Complete dominance: KamAZ-master takes the first three places in the first week of the Dakar

The new year in motorsport traditionally begins with the Dakar rally-raid.

For the third time in a row, this ordeal for riders takes place in the middle of the deserts of Saudi Arabia.

The first week of the marathon has already come to an end, and according to its results the Russian team "KamAZ-master" is confidently leading in the class of trucks, taking the first three places in the overall standings.

Since this year, Dakar has a new status.

If earlier these competitions were independent, now it is the first of five stages of the debut World Rally-Raid Championship, held under the auspices of the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

For most of the participants, this change did not matter, but it concerned the Russians directly - because of this, they have to compete at the 44th Dakar under a neutral flag.

The Belarusian team “MAZ-SPORTauto”, acting in the class of trucks, was not even more fortunate.

Due to sanctions, three of its crews were not allowed to start at all.

But last year MAZs were considered almost the main competitors of Russian cars - they managed to climb the podium of individual stages seven times, and the pilot Sergei Vyazovich went first for some time, and then second in the overall standings.

On the current Dakar, KamAZ-master is represented by four crews and two different vehicles.

The reigning champion Dmitry Sotnikov and the winner of five rally-raids Eduard Nikolaev received the latest K5 trucks, which were successfully tested on last year's Silk Way.

Their partners Anton Shibalov and Andrey Karginov were left with the old models, supplemented by various technical innovations.

The Russian team showed their strength already during the 19-kilometer prologue, in which they took the first four places. Nikolaev became the winner, for whom this success was the first in Saudi Arabia - before that he was very unlucky in 2020, and he missed last year's marathon altogether. At the first full-fledged stage with a 333-kilometer special stage, four KamAZs were also at first leading, but then Shibalov lost a lot of time due to two punctures, and Karginov's crew made a mistake with navigation. The Czech Ales Loprais in Praga climbed to the top three to Sotnikov and Nikolaev, but because of the 15-minute penalty, he still allowed the Russian riders to take the entire podium.

The next day, KamAZ-master again had no competitors. The second special stage was supposed to pass according to the rules of the marathon, that is, without the opportunity to receive help from their teams, but due to the past heavy rains, the status of the stage had to be downgraded to normal. All Russian crews performed their races in an exemplary manner, except for a short hitch by Nikolaev, who was stuck in the sand. The best at the end of the day was Karginov, who has not won individual stages of the Dakar since 2020.

The next race included a relatively short but rather difficult 255-kilometer special stage. Nikolaev was unlucky to first stumble upon a tree that broke the windshield, and then on a stone that caused the tire to burst. He had to skip to third place from Dutchman Janus van Kasteren at Iveco. Sotnikov strengthened his leadership in the overall standings, at the same time extending the already long winning streak of Russian trucks.

KamAZ-master experienced real problems at the fourth stage, which received the longest, 465-kilometer special stage. Participants of the "Dakar" set off from the desert to the mountains, and on their way there were constantly river beds, which, due to the rains, were filled with water, and sometimes with mud. Karginov's crew fell into one of these traps. After a problem with the gearbox, his car is firmly stuck in the shaky ground. The Russians were helped by the Lithuanians on Tatra, but the day was lost for them - in the overall standings Karginov dropped to seventh place. Nikolaev, who won the stage, also experienced difficulties - his cabin was flooded with water when crossing the river.

Although Karginov practically dropped out of the fight for victory at the Dakar, he did not deny himself the pleasure of showing the best time at the next stage, full of various stone traps.

He avoided the navigation problems that his teammates had to deal with.

However, delays due to hidden points did not prevent KamAZ-master from once again taking the first four places.

The last stage before the weekend again became a test for navigators - the success of each crew depended on their work.

Once again, luck smiled at Karginov, before whom the chance to rise to fourth place in the overall standings dawned - the Russian pilot reduced the gap from van Kasteren to 33 minutes.

Sotnikov and Nikolaev lost a few seconds to their partner, between whom there is a struggle for victory at the Dakar - they are separated by about 10.5 minutes.

Only Shibalov was unlucky on Friday, who at one moment lost two wheels at once.

He is still the third in the overall standings, but already at a fairly respectful distance from other KamAZ vehicles.

In addition to trucks from Naberezhnye Chelny, other Russians are also successfully driving the Dakar.

The debutant of the rally-raid, Alexander Maksimov, became the main opening of the ATV competition.

He won the fourth stage, but dropped to third place due to a penalty.

He showed the best time on the sixth special stage, shortened due to the rains, thanks to which he returned to the top three in the overall standings.

In the competition of serial all-terrain vehicles, Sergey Karjakin twice in a row turned out to be third in separate stages, and in terms of the sum of all races he is still seventh.