Silk Way Rally  Stage 5: Astrakhan to Volgograd

Joan ‘Nani’ Roma and co-driver Alex Haro in a MINI John Cooper Works Rally win Stage 5 of Silk Way Rally in Russia.
MINI crew of Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk retain lead of 2018 Silk Way Rally (First Edition) with second place in Stage 5.

MINI Motorsport leads the 2018 Silk Way Rally (First Edition) for the second day in succession. Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and co-driver Timo Gottschalk (GER) in a MINI John Cooper Works Rally, finished today’s Stage 5 in second place and extended their overall time advantage.
 
The winner of Stage 5 – the longest stage of seven at 552.71km total distance – was the MINI Family crew of Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (ESP) and co-driver Alex Haro (ESP), also in a MINI John Cooper Works Rally. Today’s result is quite special for Roma after retiring from Stage 1 with injury. Despite receiving a severe time penalty, Roma and Haro’s spirits were not dampened and they have pushed hard to achieve top five results and move up the leader board to 19th overall.
 
Roma: “The first kilometres were quite tricky and bumpy with a lot of water everywhere. I followed a buggy for some distance but eventually passed and then caught and passed Yazeed. For the next 150-200 kilometres we led the route, which was quite nice and Alex was doing a good job. It’s good today to see the two MINI John Cooper Works Rally in front. I hope that Yazeed wins the race.”
 
The next stage of the 2018 Silk Way Rally (First Edition) race is Stage 6, Volgograd to Lipetsk – a total distance of 776.78km, of which are 317.15km are the Special Stage section.