Iveco-power is keeping Gerald de Rooy's Ginaf truck firmly in the rally lead as the Dutchman steers clear of all the drama hitting the 10,000 kilometre long Trans Orientale adventure which has reached the half way point as it enters China.

Iveco-power is keeping Gerald de Rooy's Ginaf truck firmly in the rally lead as the Dutchman steers clear of all the drama hitting the 10,000 kilometre long Trans Orientale adventure which has reached the half way point as it enters China.

Stage 8 brought with it the longest timed special of the rally, at 446 km, with a 732 km total distance, taking the surviving competitors from Botakara to Ayaguz. Held under excellent climatic conditions in Kazakhstan the marathon test got underway with an alternating flat and mountainous course. After day of hard racing across the steppe and gravel tracks, Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz) posted the performance of the day with a record time of 4 hours 50:28 seconds. De Rooy came in second more than 8 minutes later, with Hans Stacey third.

This served to close up the rankings in the truck category, but an impending close fight for the lead was reduced when in the evening, Vladimir Chagin announced his decision to withdraw from the event, subsequent to the dramatic accident in which he was involved several days before. The entire Kamaz team also withdrew from the race as an expression of solidarity, as indicated by Semen Yakoubov, the Russian team manager, during the daily briefing with organiser René Metge.

The next stage took the caravan from Kazakhstan into China. The scenic but short 82 km timed test went took the crews along winding tracks cutting across the slopes of mount Altai. Stacey (MAN) finished as the fastest truck, followed by Bekx (DAF) and Vila (Mercedes). De Rooy however suffered a setback, loosing 14 minutes to stage winner Stacey.

This means though that De Rooy retains the lead of the truck category overall, and is ranked 34 minutes ahead of Stacey. And the highly experienced rally-raid competitor, Pep Vila, is holding third place, however the Spaniard is already a massive 2 hours and 50 minutes behind De Rooy. Meanwhile the car category rankings are led by another Spanish competitor, Monterde in a Schlesser Buggy. Slovakian two-wheeler Katrinak (KTM) is successfully defending his bike rankings lead so far. The inaugural Trans Orientale, which has been blighted by the recent death of two competitors, finishes in Beijing on 28th June.