20 June 2025
Peking to Paris 2025 Enters Its Final Week!
The Peking to Paris Motor Challenge is now in its final stretch, wrapping up an incredible journey that has taken competitors through sand dunes, deserts, winding roads, and endless breathtaking views.
This final week began in Istanbul, where an early start launched participants on a 260km highway run to the Bulgarian border. Once across, the day unfolded as a concentration run on Bulgaria’s largely empty highways. Although two regularity sections were originally planned, heavy civilian traffic forced the cancellation of the first. That left just one 20km regularity, winding around the scenic Topolnitsa Reservoir in the Sredna Gora mountain range.
A well-earned rest day in Sofia gave crews a valuable opportunity to prepare their vehicles for the final push to Paris, with reliability just as important as speed. Leaving Sofia, competitors faced a challenging 618km drive across a maze of small roads and long highway stretches. After navigating difficult terrain, the route began to climb into the lower foothills of the Balkan Mountains, following the picturesque path of the Iskar River through the Iskar Gorge. These hills hosted two hillclimb regularity sections, spaced 100km apart. After these tests, the rally crossed into Romania and continued with a long 360km transit. The journey through Romania’s heavily trafficked DN6 and DN56 roads required patience, as drivers contended with slow-moving HGVs.
Eventually, the course turned away from the main roads, opening up to several hundred kilometres of enjoyable driving. The final test of the day was adjusted to a remote one, freeing up the last 170km for relaxed travel without time pressure. Midway through this stretch, the rally passed through the mountain town of Reșița, home to the open-air Locomotive Museum. The day ended in the stunning city of Timișoara, rich with historical architecture.
Before departing Romania, the competitors tackled another gravel-based regularity, which started over disused railway tracks. The road itself was well graded and wide, though were sharing the route with various tipper trucks. Once in Hungary, a lengthy run led toward the final regularity of the day. At around 460km into the leg, competitors faced a surprise reg test that challenged navigation and timing. Despite tricky route-finding and uneven roads, competitors performed well under pressure.
Since JT performed emergency surgery on his Bentley last week to fix a rogue connection from enduring harsh terrain in Kazakhstan, they are now enjoying the smooth open European roads heading to the final straight tough roads of Asia. Now in Salzburg, Austria, the rally is in its final days. Ahead lies the crossing into Germany, then through Switzerland, and finally into France - where the finish line in Paris awaits on Sunday.
We are looking forward to bringing the VB team to Paris and celebrate all the competitors who have endured one of the most demanding 37-day adventures of their lives.
Thanks to Hero-Era, Jonathan Turner and Nick for keeping us updated and Ian Skelton and Will Broadhead for capturing imagery.
See you in Paris!
