Dmitry Sotnikov Leads the General Classification in the Truck Category

5 January, Tupiza

On the fourth day after the start in Asuncion Dakar-2017 reached Bolivia. Till the very last moment the Bolivian part of the race was up in the air due to a heavy drought in that region. 131 and 139 municipal districts of Bolivia experience a severe shortage of drinking water. On 21 November the President Evo Morales announced about the emergency rule. The race authorities agreed with the government that the length of race route won’t be reduced if the rally caravan is totally independent in terms of water supply. To tell the truth, if Bolivia refused to participate in the rally it would be a real catastrophe for Dakar, which is already under fire because the brand differs from the idea of its founder Thierry Sabine. Fast dirt tracks of Argentina changed vast sands of Sakhara  in Africa and Atacama in Chile. And only impasibility in Bolivian Altiplano allows Dakar to keep the image of a classisal rally-marathon.

 On 416 kilometers of today’s special JuJuy-Tupiza the reconnaissance group of Marc Coma could find high-altitude dunes. “There were few of them but they were really high with very loose sand. We deflated the tires. Taking into consideration that the dunes were on the height of 4000 meters, it was quite challenging to pass them. Engine loses its power due to the lack of oxygen. In places where we usually go straight up the dunes we had to tack. There were 10 km of small dunes and then 10-15 km of tall dunes. And all that started already on the 35^th km.  I constantly saw De Rooy but it was very difficult to catch him up because after the sands we entered the mountainous part of the route with quite narrow roads, river beds and ravines.”

The dune area became a great challenge for many sportsmen. The sand became loose due to the heat. As Dmitry Sotnikov told us, his crew lost 7 minutes on one of the dunes, where they had to go back in order not to get stuck in the sand trap. To avoid falling on the sharp incline, the mechanic Igor Leonov had to go out of the truck and correct actions of the driver.

The crew of Eduard Nikolaev was not so lucky.  Their truck started first in the category (as he had finished first in the yesterday’s stage). At one point the crew made a navigation mistake, then the truck got stuck in the loose sand and was at a standstill for about twenty minutes.

Gerard De Rooy and Airat Mardeev put on speed today (respectively the 1^st and 2^nd places). The crew of Anton Shibalov, a fast assistance of the team, also showed a good performance (the 3^rd position). So, considering all that, the top-5 firmed up greatly. The time gap is only several minutes. You can’t notice it in the car and bike categories that are considered to be faster. The head of the general classification is Dmitry Sotnikov. Federico Villagra on his Iveco loses him only 1 min 55 sec. The third place belongs to Eduard Nikolaev (+04:40).  The 4^th Anton Shibalov (+05:34) is followed by Gerard De Rooy (+14:15) and Airat Mardeev (+16:43).

Dakar-2017. The Truck Category. Results of the 4^th stage. 

Dakar-2017. The Truck Category. General Classification after the 4^th Stage.