The crew of Sergei Vyazovich took the lead in the Morocco Desert Challenge rally after the fifth stage. MAZ is ahead of its nearest pursuer by 16 minutes 11 seconds - a good bid for the overall victory. True, there are still three stages ahead ...

Position in the general classification after the 5th stage. Trucks (top 10) looks like this:

But the result is not easy for the Belarusian team. At the fourth stage on Tuesday, the crew of Sergey Vyazovich had excellent chances to register the second victory at the Morocco rally - the 503rd MAZ was in the lead from the very start of the fourth stage. Alas, non-eternal connections in the eternal struggle with Vyazovic again took over...

The crew of Sergey Vyazovich was in the lead on all control points at the fourth stage of the Morocco Desert Challenge and after 300 kilometers of track 1 minute 39 seconds ahead of the nearest pursuer Ton van Genugten on Iveco. And then the fastest MAZ in Morocco was forced to stop: the pipe of the charge-air cooling system burs.

Of course, Sergei Vyazovich tried to win back the lost time, but at the finish he was only fourth, losing to the winner of the fourth stage, Tone van Genugten, 17 minutes 36 seconds.

For the crew of Alexey Vishnevsky, the race in the fourth stage, on the contrary, did not work from the very beginning. The first bus was punctured before the first waypoint - the replacement lost more than 12 minutes. Then two more tires were killed by hard Moroccan relief - they also had to be changed on the track ... As a result, the 510th MAZ finished with the 14th time, losing to Ton van Genugten 50 minutes 55 seconds ...

And now about the fifth stage.

On Wednesday, all MAZ worked like a clock - no misfires or malfunctions.

Both crews of the Belarusian team the entire 293-kilometer distance of the fifth stage between the settlements of Foum Zguid and Zagora traveled in the top three. The 503rd MAZ was the first at four control points, but in the last stretch the Dutchman Gert Huzink missed ahead on the Renault K-520 - and that was the winner of the fifth stage with a time of 4 hours 44 minutes 5 seconds. The crew of Sergey Vyazovich lost 1 minute 7 seconds to the opponents. Nevertheless, this result allowed the Belarusians to become leaders.

“Today’s stage was really difficult,” Sergey Vyazovich admitted immediately after the finish. “We had to overcome a large part of the dunes - about 50 km. Many participants had problems there, but we went through it without loss. I think our today's result. Ie the fifth stage put everything in its place, showed the true balance of power ... "

Экипаж Алексея Вишневского на четырех контрольных точках был вторым, показывая время, близкое к Вязовичу. Однако и он на последнем отрезке пропустил вперед Герта Хузинка. На финиш 510-й МАЗ приехал с третьим временем, отстав от победителя на 4 минуты 41 секунду. Но потом судьи внесли коррективы в итоговый протокол: Вишневский оказался четвертым, а на третью строчку поднялся Мартин ван ден Бринк на Renault K-520, которому компенсировали 6 минут за оказание помощи на трассе.

The general classification after five stages pleasantly pleases the eyes of Belarusians. The crew of Sergei Vyazovich - in the first place! Former rally leader Roland Foerman loses him 16 minutes 11 seconds. Peter Versluis, third, is 26 minutes 57 seconds.

The crew of Alexei Vishnevsky from eighth place rose to seventh. His gap from Vyazovich is 47 minutes 17 seconds.

THE OFFICIAL RESULTS of the fifth stage can be found HERE.

The route of the sixth stage of the Morocco Desert Challenge is laid between the settlements of Zagora and Merzouga. Its length is 325 km. This will be another “classic” desert stage with many different “traps”. On the way there are sandy plains from Fuzu to Marabou, the Marekh Canyon, the Uzina Dunes, and longer tracks through the sandy beds. And the transition through Erg-Chebbi will complete the stage.

Starting time for crews: 503rd (Vyazovich / Zaporoshchenko / Sachuk) will start the race at 08:04:00 local time (10:04:00 Minsk time); The 510th (Vishnevsky / Garanin / Murylev) - at 08:10:00 local time (10:10:00 Minsk time).

The international Morocco Desert Challenge Rally runs from April 13th to 20th. Most of the route is laid on the desert and sandy terrain. Unlike other rally-raids, there are no slopes on the track: “combat” segments begin with bivouacs. Riders to overcome 2741 km of special stages, divided into eight stages. Among the obstacles are dunes, soft sands and dry river beds. In the T4 category (trucks), 34 crews went to the start. In addition to MAZ, the following brands participate in the race: DAF, Ginaf, Iveco, MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Renault Truck, Scania. For "MAZ-SPORTavto" this is the first in the history of the team "combat" start in Africa.