Dakar Rally organizers had to cut today’s 285 kilometer loop of the special section Belen-Belen. Intense heat was the reason of heat stroke of many race participants. Medical helicopters hardly managed to ‘evacuate’ exhausted motor and quad riders from the route. High heat did the sands impassable for most of the sportsmen. The organizers decided to sacrifice with sands, cutting a hundred kilometer part after CP2. But even the rest part of the special was quite heavy for many racers in the truck category.
Due to 2 wheels replacement and compressor issue, Airat Mardeev’s crew lost much time. The crew of Eduard Nikolaev spent 17 min in order to replace a wheel. The reason of it is that they had to do the replacement in the loose sand and the truck fell from the lifting screw. The crew of Andrey Karginov gave a hand in the situation. Just after the start Dmitry Sotnikov stopped due to the engine problems. A dead nozzle turned to be a reason. They plugged the nozzle at the end and continued the way. An hour and a half passed. Their truck got a wheel puncture, its replacement took nearly fifteen minutes. Other leaders of the truck category had similar problems: Pieter Versluis (MAN) stuck in the sand first, then had a wheel puncture(+37:31). Federico Villagra (Iveco) had to stop, as his co-pilot was taken bad during the stage (+16:46). Windscreens of Versluis and de Rooy broke due to collision with trees on their way. However, the broken windscreen is the only damage of de Rooy’s vehicle – he had no punctures, no engine overheating (according to de Rooy, the max temperature reached 110 degrees, while the temperature of KAMAZ trucks was always close to critical – 120 degrees, and pilots constantly had to drop speed). As a result, Gerard de Rooy celebrated one more win of stage (2h 41min 20 sec).
4 more stages of Dakar are still ahead. Perhaps, only three of them can improve situation of the Russian team in the general classification. But it will be difficult to do. The Dutchman Gerard de Rooy secured himself with 27 minute gap with the closest participant Eduard Nikolaev. Federico Villagrs is currently on the third position (MAN, +00:41:24). Airat Mardeev is on the sixth place (+00:51:49), Andrey Karginov (+01:41:31) and Dmitry Sotnikov (+03:43:31) are on the 8th and 17th positions respectively in the standings.
1. DE ROOY GERARD (IVECO)02:41:20
2. VAN GENUGTEN TON (IVECO) +00:03:59
3. KARGINOV ANDREY(KAMAZ) +00:16:04
4. VILLAGRA FEDERICO (IVECO) +00:16:45
5. NIKOLAEV EDUARD(KAMAZ) +00:19:14
6. ARDAVICHUS Artur (TATRA) + 00:21:08
7. VRATNY TOMAS (TATRA) +00:22:12
8. VALTR JAROSLAV (TATRA) +00:26:20
9. SUGAWARA TERUHITO (HINO)+ 00:26:31
10. MARDEEV AIRAT(KAMAZ) +00:29:28
11. DE BAAR PASCAL (RENAULT TRUCKS) +00:35:36
12. VERSLUIS PIETER (MAN) +00:37:31
13. ROTSAERT STEVEN(MAN) +00:39:27
14. VAN DE LAAR JAN (DAF)+ 00:47:19
15. HOONDERT ADWIN (DAF)+00:49:03
16. HUIGEVOORT MARCEL (MAN) +00:51:37
17. VAN DEN HEUVEL MAURIK (SCANIA) +00:54:49
18. FRANK TILBURGS(DAF) +00:59:58
19. VERSTEIJNEN VICTOR WILLEM CORNE(DAF) +01:00:34
20. STACEY HANS (MAN) +01:03:22
21. MACIK MARTIN(LIAZ) +01:04:52
22. HUZINK GERT (TATRA) +01:11:43
1. DE ROOY GERARD (IVECO) 28:30:46
2. NIKOLAEV EDUARD (KAMAZ) +00:27:12
3. VILLAGRA FEDERICO (IVECO) +00:41:24
4. VERSLUIS PIETER (MAN) +00:44:00
5. VAN GENUGTEN TON (IVECO) +00:45:02
6. MARDEEV AIRAT (KAMAZ) +00:51:49
7. STACEY HANS (MAN) + 01:24:08
8. KARGINOV ANDREY (KAMAZ) +01:41:31
9. VALTR JAROSLAV (TATRA) +02:38:42
10. DE BAAR PASCAL(RENAULT TRUCKS)+02:40:05
11. VAN DEN HEUVEL MAURIK (SCANIA) +02:45:40
12. MACIK MARTIN (LIAZ) +02:59:23
13. VILA ROCA PEP (IVECO) +03:03:26
14. HUIGEVOORT MARCEL (MAN) +03:31:00
15. SUGAWARA TERUHITO (HINO) +03:33:55
16. VRATNY TOMAS(TATRA)+03:40:41
17. SOTNIKOV DMITRY(KAMAZ ) +03:43:31
18. ARDAVICHUS Artur(TATRA) +04:08:22
19. HOONDERT ADWIN(DAF)+05:03:24
20. VASILEVSKI ALEKSANDR(MAZ)+06:29:27
