Press releases

MINSK, 18 January (BelTA) – Belarus’ three MAZ-SPORTavto crews have successfully ended the Dakar Rally 2015 that ran through the territory of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. Alexander Vasilevsky has shown the best result over the last four years finishing the truck race in 10th position overall. The other two Belarusian competitors occupied 34th and 41st places in the general classification, BelTA has learned.

The organizers traditionally decided not to make the last 13th leg of the Dakar Rally very long and hard. Initially, the trucks had to cover 174km special section and 219km liaison from Rosario to Buenos Aires, but because of bad weather the last special was shortened to just 34km.

Dutch Hans Stacey (Iveco) took the Stage 13 win in the truck category clocking 20m31s. Out of the three Belarusian trucks, Sergei Vyazovich (race number 510), his co-pilot Pavel Garanin and mechanic Andrei Zhigulin performed the best, finishing the stage in 28m19s which was 10th fastest, 7m48s off the leader’s pace. Alexander Vasilevsky (race number 535), ended the last stage in 13th position, 12m56s in arrears. MAZ's third entry, Vladimir Vasilevsky (race number 560), crossed the finishing line 42nd, 42m59s back of the front-runner.

Russia's KAMAZ drivers hold the top three overall positions in the truck category. Airat Mardeev, who won most of the stages, took the overall victory. Eduard Nikolaev ranks second in the general classification, and last year’s Dakar winner Andrei Karginov rounds out the podium in third overall. MAZ’s Alexander Vasilevsky took 10th in the general classification of the trucks (7h8m59s back of the leader), the best result for Belarus over the four years of participation.

After Stage 13, Sergei Vyazovich is 34th on the overall timesheet, 31h21m7s off the leader’s pace. The mechanical issues he and his crew faced during the eighth leg of the competition brought their title chances to a halt. Vladimir Vasilevsky sits 41st in the final rankings, 55h25m48s in arrears.

As for all the other three categories, Spain’s Marc Coma (KTM) became a two-time winner of the Dakar Rally in the motorcycle class. Poland’s Rafal Sonik (Yamaha) celebrates his victory in the quad category, and Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah (MINI) won the Dakar 2015 car race.

It was the fourth time Belarus' MAZ-SPORTavto team participated in the Dakar Rally. The 2015 edition was held from 4 to 17 January and ran through the territory of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile.