The Silk Way Rally might not be Le Mans, but being one of the premier rally raids in the world still makes the White Tiger a worthwhile addition to Roman Rusinov‘s trophy case.
Rusinov won the T3 category for his maiden rally raid victory, a year after the endurance racing champion made his début in the discipline and finished second in class at the 2023 SWR. Sergei Kariakin, who held off Rusinov for last year’s T3 victory, claimed three of the final four stages but electrical issues and a fire in his car’s engine during the post-Stage #7 liaison relegated him to last among the four T3 finishers. Rusinov had electrical issues of his own on the final day but managed to bring it to the finish safely and seal the win.
“We were stressed for the ninety-nine kilometres before the finish, so we drove gently and kept our pace because we understood that we had a big lead and just needed to finish,” Rusinov commented. “This is motorsport, rally raid. There were a lot of small pitfalls, and in some places we drove very slowly. It’s great that we reached the finish line.”
Both Rusinov and Kariakin’s team-mates failed to reach the finish. The former’s G-Drive Racing colleague Anastasiya Nifontova won a leg but exited after crashing into a gully in Stage #9 and rolling. Alexey Shmottev of SNAG Racing, who raced the new Can-Am Maverick R in the Open class, lost control of his car in a tight corner slammed into a tree during the third leg.
Vyacheslav Paputsky, the other retirement in T3 alongside Nifontova, did the same as Shmottev but managed to recover and continue, only for his rally to end two days later when his Yamaha’s engine blew due to defective fuel. Many competitors had bemoaned the fuel quality, provided by Lukoil, and Paputsky recalled a rider who crashed after it caused his bike to stall. Both of Ural Motorsport‘s trucks retired after Alexey Popov crashed into a rut three kilometres into Stage #7 and suffered a compression fracture of the second vertebra while Yuri Naiman broke down just thirty km from the race finish.
Besides Kariakin, none of the class winners from 2023 repeated in 2024. In fact, only half of them even reached the finish.
Siarhei Viazovich, who stunned powerhouse KAMAZ-master last year by leading MAZ-SPORTauto to the outright victory, had his title defence take a bizarre setback when he took a wrong turn in the forest in Stage #3 and nearly collided head on with the KAMAZ of Eduard Nikolaev. Both tangled again throughout the rally, though on the leaderboard instead as Viazovich won two stages to Nikolaev’s four. Nikolaev even beat Viazovich by just fifty-six seconds for the Stage #10 victory.
However, Nikolaev’s colleague Dmitry Sotnikov walked away with the T5 and overall wins, claiming Stages #3, #4, and #9 to edge out Nikolaev by less than nine minutes. Viazovich’s steering column failed during the eighth leg after the oil seal in the control broke; MAZ team-mates Vitaly Murylev and Aliaksei Vishneuski sacrificed their runs to give him the necessary parts, and he joined the Sotnikov and Nikolaev on the podium.
The victory is Sotnikov’s fifth at the Silk Way, having previously won in 2013, 2017, 2021, and 2022. KAMAZ has been the top-performing truck in the race every year save for 2011 (Tatra) and 2023 (MAZ).
“A very intense race until the last kilometre,” began Sotnikov after the last stage. “Today, we started without seeing our opponent so we had to give it our all. It was only during neutralisation did we see that everything was in order. The day was quite treacherous; there were many places where you could have a flat tyre or end up somewhere else. It’s been a busy year and we’ve done a lot of work. It’s great that we did it, first and second places for two teams, and KAMAZ won the title again. A well-deserved victory. The entire crew did a great job.
“The goal for next year? We will fight for victory, as always.”
Andrey Rudskoy, last year’s T1 winner, finished at the back in his class after a rash of engine and tyre problems. Reigning T2 victor Anton Melnikov and bike champion Ilya Scheglov both bowed out halfway through.
With Scheglov out, Mongolia’s Murun Purevdorj hoped to deliver the bike win on home soil. Despite setting the fastest time overall, he received twenty-three minutes of penalties that allowed Aleksey Naumov to claim the victory instead. Nonetheless, a runner-up at the Silk Way builds upon a busy but impressive year for Purevdorj, who scored top-ten finishes at the World Rally-Raid Championship’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and China’s Taklimakan Rally in the spring.
The Federation Automobile Sport of Turkmenistan fielded three cars in T2 and enjoyed a double podium courtesy of Merdan Toylyyev and Maksatmyrat Danatarov. Turkmenistan intends to organise its own rally raid in September with support from the Silk Way Rally Association.
The 2024 SWR was the first since 2019 to extend beyond Russia as it started in Tomsk before crossing the border into Mongolia, finishing in the capital of Ulaanbataar. China was previously scheduled to be on the route before backing out in March.
Even without China on the 2024 route, the country was still represented by Zhou He, who finished fourth in Quad on a Sharmax. Hou Hongning drove a KAMAZ in the Grand Tour, a regularity category, though he served as the control vehicle and was not classified with the others. The Tank 300, an SUV produced by the Chinese Great Wall Motor, had four in the Grand Tour’s top five with Dmitry Fedorov leading the contingent.
As has been the case since 2021, the race was relatively scant in terms of national diversity; the first edition was due to COVID-19 restrictions while the last three have been a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, for which the Silk Way Rally Association was sanctioned by the United States in June. In December, the Russian government lifted a 2022 ban on support vehicles entering the country from Western countries including Ukraine, which the Association hoped would encourage some to take part in the race. This evidently did not work as most hailed from Russia, allies Belarus or Turkmenistan, Mongolia, or the aforementioned Chinese duo. The Grand Tour featured slightly more nationalities as Dusko Bielic is from Serbia, Vasily Kulkov is Swiss, and the #511 (Qasim Hossein and Mohammad Sameh) and #514 (Ali Karful and Eiyas Al-Khatib) teams are respectively Afghan and Syrian.
The Silk Way Rally was the fifth round of the 2024 Russian Rally-Raid Championship.
Route
| Stage | Start | Finish | Selective Sections | Road Sections | Date |
| 1 | Tomsk | Tomsk | 24.96 km | 31.60 km | 5 July |
| 2 | Tomsk | Barnaul | 79.54 km | 438.57 km | 6 July |
| 3 | Barnaul | Gorno-Altaysk | 132.85 km | 218.20 km | 7 July |
| 4 | Gorno-Altaysk | Kosh-Agach | 164.97 km | 449.17 km | 8 July |
| 5 | Kosh-Agach | Khovd | 296.20 km | 259.22 km | 9 July |
| 6 | Khovd | Khovd | 440.17 km | 102.13 km | 10 July |
| 7 | Khovd | Altai | 385.15 km | 127.29 km | 11 July |
| 8 | Altai | Altai | 314.08 km | 178.04 km | 12 July |
| 9 | Altai | Bayankhongor | 422.69 km | 135.34 km | 13 July |
| 10 | Bayankhongor | Mandalgovi | 307.64 km | 255.22 km | 14 July |
| 11 | Mandalgovi | Ulaanbataar | 323.51 km | 55.93 km | 15 July |
Overall results
Cars
T1
| Finish | Overall Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Vehicle | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 12 | 203 | Aleksandr Semenov | Dmitrii Okhotnikov | GAZ Raid Sport | GAZelle NEXT | 45:34:52 | Leader |
| 2 | 14 | 202 | Aleksei Ignatov | Evgeny Pavlov | GAZ Raid Sport | GAZelle NEXT | 48:13:46 | + 2:38:54 |
| 3 | 17 | 201 | Andrey Rudskoy | Dmitrii Karpov | NG-Energo | G-Force Bars | 52:30:44 | + 6:55:52 |
T2
| Finish | Overall Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Vehicle | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 13 | 223 | Andrei Sushentsov | Aleksandr Schanov | S&A Racing | Toyota Land Cruiser 200 | 47:15:01 | Leader |
| 2 | 15 | 220 | Merdan Toylyyev | Shohrat Toylyyev | Federation Automobile Sport of Turkmenistan | Nissan Patrol | 52:24:08 | + 5:09:07 |
| 3 | 18 | 221 | Maksatmyrat Danatarov | Didar Orazmedov | Federation Automobile Sport of Turkmenistan | Nissan Patrol | 52:46:11 | + 5:31:10 |
| 4 | 23 | 224 | Mikhail Mityaev | Egor Okhotnikov | LADA Sport ROSNEFT Raid | Lada Niva Sport | 74:30:45 | + 27:15:44 |
| 5 | 24 | 225 | Meylis Abdullayev | Italmaz Charyyev | Federation Automobile Sport of Turkmenistan | Nissan Patrol | 88:59:08 | + 41:44:07 |
| DNF | DNF | 218 | Anton Melnikov | Anton Nikolaev | PODMOSKOWYE | Toyota Land Cruiser 200 | DNF | N/A |
T3
| Finish | Overall Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Vehicle | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 7 | 206 | Roman Rusinov | Dmitrii Pavlov | G-Drive Racing | Can-Am Maverick X3 | 36:37:46 | Leader |
| 2 | 8 | 208 | Dmitrii Cherkesov | Vladimir Prostakov | Dmitrii Cherkesov | Can-Am Maverick X3 Max XRS Turbo | 37:17:00 | + 39:14 |
| 3 | 9 | 214 | Andrey Novikov | Aleksei Goriunov | G-Force Motorsport | G-Force T-3GF | 42:29:19 | + 5:51:33 |
| 4 | 10 | 205 | Sergei Kariakin | Anton Vlasiuk | SNAG Racing | Can-Am Maverick R | 42:53:04 | + 6:15:18 |
| DNF | DNF | 209 | Anastasiya Nifontova | Kirill Shubin | G-Drive Racing | Can-Am Maverick X3 Max XRS Turbo | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | DNF | 210 | Vyacheslav Paputsky | Igor Chudaykin | Truck Garage Racing Team | Yamaha YXZ1000R | DNF | N/A |
T5
| Finish | Overall Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Mechanic | Team | Vehicle | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 1 | 303 | Dmitry Sotnikov | Ruslan Akhmadeev | Ilgiz Akhmetzynav | KAMAZ-master | KAMAZ-435091 | 29:24:41 | Leader |
| 2 | 2 | 302 | Eduard Nikolaev | Yevgeny Yakovlev | Dmitry Avdeev | KAMAZ-master | KAMA3 435092 | 29:33:32 | + 8:51 |
| 3 | 3 | 301 | Siarhei Viazovich | Pavel Haranin | Andrei Krahelskiy | MAZ-SPORTauto | MAZ-6440RR | 30:47:45 | + 1:23:04 |
| 4 | 4 | 306 | Bogdan Karimov | Dmitrii Nikitin | Almaz Akhmedov | KAMAZ-master | KAMAZ-435091 | 31:02:50 | + 1:38:09 |
| 5 | 5 | 308 | Sergey Kupriyanov | Aleksandr Kupriyanov | Ivan Tatarinov | KAMAZ-master | KAMAZ-43509 | 32:55:33 | + 3:30:52 |
| 6 | 6 | 304 | Aliaksei Vishneuski | Maksim Novikau | Siarhei Sachuk | MAZ-SPORTauto | MAZ-6440RR | 33:27:00 | + 4:02:19 |
| 7 | 11 | 305 | Andrey Karginov | Ivan Malkov | Danil Telepov | KAMAZ-master | KAMAZ-435091 | 43:48:58 | + 14:24:17 |
| 8 | 16 | 312 | Vladimir Moiseev | Aleksandr Laguta | GAZ Raid Sport | GAZelle NEXT | 52:24:50 | + 23:00:09 | |
| 9 | 19 | 311 | Mikhail Shklyaev | Aleksandr Sheludko | GAZ Raid Sport | GAZelle NEXT | 57:44:50 | + 28:20:09 | |
| 10 | 22 | 309 | Vitaly Murylev | Aliaksandr Shved | Pavel Muyliou | MAZ-SPORTauto | MAZ-6440RR | 73:29:40 | + 44:04:5 |
| DNF | DNF | 307 | Yuri Naiman | Dzmitry Vikhrenka | Nikolay Korolev | Ural Motorsport | Ural | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | DNF | 310 | Alexey Popov | Anton Kushnikov | Ivan Teterin | Ural Motorsport | Ural | DNF | N/A |
Open
| Finish | Overall Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Vehicle | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 20 | 222 | Dmitrii Voronov | Kirill Enikeev | LADA Sport ROSNEFT Raid | Lada Niva Sport | 68:05:23 | Leader |
| 2 | 21 | 229 | Sergei Shalygin | Nikita Erzhenin | Sergei Shalygin | Toyota Land Cruiser 200 | 70:50:15 | + 2:44:52 |
| 3 | 25 | 228 | Nikita Yurkovsky | Aleksandr Kuznetsov | CS20 Racing Team | Lada Niva Travel | 164:49:14 | + 96:43:51 |
| DNF | DNF | 227 | Konstantiv Ivanov | Aleksandr Gorkov | PODMOSKOWYE | Toyota Land Cruiser 200 | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | DNF | 215 | Aleksei Shmotev | Ivan Bezdenezhnykh | SNAG Racing | Can-Am Maverick R | DNF | N/A |
Bikes
Cross-Country 450
| Finish | Overall Finish | Number | Rider | Team | Bike | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 1 | 95 | Aleksey Naumov | Federation Free Bikers | Husqvarna FE 450 | 36:07:23 | Leader |
| 2 | 2 | 11 | Murun Purevdorj | Team Mongolia | KTM 450 Rally | 36:20:07 | + 12:44 |
| 3 | 5 | 30 | Ekaterina Zhadanova | Naikom Extreme Motocross | KTM 450 EXC-F | 48:03:36 | + 11:56:13 |
| 4 | 11 | 39 | Pavel Bortvin | ITF | Husqvarna Norden 901 Expedition | 67:47:05 | + 31:39:42 |
| 5 | 12 | 58 | Galmanakh Gantulga | Team Mongolia | KTM 450 Rally | 86:02:19 | + 49:54:56 |
| 6 | 13 | 42 | Rustam Satrudinov | ITF | Husqvarna Norden 901 Expedition | 106:59:38 | + 70:52:15 |
| DNF | DNF | 32 | Ilya Scheglov | Doc_32 | Husqvarna FR 450 Rally | DNF | N/A |
G-Moto
| Finish | Overall Finish | Number | Rider | Team | Bike | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 3 | 1 | Oleg Pavlenko | Pavlenko Oleg MMK | KTM 500 EXC | 41:01:58 | Leader |
| 2 | 7 | 71 | Ivan Li | Ivan Li | Husqvarna FE 450 | 52:05:15 | + 9:03:17 |
| 3 | 9 | 57 | Anton Kruglov | Bionica | KTM 690 Enduro R | 54:12;48 | + 11:10:50 |
| 4 | 14 | 9 | Oleg Smoljarchuk | Enduro-Team | Yamaha Ténéré 700 | 126:57:54 | + 83:55:6 |
| 5 | 15 | 73 | Aleksei Shvetzov | Aleksei Shvetzov | KTM 500 EXC-F | 194:40:46 | + 151:38:48 |
Quad
| Finish | Overall Finish | Number | Rider | Team | Quad | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 4 | 112 | Danil Loginov | Lion Racing Team | Can-Am Renegade XXC 1000R | 44:23:12 | Leader |
| 2 | 6 | 122 | Azat Shaimukhametov | AR Team | Can-Am Renegade XXC 1000R | 49:20:48 | + 4:57:36 |
| 3 | 8 | 111 | Maksim Sdvizhkov | AMA Lipetsk Racing Team | Can-Am Renegade XXC 1000R | 53:10:26 | + 8:47:14 |
| 4 | 10 | 102 | Zhou He | Panda Racing Team | Sharmax | 61:31:34 | + 17:08:22 |
| 5 | 16 | 159 | Aleksandr Gilemov | Sharmax Motors | Sharmax | 291:45:23 | + 247:22:11 |
| DNF | DNF | 123 | Aleksey Sverdlov | AMA Lipetsk Racing Team | Can-Am Outlander Max XTP 1000R | DNF | N/A |
Grand Tour
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Vehicle | Points | Margin |
| 1 | 518 | Dmitry Fedorov | Andrey Sukhov | Tank 300 | 625 | Leader |
| 2 | 525 | Petr Bakanov | Yuri Uyrukov | Tank 300 | 661 | + 36 |
| 3 | 508 | Vladimir Melnikov | Vadim Gagarin | Tank 300 | 765 | + 140 |
| 4 | 523 | Stanislav Kurenkov | Maxim Hunter | Toyota Hilux | 779 | + 154 |
| 5 | 507 | Oleg Kharchenko | Ilya Kangun, Alexander Tyumentsev | Tank 300 | 975 | + 350 |
| 6 | 521 | Anna Alexeev | Ivan Shcherbina, Alexei Korotenko | Tank 300 | 1,042 | + 417 |
| 7 | 501 | Petr Kupriyanov | Artem Sysoikin, Nikita Bobirenko | Toyota Land Cruiser 100 | 1,090 | + 465 |
| 8 | 512 | Timur Khasanov | Alexander Tychinin | Tank 300 | 1,105 | + 480 |
| 9 | 517 | Vadim Rudskikh | Andrey Lychagin | Ford F-150 | 1,139 | + 514 |
| 10 | 522 | Adele Yakupov | Ilnur Batyrov, Ruslan Abdulnasyrov | Toyota Land Cruiser 200 | 1,167 | + 542 |
| 11 | 524 | Natalya Nilekhina | Dmitry Grafsky | Suzuki Jimny | 1,179 | + 554 |
| 12 | 500 | Alexey Kolpakov | Surko Taramov | Jeep Wrangler | 1,263 | + 638 |
| 13 | 519 | Andrey Golik | Pavel Danchenko | Toyota 4Runner | 1,276 | + 651 |
| 14 | 510 | Sergey Lyushnin | Olga Zaytseva | Tank 300 | 1,374 | + 749 |
| 15 | 520 | Vasily Glukhov | Stanislav Kudinov | Jaecoo J8 | 1,451 | + 826 |
| 16 | 509 | Alexander Potapov | Alexander Lapokin, Sergey Zheleznov | Lexus LX450d | 1,627 | + 1,002 |
| 17 | 513 | Artem Cholakyan | Danila Rochev | Toyota Land Cruiser 200 | 1,922 | + 1,297 |
| 18 | 503 | Sergey Utkin | Maria Belyavtseva | Toyota Hilux | 1,954 | + 1,329 |
| 19 | 515 | Matvey Ulyanychev | Dmitry Stepanov | Land Rover Defender | 2,313 | + 1,688 |
| 20 | 506 | Dusko Bielic | Elena Vitkovskaya | Lada Niva Travel | 2,625 | + 2,000 |
| 21 | 504 | Pierre Fornage | Vasily Kulkov, Elena Kulkova | Jetour T2 | 3,000 | + 2,375 |
| 22 | 511 | Qasim Hossein | Mohammad Sameh | Lada Niva Travel | 5,938 | + 5,313 |
| 23 | 502 | Yuri Shashlyuk | Valery Khlebutin | Nissan X-Trail | 6,531 | + 5,906 |
| 24 | 514 | Ali Karful | Eiyas Al-Khatib | Lada Niva Travel | 6,838 | + 6,213 |
| 25 | 505 | Sergey Savin | Alexander Zhivov, Maxim Kulkov | Jetour T2 | 18,112 | + 17,487 |
| GTT | 800 | Hou Hongning | Zhang Ya, Sergey Shportko | KAMAZ-43509 | 1,175 points | N/A |