On January 6, Chilesito
Little provincial Chilesito had its best times at the end of the 19th century when miners prospered here. Near the city the ropeway of Chilesito-la-Mekhikana 35 kilometers long was built, the longest ropeway in the world with the highest mountain station (4600 m). The road was necessary for production of gold-bearing ore in mountains of Sierra-de-Famantina.
Let's go back to the track of Dakar-2015. Here its own gold trophies. The fight for them is already in full blast. At a stage San Juan – Chilesito (the total length of 542 km, SS – 284 km) this fight was developed on old miner's roads. To the joy of the Russian fans the victory was celebrated today by Ayrat Mardeev's crew (03:19:06).
Almost all pilots of "KAMAZ master" team with satisfaction noted that smooth straight roads of WRC type stayed behind and rally came to a zone of off road terrain, stony coverings and the dried-up riverbeds, where the piloting technique and endurance of cars is very important. Dmitry Sotnikov who arrived today the fifth (+00:07:32) told us about one of race episodes: "Rivals all had very steady pace, intervals between cars were approximately identical, there were not too many overtakings, it means that pilots at the same time are fast and concentrated. Somewhere in the middle of SS we were overtaken by Gerard De Roy's crew. We kindly let him pass. Then quite comfortably we drove behind him, knowing that we can go at his speed. At some point he made a mistake and missed a turn away from a dried-up riverbed. Then De Roy turned back and at full speed moved towards us intending to jump the turn before us. But we too didn't begin to reduce speed. Here he reeled back, reduced speed and got stuck in a loose sand on a small rise. Suddenly, from behind at high speed Andrey Karginov appeared and using our common cooldown overtook me and De Roy. Further the road became even more rigid. It seemed to me that our suspension passes roughnesses better; we even started to catch up with the Dutchman.
Andrey Karginov – was the second at a stage (+00:01:51) and he really increased the pace. Perhaps better "felt deeply " the car with the new engine Liebherr, after all up to now Andrey participated in all serious competitions, using the powerful 18-liter diesel engine of Tutaev Motor Plant (let’s remind that according to regulations of competitions the maximum volume of trucks engines from 2016 is limited up to 16.5 liters).
But, perhaps, Eduard Nikolaev was the fastest today. He was a little out of luck: somewhere on the 40th kilometer of SS sharp and firm thorn as an iron nail damaged seriously the tire. For a while, the crew continued the movement, using air inflating, but eventually was forced to stop. Taking into account 12 minutes lost on replacement of a wheel, Eduard conceded to the leader of today's stage Ayrat Mardeev of only 8 minutes 52 seconds and showed the 8th final time.
Ayrat Mardeev, being the sixth at the first stage, the third - on the second, continues to progress and celebrates today the first victory at a stage of Dakar-2015 and moves on the first position in general classification after three stages of the race.
PS In the end of day we got sad news from organizers of the race – the 39-year-old Polish motorcycle racer Michal Hernik was found dead. His body was found in 300 meters from a race track. Circumstances and the reason of the incident are investigated.
Results of the 3nd stage of DAKAR rally. Trucks category
