Press releases

MINSK, 9 January (BelTA) – Aleksei Vishnevsky’s crew of Belarus’ MAZ-SPORTavto team took third place overall after Stage 3 of the 2018 Dakar Rally in the truck category, BelTA has learned.

The Belarusian tackled one of the toughest sections of the Dakar Rally, coming in fifth on the 296-kilometer third stage between the towns of Pisco and San Juan de Marcona (Peru). He finished only 25 minutes behind the Iveco driver Federico Villagra of Argentina, who won the stage in 3:56:37. Eduard Nikolaev’s KamAZ crew still leads the general standings, Federico Villagra is second. Third place went to MAZ-Sportavto crew led by Aleksei Vishnevsky who is only 52:34 behind the leader, which is quite a small deficit by Dakar standards.

Another two MAZ crews made it to the top 10 after Stage 3. The 2018 route has already been named one of the hardest ever. After two stages, the third one saw only 30 trucks out of the 42 that took the start in Lima. MAZ team leader Sergei Vyazovich got stuck in dunes on the special stage but managed to solve the situation and finished sixth. The accident occurred near the finish line when the MAZ truck tipped over on a hill. Fortunately, Alexander Vasilevsky came in time to help move the truck out. The most experienced Belarusian racer took tenth place.

Stage 4 is a loop running around San Juan de Marcona, Peru.

The 2018 Dakar edition is the seventh for the Belarusian team. The owner of MAZ-SPORTavto is Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ trademark), the technical partner is velcom. The 2018 Dakar Rally is running through Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina to wrap up in Cordoba, Argentina on 20 January. The race features 3,500 kilometers of high-speed sections, with most of the route running in the highlands.