fter spending the opening week of the rally battling to keep pace with one Kamaz rig or another this stage finally saw Czech Tatra driver Ales Loprais put his name on a stage win.
4 years after winning his 1st stage victory on the Dakar, during the last special on the 2007 edition, Alès Loprais (Tatra) got the winning feeling back on this 6th special of the Dakar 2011. Taking full advantage of the problems encountered by the two leading drivers on the Kamaz team, the son of the mythical Karel, finally completed the day’s 423 timed kilometres 5′55 ahead of Russian Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz)and 9′39 in front of Russian Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz). Loprais’s success brings to a close the series of 24 consecutive stage victories for Kamaz on the Dakar.In the general standings, Kabirov is still comfortably in the lead, 19′20 ahead of his team leader Chagin, and 21′25 in front of Alès Loprais.
It was Loprais’ second career Dakar stage win – the other coming back in Africa in 2007 – and proved the Kamaz’s were not unstoppable. Indeed, given that the Russians Firdaus Kabirov and Vladimir Chagin, it is a credit to Loprais that his stage win puts him two minutes out of second place held by Chagin.
“The Kamaz drivers are so strong, with excellent technique and they are excellent drivers as well,” said Loprais. “But we will push. We are just one Tatra here against an army of trucks from Russia, but we will keep on pushing, that’s our goal and we would like to target the podium at least.”
“For sure it’s fantastic to win a special and it’s a great satisfaction for us. It was a really difficult stage. Even the first section in the dunes there was a lot of possibilities of getting a puncture. We were really organised to not get a flat tyre because in the last stage it happened and that cost us 20 minutes.”
‘The Tsar’ – the record holder for stage wins – could only muster third best today though he led the stage at several points, losing further time to Firdaus Kabirov who has a 19 minute lead over his teammate.
Eduard Nikolaev and Ilgizar Mardeev finished the stage fourth and fifth to put all four Kamaz units in the top five – a quick reminder to Ales Loprais about what he’s up against.
Results:
|
Poř. |
Číslo |
Posádka |
Země |
Vůz |
Čas |
|
1. |
504 |
Aleš Loprais, Milan Holáň, Josef Kalina |
CZ |
Tatra 815 4×4 |
06:00:37 |
|
2. |
502 |
Firdaus Kabirov, Ajdar Běljajev, Andrej Mokjejev |
RUS |
Kamaz 4326 |
+0:03:55 |
|
3. |
500 |
Vladimir Čagin, Sergej Savostin, Ildar Šajsultanov |
RUS |
Kamaz 4326-9 |
+0:09:39 |
|
4. |
512 |
Eduard Nikolajev, Vjačeslav Mizjukajev, Vladimir Rybakov |
RUS |
Kamaz 4326 |
+0:27:03 |
|
5. |
518 |
Ilgizar Mardějev, Vladimir Děmjaněnko, Ajrat Mardějev |
RUS |
Kamaz 4326 |
+0:54:49 |
|
6. |
507 |
Franz Echter, Detlef Ruf, Artur Klein |
RUS |
MAN TGS 18.480 |
+1:11:37 |
|
7. |
537 |
Artur Adravičus, Děnis Běrezovskij, Žanat Žalimbetov |
BR/CZ |
Kamaz 4326-9 |
+1:42:08 |
|
8. |
506 | Pep Vila Roca, Moi Torrallardona, Peter van Eerd |
E/NL |
Iveco Trakker 4×4 |
+1:43:13 |
|
9. |
503 |
Marcel Van Vliet, Bernard der Kinderen, Bernard Bruynkens |
D |
MAN TGS 18.480 |
+1:57:18 |
|
10. |
526 | Teruhito Sugavara, Sejči Suzuki |
J |
Hino Ranger |
+2:16:40 |
Overall:
|
Poř. |
Číslo |
Posádka |
Země |
Vůz |
Čas |
|
1. |
502 |
Firdaus Kabirov, Ajdar Běljajev, Andrej Mokjejev |
RUS |
Kamaz 4326 |
23:43:40 |
|
2. |
500 |
Vladimir Čagin, Sergej Savostin, Ildar Šajsultanov |
RUS |
Kamaz 4326-9 |
+0:19:20 |
|
3. |
504 |
Aleš Loprais, Milan Holáň, Josef Kalina |
CZ |
Tatra 815 4×4 |
+0:21:25 |
|
4. |
512 |
Eduard Nikolajev, Vjačeslav Mizjukajev, Vladimir Rybakov |
RUS |
Kamaz 4326 |
+1:26:18 |
|
5. |
507 |
Franz Echter, Detlef Ruf, Artur Klein |
D |
MAN TGS 18.480 |
+2:10:57 |
|
6. |
518 |
Ilgizar Mardějev, Vladimir Děmjaněnko, Ajrat Mardějev |
RUS |
Kamaz 4326 |
+2:40:25 |
|
7. |
506 |
Pep Vila Roca, Moi Torrallardona, Peter van Eerd |
E/NL |
Iveco Trakker 4×4 |
+4:16:21 |
|
8. |
503 |
Marcel Van Vliet, Bernard der Kinderen, Bernard Bruynkens |
NL |
MAN TGS 18.480 |
+5:08:40 |
|
9. |
537 |
Matthias Behringer, Jochen Seiler, Hugo Kupper |
D |
MAN TGS 18.480 |
+5:40:27 |
|
10. |
537 | Artur Adravičus, Děnis Běrezovskij, Žanat Žalimbetov |
KAZ |
Kamaz 4326-9 |
+6:31:02 |