Trucks
The KamAZ crew led by Andrei Karginov won the Dakar rally-raid in Saudi Arabia. He retained leadership in the overall standings of trucks following the last stage, which took place between Harad and Al-Qiddia. For Karginov, this success was the second in his career after a victory in 2014. And then, and now his partner was Andrei Mokeev. For the mechanic Igor Leonov who accompanied them, this victory was the first at the Dakar.
The final 12th stage was 447 km long, and the special stage was only 167 km - the segment was shortened due to repair work. Karginov’s separation from another KamAZ pilot Anton Shibalov was more than 39 minutes and allowed him to calmly pass the route, which the organizers called the hardest for the whole last week.
But Karginov did not restrain himself - he had a chance to win the seventh stage in one rally-raid, which has not been possible to anyone since the time of Vladimir Chagin at the victorious Dakar 2011. At the 69th kilometer, Karginov was 23 seconds ahead of Shibalov and remained the first in the next cut-off when the current Dakar champion Eduard Nikolaev and Alexey Vishnevsky at MAZ entered the leading three. Closer to the finish line, Karginov broke even further from his pursuers. As a result, he won more than two minutes against Vishnevsky and Nikolaev, who still did not fight for victory in the overall standings.
🏁 STAGE 12 - TRUCKS 🏁
1. Andrey Karginov
2. Aliaksei Vishneuski + 2'01 ”
3. Eduard Nikolaev + 2'07 ”
+ info ➡️ https://t.co/qTNrMHIKg1#Dakar2020pic.twitter.com/JZwhywOlux
As a result of all 12 stages, Karginov’s separation from Shibalov was more than 42 minutes. The third place at the Dakar was taken by the MAZ crew under the leadership of Sergei Vyazovich. After the finish, Karginov said that he was glad to be the first Dakar triumphant in Saudi Arabia.
“I am happy that I managed to win. In two weeks we have overcome difficult thousands of kilometers with the most difficult off-road routes. It was important for us to confirm the superiority of KamAZ in the freight classification of Dakar and to show the advantage of Russian equipment in the new region for the rally marathon. I’m glad that our team became the first again and pleased the fans in Russia and around the world, ”Karginov told the team’s press service.
For KamAZ, this success at Dakar was 17th in the history of the rally-raid. And all in all, the pilots of the Russian team found themselves in the first three of the truck standings 39 times. For the fourth time in a row, two crews climbed onto the podium.
ATVs
In the standings of all-terrain vehicles, Sergey Karyakin and Anton Vlasyuk were more important to keep the second place than to try to climb to the first. The lag behind the American Casey Curry was still too big - to play 45 and a half minutes is possible only because of the descent. But the separation of Russians from the Chilean Francisco Lopez Kontardo was only 12 minutes, which could easily be lost due to a puncture.
But the path to Al-Qiddia, the entertainment city founded last year, was calm for Karjakin. The whole special stage, he stayed in the first four, while Curry and Lopez were inferior to him from a few seconds to several minutes.
The champion of 2018, Reynaldo Varela, won the 12th stage. Karjakin finished fourth. In the overall standings, the Russian kept the second place and for the first time after success in the standings of ATVs in 2017, he rose to the podium according to the results of the rally raid. The best race car driver in the classification of all-terrain vehicles remained Curry, for whom it was only the second “Dakar" in his career.
Make it two first for 🇺🇸 on # Dakar2020! @CaseyCurrie is set to claim his 2nd overall victory on the world's toughest and biggest rally!
He still needs to cover the @qiddiya Grand Prix and reach the finish podium to take the 🏆
📸 ASO / DPPI /. F. Gooden pic.twitter.com/PcLSCcAyOk
SUVs
Exciting was the final stage for off-road vehicles, which until the last it was not clear what kind of three general winners will take. If the leading Spaniard Carlos Sainz could still be confident in his ten-minute break, then Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah and Frenchman Stefan Peteransel were only six seconds apart.
By the 69th kilometer, Al-Attiyah overtook his main rival and created a gap of three minutes at the special stage. The French racer stabilized the backlog and beat several unsuitable racers, but could not recoup. Al-Attiyah won the last leg and even eliminated four minutes behind the sixth-final Sainz. The Spaniard won the Dakar for the third time, catching Al-Attiyah in the number of titles.
🇪🇸 CAMPEONES!
Este 3er Dakar ha sido muy duro pero lo hemos disfrutado!
Me sigo divirtiendo, y hemos ido todos los días al ataque.
Grande @ LucasCruz74 y gracias a todos por vuestro apoyo estas semanas! pic.twitter.com/i1QPHP5mNQ
Russian navigator Konstantin Zhiltsov, together with the pilot Yazid Al-Raji finished “Dakar” in fourth place. They were not winners of any of the stages, but at the same time outside the top three were better than other competitors.
Motorcycles and ATVs
The smallest reduction in the final stage was supposed to affect the showdown among motorcyclists, however, they also had no changes in the top three. Chilean Pablo Quintanilla could not build on the success of the previous day, when he won a few minutes at the first place in the overall standings of American Ricky Brabek. On the contrary, the Chilean was even a little behind, while Brabek fought for the victory in the last leg and in less than a minute lost to another Chilean Jose Cornejo. The third at the Dakar among motorcyclists was the New Zealander Toby Price.
There were 12 participants in the standings of the ATVs, and the final stage did not allow any of them to swap places with their neighbor. Chilean Ignacio Casale won the Dakar for the third time in this class, ahead of the Frenchman Simon Wits by 18 minutes and more than an hour from the most experienced Pole Rafal Sonic.
Grande campeón 🏆! El piloto 🇨🇱 Ignacio Casale, logró su tercer título en el Rally @dakar categoría Quads, tras 16 etapas de esta competencia. El nacional fue apoyado por @MindepChile a través de Donaciones Deportivas. Felicitaciones a un grande de nuestro deporte !! # ChileCompitepic.twitter.com / LBNNTid0of
- #ChileCompite 🥇🥈🥉 (@INDChileOficial) January 17, 2020