The tenth stage of the Dakar Rally 2021 in Saudi Arabia was held along the route Neom - Al-Ula on Wednesday, January 13.
Hardcore, hardcore and hardcore again. Under this motto, the racers made their way to the finish line of yesterday's special stage in Neom. Picturesque views of the Red Sea coast were forgotten instantly, as soon as stones appeared under the wheels. "It is impossible to drive there", "stone hell", "the organizers should think twice next time before choosing such a route", "it is crazy to go all the way on the rocks, this is not a rally-raid, but a real trophy on stones". Complaints of some racers knew no bounds, but there were also those, who expressed regret to have so few extreme stages of that kind at the Dakar. One of them was Andrey Karginov.
A series of really killing and relatively calm special stages reminded of a bad and a good police officers. Thus today, as if wishing to gain favor of the athletes who had survived a hard day, the organizers offered them a route with a breathtaking beauty with numerous hilly sections and sandy tracks. Still, the Dakar is not only a test for durability and driving for the result, but also pleasure of being at the finish line of the next stage, no matter how exhausting it might be.
The distance of the rally-marathon has been completed for 75%, despite thousands of kilometers behind, and in the general classification there is a tough struggle for the podium in all categories. Taking the first three positions in the truck classification, KAMAZ-master crews experience serious rivalry from other competitors every day. And if Dmitry Sotnikov broke away for a comfortable 110 minutes from the Czech Ales Loprais, going fourth, then the battle for the third line continues on a daily basis. The price of 17 minutes from Airat Mardeev was just one stop to change a wheel.
Together with the nephew of the six-time Dakar winner, another Czech driver Martin Macik, who won his first stage at the rally-marathon the day before, is also pretending for the podium. Having found fast pace, Big Shock Racing was ready to attack on Wednesday as well. For the three remaining sports days before the end of the Dakar 2021, he needs to win back 36 minutes from the Russian and count on the loss of time of Loprais. The task is not easy, but this is the Dakar, where everything can turn upside down in a few seconds.
The headquarters of KAMAZ-master team understand all that perfectly. The time reserve allows the crews to build their tactics in the way to minimize the risk and carry the result to Jeddah, having achieved goals set for the race. In the starting list of the tenth stage, four Russian trucks were separated by only two minutes, that allowed them to drive the entire 342-kilometer distance in direct visibility of each other. The racing track led the rally caravan from high-altitude (with a peak value of 2 550 meters above the sea level) northwestern region of Saudi Arabia to a plateau, located away from the volcanic field of Harrat al 'Uwayrid. Presumably 1400 years ago here, in the western part of the Arabian Peninsula, 120 km from the Red Sea, a volcanic eruption occurred, leaving a noticeable mark on the orange sands.
Proposed for co-drivers today navigational traps were not a hard nut to crack for the leaders of the truck category. 30-second starting gaps, which guaranteed large clouds of dust, made it difficult to overtake, so there was no surprise at the finish line. Throughout the whole distance, consisting of two neutralization zones (or transfers, as they are called at the Dakar this year), Martin Macik, who won the second stage in a row - 3 hours 13 minutes 2 seconds, did not allow to come close to him. At the end of the day, only bike rider Ricky Brabec (by 30 seconds) and seven jeeps became faster.
Dmitry Sotnikov, who leads in the overall standings, finished second with a lag of 1 minute 40 seconds, Airat Mardeev showed the third time of the day (+3 minutes 16 seconds).
Airat Mardeev, pilot of crew No 509: “All trucks started in an interval of 30 seconds. There was a lot of dust, we were overtaking cars, came close to Macik, who drove very well and kept a high pace. As soon as we caught up with him, he picked up the pace and began to break away. We did not chase him, it was important to pass the stage reliably and without mistakes. It was evident that he attacked today. We understood that he would "bring" us some time, but we also understood that the interval would not be so big. Nothing has changed after neutralization zone: a fast road, a lot of stones, a lot of navigation, where you had to follow the course and find your track in a large number of treads. The truck is in order, it is important to prepare it for tomorrow's long day and rest ourselves."
Aliaksei Vishneuski was at the finish line three and a half minutes behind the winner. Crews of Andrey Karginov and Anton Shibalov, who insured their teammates, were separated by only two seconds. Ales Loprais finished seventh (+4 minutes).
Anton Shibalov, pilot of crew No 501: “The organizers arranged a kind of a tram. A large group of trucks started 30 seconds after one another, which meant driving in dust. A serious cloud of dust prevented overtaking, because the route ran along canyons and channels, there were large stones. Sometimes it was possible to drive up, but no one let anyone ahead at once and increased the speed on the first straight section, and you had to stop. So the whole day passed, we drove behind Loprais. The results turned out quite tight. The same concerns cars, in order to pass them by, one had to count on their stop. We tried to pass the stage carefully, without risks. "
Andrey Karginov, pilot of crew No 500: “It was clear from the start that it would not be easy. The dust was incredible, although in some places the wind was blowing it away. Today was like a tram race, there was a minimum number of overtakes. We finished the way we started. We completed the task for the stage - to backup three of our crews, to provide assistance, if necessary. Thank God, everyone finished without problems. The day turned out difficult. "
On Thursday, the Dakar contestants will have the longest special stage this year - 511 km. The total length of the stage is 557 km. The rally caravan will travel south along the route Al-Ula - Yanbu.
Truck category. Ranking of the 10th stage. Top-10
|
Pos.
|
№
|
Name
|
Make
|
Time
|
Gap
|
|
1
|
503
|
Martin MACIK
|
IVECO
|
03:13:02
|
00:00:00
|
|
2
|
507
|
Dmitry SOTNIKOV
|
KAMAZ
|
03:14:42
|
00:01:40
|
|
3
|
509
|
Airat MARDEEV
|
KAMAZ
|
03:16:18
|
00:03:16
|
|
4
|
505
|
Aliaksei VISHNEUSKI
|
MAZ
|
03:16:27
|
00:03:25
|
|
5
|
500
|
Andrey KARGINOV
|
KAMAZ
|
03:16:59
|
00:03:57
|
|
6
|
501
|
Anton SHIBALOV
|
KAMAZ
|
03:17:01
|
00:03:59
|
|
7
|
504
|
Ales LOPRAIS
|
PRAGA
|
03:17:02
|
00:04:00
|
|
8
|
517
|
Ignasio CASALE
|
TATRA
|
03:21:38
|
00:08:36
|
|
9
|
518
|
Jaroslav VALTR
|
IVECO
|
03:24:47
|
00:11:45
|
|
10
|
515
|
Pascal DE BAAR
|
RENAULT
|
03:30:08
|
00:17:06
|
Truck category. General classification after the 10th stage. Top-10
|
Pos.
|
№
|
Name
|
Make
|
Time
|
Gap
|
|
1
|
507
|
Dmitry SOTNIKOV
|
KAMAZ
|
40:57:31
|
00:00:00
|
|
2
|
501
|
Anton SHIBALOV
|
KAMAZ
|
41:44:53
|
00:47:22
|
|
3
|
509
|
Airat MARDEEV
|
KAMAZ
|
42:12:12
|
01:14:41
|
|
4
|
504
|
Ales LOPRAIS
|
PRAGA
|
42:33:06
|
01:35:35
|
|
5
|
503
|
Martin MACIK
|
IVECO
|
42:45:00
|
01:47:29
|
|
6
|
505
|
Aliaksei VISHNEUSKI
|
MAZ
|
43:14:10
|
02:16:39
|
|
7
|
500
|
Andrey KARGINOV
|
KAMAZ
|
43:38:59
|
02:41:28
|
|
8
|
506
|
Martin VAN DEN BRINK
|
RENAULT
|
44:15:26
|
03:17:55
|
|
9
|
517
|
Ignasio CASALE
|
TATRA
|
45:30:36
|
04:33:05
|
|
10
|
514
|
Martin SOLTYS
|
TATRA
|
45:53:25
|
04:55:54
|
