OREANDA-NEWS. January 21, 2009. For the first time during 30 years of its history the legendary marathon left the African continent and was held in Argentina and Chile. It should be mentioned that 217 racing drivers on motorcycles, 25 contestants on quadricycles, 117 crews on cars and 81 crews on trucks competed in the largest off-road sport event in the world which tests the durability of vehicles and people’s patience. After the start on 3 January in Buenos Aires only 271 of 500 contestants managed to finish a giant track almost 10 thousand kilometers long and get to the Argentinean capital: 113 racing motorcyclists, 13 pilots on quadricycles, 91 crews on cars and 54 crews on trucks. All three crews of the KAMAZ-master team which defended the honour of Russia in the truck class not only passed the whole track, but also won the eighth victory struggling with the strongest rivals.

Having won the marathon in January 1996 for the first time, in 2000 the crews of the team from Naberezhnye Chelny took the first and third places. Then there were the first places in 2002, the first and third in 2003, the first, second and fourth in 2004, the first in 2005, the first and third in 2006. In 2007 Vladimir Chaguin’s crew had an accident on the track, and the crew of Ilghizar Mardeev, Aidar Belyaev and Eduard Nikolaev showed the second result. Dakar-2008 was cancelled and after the forced pause the KAMAZ-master team again made itself known, now on the South American continent.

This victory is especially valuable because it was gained on a very difficult, unpredictable track, under difficult climatic conditions and, what’s more important, in a tense struggle with serious rivals. The struggle in the truck event was uncommonly intensive and surprising on all 14 stages of the race. The Netherlands’ team pulled ahead from the very start; Gerardus de Rooy’s crew, in particular, was in the lead during four stages. The leader of MAN and the winner of Dakar-2007 Hans Stacey passed only half of the distance. In the middle of the race, after six stages Firdaus Kabirov pulled ahead; and from that moment the crews of the KAMAZ-master team took the initiative. Replacing each other at the head of the event and alternating their victories on special sections, Vladimir Chaguin’s and Firdaus Kabirov’s crews showed an enthralling sport fight and took the lead. In accordance with its task, Ilghizar Mardeev’s crew stood by them, and so well that it even overtook many leaders. The struggle continued to the last special section; and after Chaguin had stopped to change a damaged wheel, Firdaus Kabirov’s crew took the lead and won its second victory at Dakar. Only Gerardus de Rooy of the rivals managed to be wedged in the KAMAZ trio and finish third, before Mardeev. Nevertheless, the result shown this year will stay in memory as a striking illustration of the advantage of the KAMAZ-master team: all three trucks are among the top four in the standing!

Head of the KAMAZ-master team Semyon Yakubov, “It was a very difficult Dakar, first of all, from the point of view of physical strength, which we had expected in fact. It is no mere chance that we always keep ourselves in good shape following proved methods. But this race was absolutely unpredictable due to its variety. If we always knew what to expect on the African continent – stones in Morocco, sand in Mauritania, then here there were found unusual types of relief including mud. It should be added that there was temperature and level difference. Just because of unpredictable conditions the organizers had to shorten special sections. Every marathon can’t do without correction of the route, though. Without doubt, this Dakar had a very complicated route, at least for amateur racers, and then during the race it had to be adapted to the contestants’ potential. These problems will surely be taken into account if the next Dakar takes place in South America.”

Pilot Firdaus Kabirov, “The outcome of the race concurred with the second part of the complicated section Fiambala – La Rioja on which it took us over 7 hours to pass the distance of the special section 220 kilometers long. As the organizers promised, this stage put everything into place, but became the stage of “lost opportunities” for somebody else. We also faced a number of various problems: we had to change a wheel when crossing many dry riverbeds – sharp stones cut the tires like a knife. The dunes which were found on the route were nothing like those familiar to us in different deserts of the world, but we are very experienced in dune driving. And on the whole Dakar remained Dakar. During the first half of the race a gap between the first and the third results was not more than ten minutes. It proved that the struggle was really tense. I think that the most important thing for us is that the design of the truck proved to be good, in particular, the design of suspension, steering and axle construction which considerably increased a wheel turning angle.”

Pilot Vladimir Chaguin, “It was a very tense race to the very finish. Yet we missed a classic off-road distance. Maybe, the organizers should think about the idea of routing over neighboring countries as well. It will help to escape “tram”, that is very narrow tracks where overtaking is impossible. There were too many such tracks in the first part of the route. Many strongest rivals are out at the very beginning; but the more teams struggle till the last day the more interesting the race is. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t mind competing at the South American Dakar once again – there are really well-wishing, cheerful and ardent people and fans there. Almost during the whole distance of the marathon we drove along the live corridor of people welcoming us cordially.”

Pilot Ilghizar Mardeev, “To my mind, one of the most difficult stages on the route was the stage two days before the finish when we had to cross impassable points scattered on a small “sandpit”. Two days before there was another difficult stage when the track went through dry riverbeds with a large quantity of huge boulders, through narrow canyons where the trucks ran very tightly. And it was under conditions of reduced visibility because of dust. By the way, we swallowed a mouthful of dust during the whole route. Dakar can’t be easy by definition, but these two stages stayed in our memory. We liked too narrow mountainous stages least of all because they were really very dangerous for trucks. Extreme heat stuck in our memory: thus, on the last day of the race the thermometer installed on the roof of the cab showed 46 degrees. Of course, our fans wished we won the whole podium, but the rivals were very strong.”

Mechanic Airat Mardeev (the youngest member of the team participated in Dakar for the first time): “The race was much harder I could have ever imagined.”