It is becoming a game of chess: who will win the Dakar in the truck ranking? The answer is easy, all too easy: success will go to one of the two new Kamaz K5s, narrower and shorter than the traditional 43509. It was understood that the final victory is a family affair in the Russian army. raid in Saudi Arabia, but knowing who can close the game in command is a completely different story, certainly more complex.
According to the alternation logic applied by the strategist Vladimir Chagin it was not too demanding to imagine that in Stage 9, the ring test around Wadi in Dawasir, it would have been Eduard Nikolaev’s turn to sign the third success, realigning the Tsar’s victories to those by Dmitry Sotnikov and Andrey Karginov, in a balance that has kept out only Anton Shibalov who has harpooned only one of his affirmations.
The Russian army can manage the progress of the bison race of the road as it sees fit, because there has never been a goad capable of disrupting the plans of the Kamaz Master team. Nikolaev wins the 287 km short special, but gains only two and a half minutes on Sotnikov who leads the raid from the second day, bringing his gap from his teammate to 8’51 “, in a range that remains fixed between the 5 and 10 equipped, without other large deviations.
The arrival of Jeddah is three days away: will it arrive with the acquired order (Sotnikov, Nikolaev and Shibalov) or will Chagin leave the first two the opportunity to fight? The legendary Russian team manager has no intention of repeating the coin toss that Jean Todt chose as referee in 1989 between Ari Vatanen and Jacky Ickx engaged in Africa with the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16.
Martin Macik took care of the day with the Powerstar who immediately went on the attack, putting himself between Nikolaev and Sotnikov and giving the feeling of being able to break the Kamaz domination: the Czech of the Big Shock team in the end had to surrender to the two K5, but the placed Sotnikov only conceded three seconds after a battle as open as it was beautiful and he easily got behind Shibalov.
In short, Iveco has shown that it has the competitiveness to aim high, but not the regularity by adding highs and lows too frequent to withstand the impact of the Kamaz who, on the other hand, have no apparent weaknesses. Janus Van Kasteren knows something about it, who in the end is still fifth and the best of the Iveco trucks: the Dutchman of the Petronas De Rooy team finished 19th and has accumulated a gap of twenty minutes today due to column problems. steering.
And so the fourth place of Ales Loprais with Prague seems unassailable. The Czech continues to be “the first of the others”: Karginov had to “papparselo” in a bite to restore Kamaz poker and, instead, ended the day behind Ales who will try to administer the quarter of an hour margin on the Russian .
Also worth noting is Ignacio Casale’s fifth place with the Tatra Buggyra: having overcome the problems of recent days that made him fall into the group, the Chilean has found the pace to take away some stage satisfaction.
The general classification
Stage 6 (Wadi ad Dawasir – Wadi ad Dawasir)
special: 287 km; transfer: 204 km; total: 491 km
Pos. |
Pilot / Mechanic / Navigator |
Truck |
Time / posting |
1. |
Sotnikov-Akhmadeev-Akhmetzianov |
Kamaz K5 435091 |
+ 32.43’53 “ |
2. |
Nikolaev-Iakovlev-Rybakov |
Kamaz K5 435091 |
+ 8’51 “ |
3. |
Shibalov-Nikitin-Tatarinov |
Kamaz 43509 |
+ 41’18 “ |
4. |
Loprais-Pokora-Valtr |
Prague V4S DKR |
+ 1.32’57 “ |
5. |
Karginov-Mokeev-Malkov |
Kamaz 43509 |
+ 1.47’30 “ |
6. |
Van Kasteren-Snijders-Rodewald |
Iveco Powerstar |
+ 2.27’43 “ |
7. |
Van den Brink-Willemsen-Der Kinderen |
Iveco Powerstar |
+ 2.55’57 “ |
8. |
Verstaijnen-Van Dal-Smits |
Iveco Powerstar |
+ 4.07’35 “ |
9. |
Macik-Tomasek-Svanda |
Iveco Powerstar |
+ 4.29’51 “ |
10. |
R. De Groot-Hulsebosch-Laan |
Iveco Magirus 4X4 |
+ 5.12’44 “ |
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