Fesh Fesh Tortures The Crews, Dandy In The Elite Top Ten Anyway
14.1.2015
Photo gallery
Total 5
|
|
|
|
|
After a day-long break the crews started out to the concluding week of the Dakar Rally. 37th year of the distance race ends already this upcoming Saturday and so the time has come for the second longest timed stage on day nine. This was beaten most successfully by the leading Russian Mardeev. Artur Ardavichus, carrying our mechanic Daniel Kozlovský, fit in among the ten fastest crews again.
„The rest day did us incredibly good. We were all really tired and we finally got the chance to rest at least a little. However, I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a „free“ day. We had a lot of work to do on the truck and put it back on it feet after the Dakar’s marathon stage. Anyway, it wasn’t as chaotic as on the first racing day this time,“ commented our crew mechanic who takes care of Tatra number 515 at the rally.
Following the one-day pause organizers of the 37th year of the world’s toughest rally prepared the second longest special stretching over 450 km. The crews started from the sand dunes of Iquique to Calama. The ever-present „fesh fesh“ sand, characteristic for its fine grains, complicated the situation to a great extent. Quite rightfully, the racers hate this area. “This area is incredibly dusty. Fine sand is literally everywhere, it whirls, you don’t see a thing, it makes navigating extremely difficult,“ described Dandy, whose tatra piloted by the skilled Kazakhstani Artur Ardavichus tackled the plots of the track as the best crew of the international Bonver Dakar Project. The turquoise Jamal crossed the finish line with the ninth fastest time.
After the navigation trouble in the extraordinarily difficult timed stage, other two pilots of the Czech-Dutch Bonver Dakar Project and Mammoet Rallysport alliance with the technology support from our team arrived at the finish one after another, Poland’s Szustkowski on nineteenth and Tomáš Vrátný on twentieth place. The Dutch Pascal de Baar got stuck on his way between waypoints eight and nine and it is uncertain whether he will continue in the race. “It was a long and actually rather boring stage, full of stones and bumps. It was incredibly dusty, we couldn’t see where we were going, and so we had to opt for a safer pace, which had nothing to do with racing though. I guess we were going on 70% or so, but the most important thing for us is to finish the Dakar, so it made no sense to take risks,“ shrug his shoulders Martin van den Brink.
Russia’s Mardeev remain on the lead. Tomáš Vrátný is on fourteenth place, van den Brink three positions behind him, immediately followed by Szustkowski. Ardavichus and Kozlovský are currently on twenty-first place.
Stage ten will return the racing field from Chile back to Argentina. The distance to the finish town of Salta is eight hundred and sixty kilometres with almost three hundred and sixty kilometres of a timed stage. And so the ultimate finish in Buenos Aires is almost within the crews‘ view.
Results - Trucks – Stage 9: 1. Mardeev (RUS) Kamaz 5:19:29, 2. Nikolaev (RUS) Kamaz +1:29, 3. De Rooy (NED) Iveco +7:05, 4. Karginov (RUS) Kamaz +15:33, 5. Loprais (CZE) MAN +18:58, 7. Kolomý (CZE) Tatra +28:42, 9. Ardavichus/Kozlovský (KAZ/CZE) Tatra +54:29, 18. van den Brink (NED) Renault +1:45:25, 19. Szustkowski (POL) Tatra +1:49:023, 20. Vrátný (CZE) Tatra +1:58:39, de Baar (NED) Renault Trucks.
Overall ranking: 1. Mardeev (RUS) Kamaz 31:52:50, 2. Nikolaev (RUS) Kamaz +14:10, 3. Karginov (RUS) Kamaz +20:42, 4. Loprais (CZE) MAN +1:18:17, 5. Sotnikov (RUS) Kamaz +1:51:49, 7. Kolomý (CZE) Tatra +3:22:38, 14. Vrátný (CZE) Tatra +8:45:37, 17. van den Brink (NED) Renault Trucks +9:34:30, 18. Szustkowski (POL) Tatra +11:00:50, 21. Ardavichus/Kozlovský (KAZ/CZE) Tatra 16:17:02, de Baar (NED) Renault Trucks.
