INTERNATIONAL MOTORING NEWS - Cyril Despres and David Castera in their #104 Peugeot 2008 DKR have won the 2016 Silk Way Rally.
Their victory comes in the wake of the success of Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret in January's Dakar rally.
These recent successes are further evidence of the Peugeot 2008 DKR's performance and reliability. It also rewards the hard work put in by everyone at Peugeot Sport over the past two years. The team's solidarity and team spirit are hallmarks of both the team and the crews, as they showed once again over the 10 000km between Moscow and Beijing.
From start to finish, the Peugeot 2008 DKR models delivered a combination of performance and impeccable reliability. None of the three cars suffered any technical problems of note in the course of the punishing schedule.
The last day's menu included a 261km stage, which they needed to complete without making any mistakes, but at a good pace without pushing their mechanicals too hard. Despite a scare towards the end and a minor alert, which Jean Paul Cottret (#100 co-driver) soon settled, they posted the day's sixth-fastest time to seal the win on only their fourth outing on four wheels.
Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena concluded the Silk Way Rally with their 10th top-three stage time of the fortnight. Their consistency and ability to learn as the event progressed allowed the nine-time world rally champions to demonstrate that their new cross-country rally career is going from strength to strength, despite a navigational error three days from the end which relegated them to seventh overall.
After seeing their bid for victory end when they rolled on Leg 5, Peterhansel and Cottret provided invaluable rear-guard assistance and flawless solidarity to the finish,
helping the #102 and #104 Peugeots on several occasions. They felt comfortable in their role and admitted that the fortnight had been tremendous fun and given them a completely fresh take on the sport.
"This team exudes team spirit, in every area. The most visible examples on this event were the way the three crews helped each other out as when everyone in the team pitched in to rebuild Stéphane and Jean-Paul's car. We are naturally very pleased to have won this extremely difficult rally which enabled us to showcase the quality of the Peugeot 2008 DKR. As the small number of incidents we had to report suggests, it now forms a matured package.
Our objective was to gain more experience with the car and the crews, to reach Beijing with all three cars and win. We succeeded in ticking all those boxes," said Bruno Famin, team manager of Team Peugeot Total and director of Peugeot Sport.
"Winning is an incredible, fantastic feeling and it still hasn't really sunk in. It's the first time I've won a rally with David. We have learnt so much since the start in Moscow. We were fastest on almost one stage in two, we have grown in confidence and we had tremendous fun. Peugeot Sport did a super job and I would like the them all for that. The car was brilliant. I really like competing on four wheels now!" Despres exclaimed.
Peterhansel (15th overall) commented, "The Peugeot 2008 DKR is really an incredible car. It ran like clockwork and was competitive every day of the event. A big thanks for that to everyone at Peugeot Sport. It was a very interesting rally for us. The terrain was extremely varied and the conditions were very hard at times, include some blistering heat. We are disappointed that we weren't able to challenge for the win but we are delighted for Cyril and David.
Cyril stopped competing on motorcycles just two years ago and here he is already winning on four wheels!"
Peugeot in the Silk Way Rally
9 stage wins from 12 (Stages 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12 and 13)
1 one-two finish (10) and one one-two-three finish (9)
9 stages with two cars in the top three (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13)
5 stage wins for Cyril Despres and David Castera (3, 5, 7, 9 and 12)
4 stage wins for Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean Paul Cottret (1, 4, 10 and 13)
10 stage podiums for Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena (four times second and one victory)
