Sotnikov won the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally, Shibalov and Karginov are in Top-3.

January 9, Hail

The Fifth stage of the international Dakar Rally 2020 in Saudi Arabia went along the route Al-Ula – Hail on Thursday, January 9.

Deserts with big amount of sand and dunes await the contestants of moto and car categories ahead, and in the meantime hundreds of athletes had to overcome mountainous regions of the Arabian Peninsula with plenty of rocks on the way. Many drivers and navigators in their comments after yesterday’s finish were perplexed: why this trial on the last dozens of kilometers was, when you barely accelerated above 30-40 kmph in order to overcome somehow huge, grown into sand boulders and not to cut wheels with sharp stones.  

However, this is Dakar, which you must overcome completely in order to be on the finish line. Despite all the difficulties that arise on the way from point A to point B. And on top steps of the podium there will be someone who can cope with all the challenges, prepared by the organizers of the 42nd edition of the international rally-marathon. And the difficult route and tricky conditions of the race are proven by the fact that after a third of the Dakar, only 33 out of 46 truck crews remained in the game.

“I am glad that the organizers found a new location on our planet and could “transfer” the spirit of the Dakar that we all are used to and that we know. Here is a difficult track and a hard but very interesting terrain. The most important is that all contestants have a twinkle in their eyes and it makes happy. The main four difficulties in the race are navigation, a large number of tire cuts, poor visibility due to heavy dust, and dunes that will start on Thursday," said KAMAZ-master teamleader, a seven-time winner of the Dakar Vladimir Chagin after the fourth stage.

Today, the rally caravan is supposed to overcome 353 km of the special section towards the east. 40% of the distance are dunes, other 21% are sands. But all this is in the second half of the route, which will begin with a fast section, crossing rocky terrain. The final point on the map of the fifth sports day will be the city of Hail. Here, in a place with a population of more than 600 thousand people, the annual Hail International Rally Festival takes place since 2006 (in 2008 it received approval of FIA). The current contestants, Yazeed Al Rajhi, representing Saudi Arabia, repeatedly won this race, as well as the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah.

After successful Wednesday for KAMAZ-master team, when three Russian crews turned out on the first three positions of the finish protocol, Anton Shibalov, Andrey Karginov and Dmitry Sotnikov left for the start in a tight group with a two-minute difference from one another. Such starting order helps not only keep a high pace for each contestant in the race, but also adhere to the team’s strategy and back up each other in case of unpredictable situations.

 This is exactly the situation that happened with Eduard Nikolaev on the 165th km: the truck of the five-time winner of the Dakar stood up due to engine problems. In the repair the Chelny crew could rely only on themselves, because they started 10 and a half minutes later than Dmitry Sotnikov, which means that the team partners could not help Nikolaev in any way. At the time of publication, the Russian crew continued repair works.

Other famous racers also had bad luck on Thursday. Conquering the Golden Bedouin in 2017, biker Sam Sunderland completed his performance after the fall: the Englishman sustained injuries of his back and left shoulder.

Let's get back to the truck classification. On the mark of the 152nd km, most of the contestants were going in a tight group - the 19th crew was separated from the leader Anton Shibalov by just 20 minutes. Everything changed after 100 km, when the course ran through the dunes with their steep slopes. Overcoming of such dangerous areas is a challenge not only for vehicles, but also for crew members. It is important not only to choose the optimal speed, but also the angle, in order not to come to a standstill and not to get injured. Three KAMAZ trucks passed the dune section successfully, increasing their gap from the chasers. And the winner of the racing day was Dmitry Sotnikov (4 hours 12 minutes 4 seconds).

Dmitry Sotnikov, driver of crew No 501: “Everything was ok today. We started after Anton and Andrey. It was difficult to drive fast because of bikes. Dunes were with steep descents. Somewhere they reminded Astrakhan. There were no clean dunes, but the track turned out to be a tough, working one. In some places the sand was soft, but somewhere hard and moist inside. It was dangerous to go on the slope, where the truck began to fall down."

Anton Shibalov lost 3 minutes 6 seconds, Andrey Karginov closed the top three (+3:15). Here is the second Russian hat-trick in two days! The fourth time was shown by the Belarusian Siarhei Viazovich (16:30). The Czech Ales Loprais went in a stable way, becoming the fifth. On the sixth line is the Dutch Martin van den Brink, who showed his best result on the Dakar 2020.

Andrey Karginov, driver of crew No 511: “It was a difficult special stage. Literally before the finish of the first part of the stage, we hit the rear right wheel: there was a strong puncture that the inflation couldn’t cope with. Considering that a large penalty is charged for the replacement in the neutralization zone, we did not change it. We took a decision to go on the tire inflation, but during the drive it stopped coping, the air began to go out of the pneumatic system, sometimes the brakes began to disappear. We understood that we would lose 6-7 minutes for the stop, therefore we drove on, which justified our plan. There were many descents, literally a sheer rock. The dunes had very hard bumps. "

The general classification is still led by the crew of Andrey Karginov. And Anton Shibalov moved to the second place. Now KAMAZ members are ahead of Siarhei Viazovich by 24 and 9 minutes respectively. Dmitry Sotnikov climbed to the seventh line.

Anton Shibalov, driver of crew No 516: “Today there were much fewer stones, more sandy roads. There were steep descents, as the organizers had warned. In some places, it felt like they were 90 degrees. We tried to overcome them carefully. The sands were heavy, but further it will be more complicated. The wheels cope with it, we drive further. "

Siarhei Viazovich, driver of crew No 503 (MAZ-SPORTauto): “We drove on the first part carefully, lost a bit. On the second section we were already moving all alone, KAMAZ trucks were ahead. For a long time we could not find our pace. Today the track was completely different, but our suspension was adjusted softly. Last 50 kilometers we passed at a good pace. There were no punctures, no problems in navigation either. We saw Janus van Kasteren, he changed a wheel, Gert Huzink also changed a wheel, but on the neutralization zone. We warned him that It was not worth doing. There were many dangerous unwritten slopes, it surprised. "

On Friday contestants of the Dakar 2020 will have a mixed start of the sixth stage along the route Hail - Riyadh. The way to the capital of Saudi Arabia is the longest from the start of the race: 830 km, including 477 km of the special stage. The crews are awaited by a cardinal change of landscape - fast tracks will be replaced by sandy off-road course to the southeast. The long-awaited rest day is getting closer.

Truck Category. Ranking of the 5^th Stage. Top 10.

Truck Category. General Ranking afther the 5^th Stage. Top 10.