Andrew Karginov leads the dance at the stage San Rafael-San Juan

January 7, San Juan. Many fans were certainly surprised today to see the trucks starting order. Instead of the winner of yesterday's stage Anton Shibalov was Gerard de Rooy. The fact is that Sport Stewards returned to Gerard de Rooy the time spent on assisting the crew of Mardeev. 22 minutes 40 seconds were returned to De Rooy, although Gerard insisted that he spent on helping 30 minutes. Waiting for news from today’s stage San Rafael - San Juan we discuss the situation with a Dutch journalist. It would seem that my companion must protect compatriot. But he said that De Rooy got stuck trying to go round this place. Marcel Van Vliet on MAN was behind De Rooy and saw that was happened there. In fact, the crew of Mardeev got out of the truck themselves and said to Gerard that everything was Ok and he can go. It is doubtful that the Dutchman wanted to set the damaged truck upright (later, 2 assistance crews of Farid Badretdinov and Anatoly Tanin spend 2 hours to do it). The other crews of KAMAZ-master Team were already on the way to the place. They understood that all attempts to put the car on the wheels will be in vain and they continued the way. Motives of our rival are clear in this situation, it is quite strange that Sport Stewards hurried with the decision and returned notorious 22 minutes.

Number of competitors in truck category significantly reduced after yesterday's stage. 11 crews didn’t start on the stage. Unfortunately, there is the crew of Ayrat Mardeev among them. Despite the fact that the truck was ready for the start of the next special stage, Sport Stewards of the race didn’t allow the crew to start.  The truck arrived at the bivouac in San Juan. It became known in the evening that during the crash GPS in the truck of Ayrat was spontaneously disconnected. According to the rally regulations, this device must be switched and operating during all stages. The organizers considered it a serious infraction and refused to start. The second appeal of the team was not taken into consideration.

A half hour after the start we got the first message from the road: The Kamaz of Russian driver Eduard Nikolaev has been at a standstill for ten minutes just before the 85 km point. He may have a puncture.

So it is true: The stage is at the foot of the Andes Mountain range, rocky tracks alternated with rough vegetation areas. Stefan Peterhansel has 6 punctures today! For more than 15 minutes, Hans Stacey has been at a standstill around the 140 km point of the special stage.

First on a single checkpoint appears Andrey Karginov with the time - 2:35’52". To believe this information is thankless, and more confusing. Everyone note that the control system gives not correct information. Let’s see, there are results of only 7 crews at CP. Simultaneously, the results of first finishers began to appear. More than that according the organisers’information the German driver Mathias Behringer has been the fastest so far against all expectations on completion of the special stage. After an adjustment to the final time, the correct results finally appeared - Andrey Karginov is the day's winner! He did it! Yesterday few people believed that he could start. Colds and heatstroke are the reasons why Andrey went immediately to medical officers after the stage. Temperature of 40 degrees was shot down; Andrey Karginov was more or less ok in the morning. "We had a chance! – Andrey modestly explains today's result - We had no punctures, and a good pace."

But other crews of the KAMAZ-master Team have been at a standstill because of punctures. Anton Shibalov changed 2 tyres and it took him half an hour, Dmitry Sotnikov changed one his wheel and he had to help the crew of Eduard Nikolaev.

I expected that the Dakar will be difficult for us, - says the head of the team Vladimir Chagin. - And so it happened. Every day we have some surprises… small and large. We manage to win the rally stages three consecutive days, but our best crew is 39 minutes behind the leader in a general classification. But I believe and I hope that we will improve the situation in the truck standings in the coming days. Our crews try to have good results, but in the moment the fortune is on the side of our rivals.

3^rd Stage of the rally Dakar. Truck standings.

Overall after the 3^rd Stage