Trucks
The 43rd Dakar rally-marathon started on January 2 with a technical inspection and a short prologue 11 km long.
The most successful in this segment were the Belarusian MAZ pilots Sergei Vyazovich and Aleksey Vishnevsky, who took the first two places.
However, the real struggle began on Sunday in the Jeddah-Bisha section (277 km).
In very difficult conditions, many pilots faced problems.
Unfortunately, one of them was the reigning rally-raid champion Andrey Karginov.
The KAMAZ-master racer has a broken water radiator fan, presumably after being hit by a stone.
Elimination of the consequences of the malfunction took an hour and a half.
As a result, at the finish, the Russian lagged behind the first place by 1: 31.31.
Fortunately, other members of the Russian team felt more confident.
Dmitry Sotnikov, Anton Shibalov and Airat Mardeev took the lead and alternately replaced each other at the top.
As a result, luck smiled at Sotnikov, who, unlike his teammates, avoided problems at the special stage and finished first, exactly eight minutes ahead of the Czech Ales Loprais from the Praga team.
“From the start we were following Andrey (Karginov -
RT
), constantly keeping him in sight.
I think he saw us in the mirrors too.
Together we fought with the dust that prevented us from getting close to other trucks.
Slowly they began to catch up, they saw Andrey standing, but he showed that he did not need help, ”the official website of the team quotes Sotnikov as saying.
“Then there was a difficult rocky area, where some of the cars were parked with punctured wheels or were driving very slowly.
I had to be very careful, ”he added.
But for Shibalov and Mardeev, the stage turned out to be not so cloudless.
Ayrat took only tenth place, having lost 25 minutes to find the road.
“We came back several times.
We spent about 25 minutes on this.
It's good that we took all the "points" and tried to attack as much as possible in the last 50 km in order to win back the lost time.
The pace was generally good, but there is work to be done.
The new device in navigation brought its zest, it seemed that there would be less work for navigators, but it only became more difficult, ”Mardeev said.
In turn, Shibalov's crew had to change the wheel after a puncture.
Perhaps this prevented him from winning the special stage - Anton showed the third result, losing to Sotnikov just over eight minutes.
After the finish, the athlete complained about the large number of stones on the track, as well as low bushes and trees that "harmed cars."
“In the course of the distance, we caught up with Matsik and one of the MAZs, signaled them, but they didn't really try to let us pass.
I had to follow them in the dust along the winding rocky canyons, where they caught a large stone.
We saw him at the last moment, tried to leave, but ran over with the front right wheel.
The replacement took about ten minutes.
We lost five more without getting back on track.
Such a trap was waiting for us, and Matsik also wandered around.
We got out and went to the finish line, ”said Shibalov.
The second stage between the cities of Bisha and Wadi al-Dawasir with a length of 457 km was also successful for Sotnikov.
The Russian again managed without serious breakdowns, won a second victory and strengthened his leadership in the overall standings.
“Three kilometers after the start, serious dunes began, and we tried not to force them.
I didn't even manage to take one of the dunes the first time, I had to go down and repeat the maneuver.
We saw many jeeps hanging on the peaks, few were ready for this.
The dunes were very loose and plump, and we tried to drive safely.
After 170 km, more high-speed roads started.
In the zone of neutralization, our guys were not seen.
And the second part of the stage was faster and more navigable, ”Sotnikov said.
This time Mardeev also avoided serious problems, finishing second.
Vyazovich took the third place.
Moreover, during the first stage, the Belarusian broke a finger on his hand, which did not prevent him from driving.
But Karginov at the current "Dakar" seems to be haunted by evil fate.
On Monday, he had to repair the wheels twice after punctures.
Andrey spent half an hour on this and finished only 11th.
The lag behind Sotnikov in the overall standings is now almost two hours.
The second place in the total is taken by Vyazovich (+ 17 minutes 14 seconds), the third - Shibalov (+ 22.03).
But Mardeev received a minute penalty from the judges and dropped to sixth place in the overall standings, skipping ahead of Loprais, although this did not prevent him from remaining second at the end of the stage.
✌️ Dunes, dunes and more dunes ... Here are the top moments from the 2nd stage # Dakar2021pic.twitter.com / KwiZ7lmq2Z
- DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 4, 2021
SUVs
Enough in the first two days of the competition "Dakar" and other interesting events.
So, in the class of off-road vehicles, the most experienced Stefan Peteransel and Carlos Sainz, as well as the three-time champion of the rally-raid Nasser Al-Attiyah, began an exciting struggle for victory.
It was the Qatari who won the prologue and opened the race at the first stage, while Sainz moved nine out of 11 kilometers with a punctured wheel and lost 40 seconds.
But this did not stop the reigning champion from catching up not only Al-Attiyah, but also Peteransel, who fought among themselves for most of the stage.
As a result, the Spaniard was 22 seconds ahead of the Frenchman, and the representative of Qatar fell back to tenth place.
But on Monday he managed to organize an impressive chase.
Nasser won the stage ahead of both Peterhansel and Sainz.
In the overall standings, the Frenchman is in the lead, behind the Spaniard by 6 minutes 37 seconds and Al-Attiyah by 9 minutes 14 seconds.
As for the Russians, they did not achieve much success at the start of the rally-raid.
Vladimir Vasiliev in total is in 14th place.
At the first stage, he faced a number of problems: the loss of the hood, a broken wheel and errors in navigation.
As a result, the domestic racer finished 28th without power steering.
In 15th place in the overall standings are Yasir Seaydan and his Russian navigator Alexei Kuzmich.
Viktor Khoroshavtsev and Denis Krotov are 33rd and 42nd respectively.
🚗 @AlAttiyahN knows how to ride the dunes.
He's leading stage 2. 💪 # Dakar2021pic.twitter.com / k2sn8QPBo7
- DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 4, 2021
ATVs
In the ATV class, Sergey Karjakin did not start very successfully.
However, the Russian faced problems as early as Saturday, when it took him an hour and a half to pass the technical commission.
According to the athlete, this was due to an "administrative error."
His SNAG Racing Team put the driver in the wrong class.
As a result, the problem was solved, but at the starting stages Karjakin took seventh and sixth places.
However, he is only 7 minutes 11 seconds behind the overall leader Francisco Lopez Kontardo of South Racing Can-Am.
And most importantly, Sergei avoided breakdowns.
The first stage of the Dakar was remembered for the victory of Cristina Gutierrez Herrero, who won the section at the main rally-marathon for the first time.
However, on Monday, the Spaniard finished only 11th, rolling back to fourth place in the total.
All the top three this time were taken by Can-Am riders: Saleh Al-Saif, Gerard Farres-Guell and Kontardo.
It was the Chilean who broke into the leaders of the overall standings.
He is ahead of teammates Aron Domzhal (39 seconds) and Farres-Güell (1.01).
Motorcycles
Perhaps the most rapidly developing events in the motorcycle class.
Here the first stage was won by Australian Toby Price.
However, he was only 35 seconds ahead of Kevin Benavides and Matthias Walkner.
And at the next stage, both KTM pilots were in for the most severe disappointment.
Price lost 30 minutes and finished only 28th, while the Austrian nearly 2.5 hours due to clutch problems.
Honda representatives Joan Barreda Bort and Ricky Brabeck took advantage of the rivals' failures, taking the first two places at the stage.
They also occupied the first lines in the overall standings.
The Spaniard is ahead of the American by 6 minutes 23 seconds.
Ross Branch (Yamaha) is slightly more behind the leader.
ATVs
An interesting struggle is unfolding in the ATV class as well.
The first stage was won with a slight advantage by Alexander Giroud in Yamaha, who was ahead of partners Giovanni Enrico and Pablo Sebastian Copetti.
But on the second special stage, the Chilean and the American were already fighting for the victory.
As a result, the first place was taken by Kopetti, who was ahead of Enrico by a few seconds.
Giroud finished in third place, 2.5 minutes behind.
At the same time, the Frenchman continues to hold the lead in total.
He is more than a minute ahead of the Chilean and 2.40 ahead of the American.