Samara Region, Syzran, July 20, 2026. The third racing day of the "Hills of Russia" rally concluded with the bivouac moving from Ulyanovsk to the Samara Region. The crews covered two special stages: SS-4 (172.68 km) and SS-5 (82.79 km). The day was fast-paced but simultaneously became a real test for equipment and navigation skills. Heat, mud, and an aggressive tempo led to breakdowns for many participants, and the stewards' panel issued a record number of penalty decisions for route deviations.
For the "GAZ Raid Sport" team, the day unfolded differently: the crew of Alexey Khlebov and Evgeny Pavlov in the "GAZelle NEXT" showed phenomenal pace despite a technical malfunction, significantly strengthening their lead in the "R" class. Alexander Semyonov and Dmitry Okhotnikov in the "Sobol NN" faced serious breakdowns but showed character and reached the finish. The team's truck crews also completed the stage.
The Khlebov/Pavlov crew completed SS-4 with a time of 2:03:01 (plus 2 minutes penalty for speeding in the OS zone and 2 minutes for cutting the route) and SS-5 – 1:07:07. The final time for the third stage, including all penalties, was 3:12:28, which allowed them to strengthen their lead in the "R" class (first place) and rise to ninth place in the overall standings and third in the absolute. At the same time, the crew faced an unexpected problem: the gas pedal failed right from the start of SS-4.
For the Semyonov/Okhotnikov crew, the day turned into a real endurance test. On the "Sobol NN," the bolts on the rear shock absorber sheared off, the driveshafts broke, and a ball joint came off. The crew literally assembled the car in the field but still made it to the finish. On SS-4, they posted a time of 3:14:11, but on SS-5 they faced serious difficulties: being late to the time control, exceeding the time limit, and missing a control point resulted in a penalty of 5 hours 24 minutes and a final time on SS-5 of 7:30:00. After three stages, the crew holds third place in the T2 class.
The third day was memorable not only for the speeds and breakdowns but also for the verdicts from the Board of Sports Commissioners. For deviating from the route on SS-4 (a cut between positions 178 and 180), 18 crews immediately received a two-minute penalty! Almost all leaders in all classes were penalized: No. 202 (A. Cherkesov), No. 203 (A. Novikov), No. 204 (A. Cherednikov), No. 205 (D. Cherkesov), No. 208 (V. Lubeshkin), No. 212 (A. Melnikov), No. 215 (M. Mityaev), No. 216 (A. Khlebov), No. 218 (M. Kirpilev), No. 219 (S. Usok), No. 301 (D. Sotnikov), No. 302 (S. Vyazovich), No. 303 (E. Nikolaev), No. 304 (A. Akhmedov), No. 305 (Y. Naiman), No. 307 (V. Murylev), No. 308 (D. Avdeev), No. 310 (I. Korolev), No. 311 (A. Filyakin), and No. 312 (A. Sheludko).
The episode showed how important navigation is at the "Hills of Russia": even the leaders are not immune to mistakes on the fast and tricky sections of the track. The road book at this point turned out to be ambiguous, and almost all crews fell into the same trap.
After three stages, the crew of Eduard Nikolaev in the KAMAZ Extreme Plus leads the absolute standings (6:23:01), second is Sergey Vyazovich in the MAZ 6440RR (+0:32), and third is Dmitry Sotnikov in the KAMAZ-435091 (+1:03). In the Absolute, Alexey Cherkesov is still first, and Andrey Novikov is still in second place, just 23 seconds behind the Belgorod driver. Alexey Khlebov is third in the absolute, also holds ninth place in the overall standings, and confidently leads the "R" class. In T2 for production SUVs, there is also no change – Andrey Sushentsov is in first place.
Tomorrow, July 21, the crews will face the final special stage SS-6, almost 200 km long, after which the awards ceremony will take place. For GAZ Raid Sport, this is the last chance to strengthen their positions and finish the race on a high note. Mechanics are already working on restoring the cars to get them ready for the final battle.
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