After a very hard day for all the competitors, caravan of 2016 Taklimakan Rally hit the road to the South-West of Xinjiang Province. The second stage, long of 470 kilometers, led the competitors from Tacheng to Karamay.
Very late yesterday night, while 85 competitors did not reach to cross the finish line of the first stage because they were stucked in the mud, the clerck of the race took the decision to stop the classification at CP1.
Philippe Gache and Stéphane Prévot on their buggy went through a real nightmare during yesterday’s stage. Hopefully today, the car number 129 has lived a way better day. Even though they were P30 at the start of the special stage this morning, the franco-belgium team has crossed at the first place the finish line of a 296 kilometers selective section which was fast at the first part, and then became more tortuous. The day could have been perfect for HanWei  Motorsport team if HanWei or Jean-Pierre Garcin, while they were lost, did not make a roll over. Nothing serious, only few hours will be necessary to fix the car. The number 101 yellow buggy, eleventh of the stage 2 and still leading overall classification, have crossed the finish line in the wheels of Philippe Gache and Stéphane Prévot.     
Kun Liu and Hongyu Pan win the stage on Mistubishi Pajero. In a very tricky stage with many changes in direction and parallel tracks, the Chinese pair did not make any mistake during the whole selective section. Kun Liu and Hongyu Pan are very good on every field and could really hope to get a very good result in the overall classification at the end of the rally.
In bike category, Armand Monleón was the fastest today. However, due to the lost of his time card, he received a penalty of one hour from the clerck of the race. Winner of his first stage in 2016 Taklimakan Rally, the Spanish rider, who used to train with Marc Coma, stayed with Min Ji Fang on KTM in the first part of the stage, and then moved up a gear.
The Chinese rider, winner of the stage by decision, increases his lead at the first place in the overall classification, more than one hour before Armand Monleón.  Wen Min su on Jincheng could not follow the pace due to a fall in the first part of the selective section. He takes advantage of Armand Monleón’s penalty to finish second in spite of a pain in the knee and ankle.
Thierry Traccan, who enters his second cross-country rally, learns day after day and finish seventh. Willy Jobard ran out of petrol five kilometers before a CP. Thanks to Cheng Su on Yamaha, he has reached Karamay without having lost too much time.
This « new city » is increasing incredibly since few years thanks to oil used massively in the area.  
Tomorrow, on Wednesday May 18th, competitors of 2016 Taklimakan Rally will continue to go down in the south of the Xinjiang Province. A long stage of 770 kilometers including 320 kilometers of selective section will be on program. Competitors will put their wheels for the first time of the rally on the sand.

Press: Taklimakan Rally