Uyuni, 8 January
The 8th January became the last day of Dakar in Bolivia. Tomorrow the caravan will go to the south, back to Argentina. Citizens of Bolivia welcomed heartily the sportsmen. Springs of people were standing along the roads, greeting them. Even “El Evo” himself - the first Indian President of Bolivia Evo Morales - came to the podium. One can say a lot of superlative adjectives to describe the country. It is the most high-mountainous, multinational and the most isolated country of the Southern Hemisphere. It is the richest in natural resources, and, alas, one of the poorest countries in the world. Bolivia is on the second position in natural gas resources in the South America. Today journalists, accompanying the rally, travelled to famous Uyuni salt flats. Uyuni contains approximately 50% of world metal resources of the future – lithium! Time will show how the country manages to deal with their natural wealth. However, the problems of closing from the external world have been started to solve – Dakar Rally is a kind of a window to the world.
It seems that this year organizers decided to save Salar de Uyuni and made the route around the unique natural sight. Motorbikes, quads and jeeps drove round from the north to the south, and trucks headed to the further north, to their own route. The route for the timed section (295 km) had been mapped on flat high-mountainous plateau Antiplato on the altitude of 3600-4000 meters above sea level. It became a place for the next uncompromising struggle in the truck category.
Hans Stacey (MAN) won the stage. The Netherlander returned his lead in the general classification. His landmen Gerard De Rooy and Pieter Versluis finished straight after him. All crews of “KAMAZ-master” finished in the top 8 with the longest gap of 3 minutes and a half. Eduard Nikolaev, Dmitry Sotnikov, Andrey Karginov and Airat Mardeev took the 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th positions respectively.
The specialists remark a brilliant improvement of the team of Pieter Versluis. It is clear, that new people, like a very experienced pilot Hans Stacey, joined it. Taking into consideration that his teammate Versluis keeps up with him, MAN truck became the main instrument in the fast Dakar Rally 2016. The truck has an excellent acceleration capability and cruise-control system (according to the regulations, it is a system of the maximum speed limit) for straight and fast roads. In this regard, the team of Versluis looks even more convincing than the team of Gerard De Rooy. He is always considered to be the professional in fast routes. Whereas De Rooy has provided for the race to be in WRC style, he uses 22,5-inch wheel disks with lower-profile tires and special tire tread. These wheels less become warm on the routes with heavy braking and the tires allow the truck turn at a higher speed.
Quotations
Dmitry Sotnikov, the pilot of crew #508
“The beginning of the stage was sandy, hillocky and rocky. The route was tough. Here we managed to catch up Tatra and Scania very fast. There was no more dust and the view was clear. We left some cars behind, saw some other trucks in front of us. We performed as well as we could on the first part, and then 150 km of flat route began. Everyone drove at the maximum speed on the flat high-mountainous plateau. Unfortunately, we brought some work to our night mechanics – our reduction unit began to sound after one of humps.
Dmitry Svistunov, mechanic of crew #500
“The real trails were at the beginning of the section, but then we drove along fast roads. At the very beginning we gave dust to Iveco that had started 3 minutes before. We caught them on the 11th km already. On the fast part of the distance Versluis on MAN truck beat us. We spoke to Ales Lopreis, who had driven MAN last year, and that year tried Iveco. He said that MAN trucks have very good engines, which outperform Iveco engines. After the stage there is a gearbox gland oil leakage. We will work on it. We may need to take the box. But the whole night is in front of us, we are used to it.”
Press Officer E.Khayrullin
Dakar 2016. Trucks. Datge 6
1. Hans Stacey («МАN») — 02:55:35
2. Gerard de Rooy («Ivecо») +0:07
3. Pieter Versluis («МАN») +1:15
4. Eduard Nikolaev («КАМАZ») +2:11
5. Dmitry Sotnikov («КАМАZ») +2:21
6.Andrey Karginov («КАМАZ») +3:01
7. Martin Kolomy («Таtrа») +3:09
8. Airat Mardeev («КАМАZ») +3:38
9. Federico Villagra («Иvecо») +4:26
Dakar 2016. Trucks. General Classification
1. . Hans Stacey («МАN») — 17:05:09
2. Pieter Versluis («МАN») +0:59
3. Federico Villagra («Иvecо») +4:05
4. Gerard de Rooy («Иvecо») +5:36
5. Airat Mardeev («КАМАZ») +12:06
6. Martin Kolomy («Таtrа») +12:24
7. . Eduard Nikolaev («КАМАZ») +13:10
8. Ton van Genugten («Иvecо») +22:08
…
11. Dmitry Sotnikov («КАМАZ») +1:08:09
14. Andrey Karginov («КАМAZ») +1:21:07
