Trucks

Before the rest day at the current Dakar rally marathon, the team expected an extremely difficult special stage between Hail and Riyadh with a length of 478 km. It differed from the previous stages in that it was almost completely sandy with a large number of dunes.

The crews were required to have special off-road maneuvering skills, and the intermediate leader of the overall standings Andrei Karginov from KamAZ-master perfectly coped with his task. He confidently held the first position throughout the distance, gradually breaking away from compatriot Anton Shibalov.

At the finish line, Karginov was 4 minutes 21 seconds ahead of his teammate. In total, it took him 4 hours 56 minutes 18 seconds to complete the route. The third to the finish line was the Belarusian crew of MAZ-SPORTauto Sergei Vyazovich.

“An interesting sandy special stage with almost no stones, very fast and fast roads. Small dunes began to roll in, remember them and feel the car, that's it. The truck fails, everything is fine. Navigation is complicated, but everything is in order, the whole crew is working on navigating, ”Karginov shared his impressions of the stage.

Shibalov noted that he was pleased with his result. According to him, at the beginning of the journey the crew experienced some problems, but then everything went smoothly.

“I think these were minimal losses relative to other participants. We are glad that the Dakar equator has arrived. The main thing now is to bring the result. Today a variety of routes has gone, there were almost no stones. All day fast roads, high and uncomplicated dunes, interesting in their configuration. We drove quietly, ”said the rider.

The winner of the previous stage, Russian Dmitry Sotnikov this time finished fourth.

Unfortunately, the worst fears of the fans regarding the Russian crew of Eduard Nikolaev were confirmed. On the eve of the truck there were problems with the engine, and the team was forced to spend a sleepless night fixing it, which took a total of 14 hours. By the beginning of the sixth stage, the breakdown was corrected, but at the 33rd km the car got up completely.

“The whole car is oiled and stands motionless on a sandy plateau. The crew is fine. The management of KamAZ sent a technical assistance vehicle to evacuate the truck and crew, ”the press service said.

Nikolaev is the winner of the Dakar rally of the last three years. In total, he has five triumphs in the overall standings of trucks.

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Publication by Dakar Rally (@dakarrally) Jan 10, 2020 @ 2:17 am PST

Following the results of six special stages, KAMAZ strengthened its leading position. Karginov takes first place, 19 minutes 14 seconds ahead of Shibalov. The first three closes Vyazovich.

ATVs

In the classification of all-terrain vehicles, the main hope of Russian fans is the winner of the 2017 Dakar Sergey Karjakin. After the fifth special stage, he headed the general protocol, but failed to stay on it and dropped to third place.

Triumphant of the sixth stage was the Spaniard Gerard Farres Guel. The second place went to Chilean Francisco Lopez Kontardo, who also squeezed the Russian. The intermediate three of the stage was closed by the Brazilian Reynaldo Varela.

Karjakin is 30 minutes 24 seconds behind the new leader and still has a chance of winning.

“The car does not reach its maximum speed - 110 instead of 130 kilometers per hour. Plus changed the variator belt, one wheel. There were also problems with the collapse of the rear wheels, ”explained Anton Vlasyuk, the navigator of the crew after the finish.

SUVs

In off-road races, once again, a battle unfolded between motorsport stars Stefan Petransel, Karl Sainz Sr. and Nasser Al-Attiyah. Pilots of “Toyota” succeeded each other throughout the special stage, but at the finish line the Frenchman was stronger than the Spaniard, winning him 1 minute and 35 seconds.

In the final protocol, at the moment, the same racers are in the lead, but in a different order: Sainz - the senior takes the first place, Al-Attiy - the second (+7.46), and Petransel - the third (+16.18). The Russians Alexander Dorosinsky and Denis Krotov at MINI are in 18th and 19th place with a gap of 3.5 hours.

One of the participants got into a serious accident, to which the special attention of sports fans was riveted. Co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers Basketball Club, billionaire Bobby Patton lost control of the fourth kilometer of the race and rolled over several times on his Toyota. As a result of the accident, navigator Robbie Pierce suffered a back injury.

Motorcycles and ATVs

In the motorcycle class, American Ricky Bradek won his second victory at the current Dakar. He was 1 minute 34 seconds ahead of his Honda partner, Spaniard Joan Barred Bort, and strengthened his lead in the overall standings. Russian Dmitry Agoshkov finished 63rd.

In the ATV competition, Frenchman Simon Wits became a triumph.

The stage race will resume on January 12. The distance of the seventh special section of Riyadh - Wadi al-Dawasir will be 546 km.