The Silk Way Rally was back after a two-year hiatus. The eleventh edition of the event was held in Russia over the last two weeks. Organizers and competitors faced several challenges that included rescheduling routes due to COVID-19. Despite everything, the event continued on.
Silk Way Rally head Vladimir Chagin said, “I am glad that this edition of the Silk Way Rally attracted a lot of attention from the competitors and spectators. The racers were able to demonstrate their skills in the challenging conditions of the Siberian off-road and mountainous regions of Altai. Unfortunately, the situation with a pandemic interfered with the race, and in force majeure conditions we canceled the Mongolian part of the route. In the shortest possible time, the Rally Directorate was able to solve a difficult task and continue the competition across the territory of our country. I am sure that all competitors will take the warmest impressions of the beauty of our nature and uncompromising sports fight on the Silk Way routes with them.
Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit came away with the overall rally win. Chicherit and his team had their work cut out for them, only taking the lead as the rally went into its last day. Matthais Walkner was successful on the KTM. Walkner had several strong finishes earning him the overall win. Skyler Howes was crowned runner up finishing second overall in the bike classification. Howes had a strong performance in the fifth and final stage of the rally. Over in the UTV category, Sergei Kariakin took the victory in his Can-AM Maverick.
We will have expanded coverage of the 2021 Silk Way Rally in the August Issue of DirtSportsWorld.
Images courtesy of Silk Way Rally & Husqvarna
