Karginov - De Rooy: a small gap!

January 14, Iquique

The rally crossed South America and heads north towards the Pacific Ocean. Only famous Pan-American Highway separates the bivouac at Iquique from stormy waters of the ocean. At this point we meet the famous dune of Iquique with its dizzying 3 kilometer descent towards the waves of the Pacific. Hot and severe breath of Atacama meets here with cold ocean currents. Some such confrontation unfolded on the race route between the two contenders for the podium in the trucks standings: Russian Andrey Karginov and Dutchman Gerard de Rooy.

"I'd be incapable of telling you whether we spent more time in the air than on the ground - jokes Andrey in an interview on French television. – I was driving way very fast. I'm very happy with this result because the objective was to go on all-out attack. The task of Vladmir Chagin was to get closer to Gerard and that's what happened.  On one part of the special, there were so many bumps and lots of dust… Afterwards, the dunes were very interesting and we got through them well."

On this single day, Gerard De Rooy lost more than 19 minutes of his lead in the general standings. As a result, he is under serious threat from Andrey Karginov who only trails him this evening by 13'28". If Gerard didn’t have the notorious 22 minutes (which, as everyone knows, the Dutchman gained not on the track, but as a recompense for the assistance to the crew of Ayrat Mardeev which took place on the  6^th of January on the stage San Luis-San Rafael), then Karginov will be leader of the general standings.

Only in cars we can find such little gaps in results. Spaniard Nani Roma and Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel fight for the leadership in cars standings. By the way, Peterhansel was at the bivouac of the KAMAZ-master Team today.

"You know, I have already 64 stage victories on the Dakar - he said to Vladimir Chagin smiling, implying what he is ahead of the"Tsar" for the number of stage victories (Vladimir Chagin has 63 stage victories). Chagin sincerely congratulated his friend: "I'm happy for your victories and it is very good that such masters as you stay an example for new generations of drivers."

Eduard Nikolaev (5:26:56) has just grabbed third place from his team-mate Dmitry Sotnikov (5:26:57). 1 second separates the two Kamaz on completion of the 422-km long special stage! Nikolaev could be faster, but he started 8th (starting order is compiled based on the results of the previous stage) and he had to overtake a lot of slower competitors on very dusty first part of the stage.

The crew of Anton Shibalov lost about half an hour today. They changed the punctured tyre and had problems with cooling water pump. They had to stop and refill the cooling system with water because of this mechanical problem.

Fans of the KAMAZ- master Team know that there is some special on the stage which finishes in Iquique. It is a descent from huge dunes towards the waves of the Pacific. Dmitry Sotnikov who was earlier in Dakar just as a mechanic in the crew of Ilgizar Mardeev said that this place didn’t seem so dangerous earlier; it is all a little bit different when you sit at the wheel. "In this situation is simply impossible to stop the truck, the task is to set the pace and prevent truck’s overturn." Mechanic of the crew Andrey Aferin notes that he felt a little bit uneasy yesterday on high dunes of the Atacama. And it is also a good experience for him today, namely, good result and dizzying 3 kilometer descent towards the waves of the Pacific.

9th Stage of the rally Dakar. Truck standings.

Overall after the 9th Stage