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MAZ-SPORTavto 3rd at Dakar 2019 Stage 8

MINSK, 16 January (BelTA) - Sergei Vyazovich's crew of Belarus' MAZ-SPORTavto Team completed Stage 8 of Dakar 2019 in Peru in third, BelTA learned from Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ trademark).

The leader of the Belarusian team cleared the distance in 5h01m. The stage winner was Russia’s Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ), 22m ahead of Belarus. Thanks to this success Dmitry Sotnikov topped the overall standings, moving Eduard Nikolaev to second. Belarus’ Sergei Vyazovich is 7th in the truck overall standings, 6h08m behind the leader.

“The stage between Marcona and Pisco consisted of two sections: the first one was  fast, the second was a 200km dune section. We got stuck in one of the sandy slopes for three minutes. Behind us was Eduard Nikolaev who also was struggling to overcome one of the obstacles and, as it turned out, lost 40 minutes and leaders position in the overall standings. In the middle of the section we saw Gerard de Rooy’s truck (Iveco) stuck on top of a dune. We decided to give them a hand. In general, we cleared the stage in a confident manner. Now our goal is to get back into the top five after being slapped with the penalty for leaving one of the control points unchecked,” Sergei Vyazovich said.

Alexander Vasilevsky’s MAZ finished 9th (5h38m). The Belarusian crew sit 9th in the general classification, 9h30m back.

After an overnight stop in the desert Aleksei Vishnevsky’s crew managed to finish within the time limit of Stage 7, but were late for the start of Stage 8. The crew will have to wait to continue the race until the start of Stage 9.
 
Stage 9 running within Pisco area is 311km long.

The 2019 Dakar race is run solely in Peru over a total of 5,000 kilometers. The event will complete on 17 January. More than half of the route runs through sandy roads with huge dunes and other obstacles.

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