmitry Vikhrenko	MAZ
2016	Airat Mardeev Aydar Belyaev Dmitriy Svistunov	Kamaz	Dmitry Sotnikov Ruslan Akhmadeev Ivan Romanov	Kamaz	Martin van den Brink Peter Willemsen Daniel Kozlovský	Renault
2017	Dmitry Sotnikov Ruslan Akhmadeev Ilnur Mustafin	Kamaz	Anton Shibalov Andrey Mokeev Dmitry Nikitin	Kamaz	Airat Mardeev Aydar Belyaev Dmitriy Svistunov	Kamaz
2018	Andrey Karginov Andrey Mokeev Igor Leonov	Kamaz	Airat Mardeev Aydar Belyaev Akhmet Galyautdinov	Kamaz	Anton Shibalov Dmitry Nikitin Ivan Romanov	Kamaz
2019	Anton Shibalov Dmitry Nikitin Ivan Tatarinov	Kamaz	Andrey Karginov Andrey Mokeev Ivan Malkov	Kamaz	Airat Mardeev Dmitry Svistunov Sergey Krenev	Kamaz
2021	Dmitry Sotnikov Ruslan Akhmadeev Ilgiz Akhmetzianov	Kamaz	Siarhei Viazovich Pavel Haranin Anton Zaparoshchanka	MAZ	Anton Shibalov Dmitry Nikitin Ivan Tatarinov	Kamaz
2022	Dmitry Sotnikov Ruslan Akhmadeev Ilgiz Akhmetzianov	Kamaz	Eduard Nikolaev Evgenii Iakovlev Bogdan Karimov	Kamaz	Siarhei Viazovich Pavel Haranin Vitaliy Murylev	MAZ

Moto

Year	1st		2nd		3rd
	Driver	Bike	Driver	Bike	Driver	Bike
2019	Sam Sunderland	KTM	Andrew Short	Husqvarna	Adrien van Beveren	Yamaha
2021	Matthias Walkner	KTM	Skyler Howes	Husqvarna	Franco Caimi	Hero
2022	Alexey Naumov	KTM	Alexander Gatiyatulin	KTM	Evgeny Tikhonov	KTM

Quads

Year	1st		2nd
	Rider	Quad	Rider	Quad
2019	Rafal Sonik	Yamaha	Alexander Maximov	Yamaha
2021	Alexander Maximov	Yamaha	Rafal Sonik	Yamaha
2022	Dmitry Kalinin	Can-Am