Mongolia’s Murun Purevdorj is enjoying a pretty good year. Six months after making his Dakar Rally debut, he returned to his home country with a bang as he won Stage 4 of the Silk Way Rally.

Purevdorj set the fastest Moto time in Tuesday’s run from Ulan-Ude to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar, clearing overall leader Ilya Shcheglov by 8:23. Shcheglov made a handful of navigation errors on what many called a very fast course, which Purevdorj capitalized on to pass him.

“It’s always nice to be back home, especially in the capital Ulaanbaatar,” he stated. “The stage was pretty fast. I was cautious but tried to build up speed and the gap between me and my friend Ilya.”

Shcheglov tried to regain ground on his rival but was unable to overtake him in return due to the dust, and instead ended up riding into two ditches. He still holds a 5:48 advantage over Purevdorj in the overall, though obviously the result means the gap was sliced down from 14:11 entering Tuesday.

“I’m happy that I feel I can fight him on his homeland,” Shcheglov opined. “The main thing is not to make mistakes yourself. Our pace is absolutely the same: sometimes I catch up with him, sometimes he’s being cautious.”

While Shcheglov still has the advantage, the same couldn’t be said in the malle moto-styled G-Moto Challenge as Oleg Pavlenko, who had been leading the class since the start, had a rough day. He rode with Shcheglov before the later pulled away, only to get lost while trying to catch up. Pavlenko tried to link up with the Turkmen competing in the T2 class to find his way but had little success there too. Once he got back on course, he spotted a media helicopter flying overhead and showed off a bit only to get lost again. As he tried to pass a car, he nearly crashed into a ravine.

After everything, he still managed to finish fifth overall but was third in G-Moto Challenge. Ivan Li topped the class, beating Ekaterina Zhadanova by 11 minutes and Pavlenko by 15:35 to take the lead. Pavlenko fell to third, he and Zhadanova both over ten minutes back of Li.

Even though trucks occupied the top seven, the Mongolian steppes seemed to be an equalizer for cars too. Dmitry Voronov, who finished second in Open and 16th overall, recalled a few moments where he briefly caught up to the trucks before a flat tire set him back.

Dmitry Sotnikov led a KAMAZ 1–2 with 5:44 on Eduard Nikolaev. Despite a damaged wheel, Siarhei Viazovich joined them on the stage podium after edging out their teammate Almaz Akhmedov by 32 seconds for third; Akhmedov nearly lost the brakes in the final 15 kilometers after the air inside disappeared. Anton Shibalov, Yuri Naiman, and Vitaliy Murylev closed out the top seven run by trucks before the Cherkesov brothers followed.

Shibalov lost the overall lead to Viazovich, who now holds the top spot with 1:07 on him. Sotnikov sits 23rd, his standing ruined by gearbox issues in Stage 3.

Dmitry Cherkesov, the younger of the brothers, beat Alexey by just three seconds for the T3 class win. Pavel Andreev topped T1 despite getting lost and having to yield to a faster car at one moment.

Anastasiya Nifontova retired after she “chose the wrong [road]” and rolled.

Stage 4 winners

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1	10	204	Pavel Andreev	404 Racing Team	2:43:52
T2	25	215	Maksatmyrat Danatarov	Federation of Automobile Sport of Turkmenistan	3:17:33
T3	8	209	Dmitry Cherkesov	Dmitry Cherkesov	2:42:58
T5	1	301	Dmitry Sotnikov	KAMAZ-master	2:16:01
Open	14	220	Mikhail Mityaev	Lada Sport Auto Finance	2:55:00

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
Motorally 450	1	11	Murun Purevdorj	Team Mongolia	2:48:49
Motorally Quad	6	129	Dmitry Kalinin	RM Sport	3:59:27
Motorally Open	17	59	Grigory Lein	SWD Racing	15:46:00
G-Moto Challenge	3	71	Ivan Li	Ivan Li	3:07:17

Leaders after Stage 4

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1	7	204	Pavel Andreev	404 Racing Team	6:20:50
T2	19	215	Maksatmyrat Danatarov	Federation of Automobile Sport of Turkmenistan	2:19:14
T3	6	207	Alexey Cherkesov	Alexey Cherkesov	6:05:21
T5	1	302	Siarhei Viazovich	MAZ-SPORTauto	5:37:26
Open	12	217	Dmitry Voronov	Lada Sport Auto Finance	6:54:21

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
Motorally 450	1	32	Ilya Shcheglov	Doc 32	6:50:56
Motorally Quad	8	129	Dmitry Kalinin	RM Sport	9:03:11
Motorally Open	16	59	Grigory Lein	SWD Racing	21:01:43
G-Moto Challenge	3	71	Ivan Li	Ivan Li	7:22:43

Featured image credit: NG-Energo Rally Team