#Dakar2021 NEWS Day 12 Kamaz Master Rally Team | Stage 12 Yanbu-Jeddah

#Dakar2021 NEWS Day 12 Kamaz Master Rally Team | Stage 12 Yanbu-Jeddah

Consistency pays for Sotnikov

Since 2018, Dmitry Sotnikov has always won at least one special and was a legitimate favourite in the truck race this year. While last year his team-mate Andrey Karginov displayed imperial form with seven stage successes, in Sotnikov's case it has been his consistency that has paid dividends on the 43rd Dakar. On the 12 stages on the programme, the Kamaz crew always finished in the top three, except for fourth place last Thursday, which was its worst result. While Karginov lost more than 1 hour and 30 minutes on the first special, Sotnikov climbed to the top of the general standings and did not budge thereafter, leaving nothing but a few crumbs of comfort to his rivals, particularly Anton Shibalov, who all the same won two stages. Despite his considerable lead of 40 minutes, Sotnikov made sure he
reached the finish before him. This triumph gave Kamaz an 18th title on the Dakar and the fifth in a row, equalling the record established by the blue truck team between 2002 and 2006, as well as by Mercedes from 1982 to 1986. Czech driver Martin Macík, who won three stages on this Russian dominated edition, will be attempting to put a spanner in the works of Kamaz next year.

Dmitry Sotnikov: “We’re glad to continue our tradition of victory”

“It was the best race in my career. It was my dream and a lot of work, many years of work since my first Dakar in 2014 and finally we have won it. Last year we had a failure due to a big stone, but this year everything was good. The first half was really fast for us and we got a good gap with our time. On the second part, it was just a case of reaching the finish every day. I think this tactic was the best for us. I’m full of emotions. All the crew, all the team, all the guys did a perfect job. I think it was a team job, not just me, I was just the driver, it was the whole team. I'm happy to drive this truck because it is the best truck in the world. We’re glad to continue our tradition of victory. Thank you to all the guys who support us all the time. A lot of people were waiting for our win and now I can tell them we've done it. There are a lot of other trucks that are close to us in terms of speed, but I don't know what happened to them, because on some stages they won, like Martin Macík, but they didn’t have enough luck
maybe, I don’t know. It wasn’t an easy race and I think this Dakar was harder than the previous ones. The last stages like today and yesterday were really hard. We're looking forward to the next race here, it is good place for the Dakar, I think”.

Видео #Dakar2021 NEWS Day 12 Kamaz Master Rally Team | Stage 12 Yanbu-Jeddah канала RalliTurk TV