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Airat Mardeev and his crew get silver medals on Dakar 2016.

17.01.2016

The task of the last SS Villa Carlos Paz - Rosario was to stay concentrated from start to finish. Not a single incident could prevent the participants from keeping their positions in the race and reach the finish line. All the sportsmen were extremely careful on the short and fast timed section of 180 km long. Making a huge loop on the South American continent, the Dakar Rally came back to Rosario. A prize-giving ceremony for the rally participants was held in the city centre on the 16^th January. The extreme route was more than 9000 km long! Those, who had finished, did not hide their happiness - as well as the tribunes. Expression of Latin Americans is difficult to compare with something. A thunderous ovation did not stop from the very first minute of the ceremony till its very end. The celebration began with greeting and ceremonial procedure. Toby Price is the leader in the bike category. The Argentinian Marcos Patronelli, a favorite of his nationals, is the winner among quads. Not less applause gets the legendary French Stephane Peterhansel, celebrating his 12^th (!) victory in the jeep category.

Local citizens have a special attitude towards trucks: the fight has been extremely tough. Gerard de Rooy on his Iveco became the winner in the category. Airat Mardeev gets the second result. He played it cool, beyond reproach and brought his crew to the medal place in the current marathon-style rally. In the spectators joy the third position goes to Federico Villagra on Iveco.

For the rest participants of “KAMAZ-master” team Dakar was quite unlucky. As a result, Eduard Nikolaev was the 7^th, Andrey Karginov was the 14^th and Dmitry Sotnikov got the 15^thposition.

The journey of “KAMAZ-master” to the top of the general table was not easy. Dakar is a competition of many strong crews, teams, design offices. Rivals of KAMAZ - IVECO, MAN, TATRA, RENAULT and others - have prepared very seriously to the race. Strong drivers were engaged, vehicles were improved. Their technological innovations showed up already in the first half of the competition. Due to the fact that Chile and Peru sands fell out of the route, the famous rally-marathon brought a new concept to the participants: almost half of the race was in WRC-style. High altitude special sections in Bolivia complicated the programme with a lack of oxygen, which was a real challenge for engines.

“KAMAZ-master” ‘has to’ beat back new challenges in the near future already. A new conventional vehicle, developed and built in “KAMAZ-master” centre, will become a kind of answer. Some time is left for improvement of time-proved “KAMAZ-4326”, as viewers of the truck category await a kind of rematch on Silk Way Rally, planned for July this year.

Vladimir Chagin commented the overall results of the race the following way: “This year there was tough rivalry in the truck category, the teams were very well prepared. The rivals also improved the technical side a lot. It goes without saying, that “KAMAZ-master” team won Dakar 13 times, and it fell into a habit. However, it is impossible to win all the time. Silver on the current Dakar is an excellent motivation to perform better in the next one and return the title”.

Dakar 2016. Standings.

1. Gerard de Rooy («Iveco») — 44:42:03

2. Airat Mardeev («КАМАZ») +1:10:27

3. Federico Villagra («Ivecо») +1:40:55

4. Hans Stacey («МАN») +2:23:01

5. Тоn van Genugten («Iveco») +2:30:59

6. Pascal de Baar («Renault») +3:04:07

7. Eduard Nikolaev («КАМАZ») +3:39:23

8. Jaroslav Valtr («Таtrа») +3:54:30

9. Pieter Versluis («МАN») +3:57:52

10. Pep Vila Roca («Ivecо») +4:55:04

…