Dakar 2013. "KAMAZ-master" heats up

08.01.2013
On the third day of Dakar competitors will set off from Pisco towards Nazca known for its geoglyphs of undetermined origin. Scientists are still can't solve a riddle - by whom they were created and how they could survive to this day.
These amazing pictures have survived in their original state till now, perhaps thanks to the fact that Inca civilization prospering once in these regions didn't know a wheel. But now, during the Dakar Rally there a lot of wheels in these places. Journalists who arrived at the bivouac first, complain about the lack of communication. A whisper goes round that there are areas of anomalous energy concentration in Nazca. In such places, for example, people often see a UFO, radio doesn't work, and navigation devices do not function. Who knows, maybe yesterday's 13th point of the legend, where many of the races had problem with GPS, was something from the category of such anomalous zones. Anyway, this morning we learned that after the protest of Spaniard Carlos Sainz, organizers returned him 22 minutes of lost time. So "The Matador" miraculously was ahead of eternal rival Stephane Peterhansel, who was at second place. Passions are rising. Today's 243-kilometer special stage again is rich for sand. There is serious test waiting for the leaders for the first hundred km. South Americans have already adopted the term "erg" more common in Africa.

In Arabic, it means the sandy sea. The crews had to overcome its dunes today. Their reward was the picturesque route along the ocean on the second half of the special stage. Start was again mixed - jeeps drive with trucks. There is first news from the route. The leaders go by a close group. Firmly right behind De Roy there is Eduard Nikolaev. Ayrat Mardeev lagged behind just a little. For some reason, at the beginning of the SS Andrey Karginov starts to lag, Ilgizar Mardeeva has the same time, and we suggest that Karginov has technical problems. There is no news from the route, and we can only guess. While there is still enough time to the finish line, let's look at the distribution forces in trucks category.

What are the main rivals of Russians? InstaForexLopraisTeam team decided to refuse the nose over body in favor of classic one, despite the fact that at the racing season 2011 - 2012 the nose over modification was used, which brought victory in the Silk Way Rally 2011. But at the last Dakar this machine as a result of known accidents (Ales‘s mechanic slept at the wheel) was completely destroyed, and, apparently, the Czechs did not have time to remake this car. Perhaps Ales was counting on a contract with the MAN team, there were negotiations for a long time about it, but as a result he drives "Tatra. According to Ales Loprais, the new truck Tatra is quite comfortable; the truck feels easy on cross-country terrain, tractable and has a good balance and weight distribution.

Now, a small portrait of the other KAMAZ-master rivals- Team Petronas - TeamdeRooy - Iveco. That is the full name of the winners of last year's Dakar. From the name it is clear that the Dutch has a strong support, one of the world's largest oil companies and powerful automaker.

"The company Iveco and the manufacturer of FPT engine, supporting the Dutch team DeRooy, produced innovations that allow them to fight with the Russian crew of KAMAZ-master at the Dakar 2013." That's what is written in the official press release of the team. Iveco and FPT support DeRooy team by vehicles, engines and spare parts. PetronasDeRooyIveco team is presented in the marathon by five crews: two Trakker Evolution 3, two Trakker Evolution 2 and one Iveco Powerstar. All trucks are equipped with engines FPTCursor 13, able to develop power to 840 horsepower. IvecoPowerstar is driven by the winner of Dakar 2012, the team owner - Gerard de Rooy. One of the trucks TrakkerEvolution 3 is driven by Dutch rally racer Hans Stacey (winner of Dakar-2007), the second by Italian veteran Miki Biasion (ex-champion of WRC, three times took part in the Dakar Rally in auto category and five times in trucks category.) The fourth crew TrakkerEvolution 2 is driven by experienced motorcyclist and rally Dutch rider Rene Kuipers. At exactly the same car there is seven-time Dakar competitor Frenchman Jo Adua. In addition to the rally trucks, IVECO provided seven vehicles, which will provide technical assistance during the event. Gerard did not waste time this year: he began to participate in the European Championship in rally-cross on a passenger Citroën DS3 (Rally EU). In October, he participated in rally Oilibya, Morocco. On the outside the sportsman became much stronger and enlarged - obviously spends a lot of time in gym.

De Rooy - Junior eloquently explains his strategy: "Last year, we showed that only a team with strong line-up may challenge the supremacy of the top teams, such as KAMAZ and MAN». Each member of his "dream team" is really ambitious. Italian Massimo "Miki" Biasion for example, declares: "After the great success of 2012, I know that my goal this year is to be faster, I have to be in the top five!"

At the Dakar-2012 I often had to be content with second roles. This year I want to win several stages. After all, we have to do everything to realize the same result as in 2012," - says Hans Stacey, but, admits that to win the Dakar once is one thing, but to repeat the success is much more difficult.

In this sense full-fledged youth of KAMAZ-master, to some extent is in more comfortable psychological situation. In any marathon leader feels harder when he feels behind him a breath of his rival. It seems that Eduard Nikolaev chose today such tactics. His lag from Gerard de Rooy following the results of a stage is only 1 minute 24 seconds! On arrival Nikolaev has nothing to tell, he had a good pace, even almost did not see any of rivals – the day was not interesting for events. It would be very good to have more such days without incident, but with a good result! Ayrat Mardeev today is sixth. The crew co-pilot Aydar Belyaev said that during the stage they crossed with Hans Stacey several times. First Ayrat overtook him, Stacey stuck in the dunes. But then Stacey caught up with our crew. We see that Stacey take risk, has some ragged pace. Later we learned that due to problems with the fuel supply from the tank he had to stop several times, as a result he lagged behind the leader of a stage for 47 minutes.

Andrey Karginov at the beginning of the stage scared Russian fans that follow the race in real time. It was clear that the crew was standing somewhere for almost 10 minutes. On arrival it has been found that the pneumatic hose raveled out, the pressure fell in it, he had to stop to fix a problem. In the second part Andrey had a good pace and following the results of day he is seventh.

Eric Khayrullin, press Attaché of the team

Dakar-2013. The results of the 3rd stage.

Dakar-2013. General classification after the 3rd stage

Position	Name	Team	Time	Variation
1	Gerard de Rooy	Iveco	06:23:15	+0:00
2	Ales Loprais	Tatra	06:30:14	+6:59
3	Miki Biasion	Iveco	06:36:41	+13:26
4	Eduard Nikolaev	KAMAZ	06:44:59	+21:44
5	Peter Versluis	MAN	06:51:36	+28:21
6	Martin Kolomy	Tatra	07:01:30	+38:15
7	Ayrat Mardeev	KAMAZ	07:06:42	+43:27
8	Martin Van Den Brink	Ginaf	07:15:12	+51:57
9	Artur Ardavichus	All news  More photos › More video › Silkway 2024 Download the team booklet Team News About Truck Persons Interviews Partners General sponsor Team sponsors For potential sponsors Information sponsor Media Press about KAMAZ-master Photo Video Photo, video for TV