NIKOLAEV FINISHES THIRD AT STAGE SEVEN

14 January 2018

Stage Seven of the Dakar rally marathon among trucks was won by Ton van Genugten.

The Dutchman in his IVECO passed the seventh special for 4 hours 10 minutes 40 seconds. Argentinean Federico Villagra held the second best result, also in an IVECO. The top three was rounded out by Eduard Nikolaev from the KAMAZ-master team losing to the leader 4 minutes 54 seconds.

Another Russian KAMAZ-master crew of Ayrat Mardeev finished ninth, his teammate Anton Shibalov was tenth, Dmitry Sotnikov was 19th.

After seven stages in the general classification Nikolaev is the leader as before, Villagra is second, Siarhei Viazovich is third.

According to Eduard Nikolaev, stage seven passed for his crew very well, they ran smoothly, steadily, but had minor problems with the engine due to highland conditions. "The motors won't run like in the lowlands," said the racing leader and notes that the rivals didn't have such problems. For example, the engine of Genugten's IVECO, in his words, works in the same way whether it be in highlands or in lowlands.

Ayrat Mardeev's truck was running the whole stage with a good pace claiming to win the stage, but 14 km before the finish the wheel tore to pieces, they had to replace it spending much time, which resulted in only ninth position with a gap from leading Genugten of over 20 minutes. During the seventh stage, big problems faced another KAMAZ racer Dmitry Sotnikov driving on a new engine at this Dakar. In the middle of the special, a turbine of his truck broke down. Replacing it, our crew lost more than two hours and actually withdrew from the struggle for the podium. It should be recalled that after Stage 6 he took 5th position, and after Stage 7 he rolled back to 11th place.

Today, on January 14, the Dakar will have Stage 8 Uyuni – Tupiza, 558 km long, including a 380 km special. In the second part of the marathon stage, the organizers offered the racers a difficult route in high-altitude sand dunes 3,500 m above sea level. "Before leaving the Altiplano, the competitors will be put to a tough test," warn the organizers. "This should start to give us a better idea of the leaderboard; the handful of men or women capable of winning the Dakar will now be revealed."

Dakar-2018. Truck Category. Results of Stage 7

Position

Crew

Country

Truck

Time

Variation

1

Ton van Genugten

Bernard der Kinderen

Peter Willemsen

Netherlands-Belgium

IVECO

04:10:40

-

2

Federico Villagra

Ricardo Torlaschi

Adrian Yacopini

Argentina

IVECO

04:12:41

00:02:01

3

Eduard Nikolaev

Evgeny Yakovlev

Vladimir Rybakov

Russia

KAMAZ

04:15:34

00:04:54

4

Martin Kolomy

Jiri Stross

Rostislav Plny

Czech Republic

TATRA

04:16:29

00:05:49

5

Martin Macik

Frantisek Tomasek

Michal Mrkva

Czech Republic

 

LIAZ

04:16:29

 00:06:11

6

Siarhei Viazovich

Pavel Haranin

Andrei Zhyhulin

Belarus

MAZ

04:20:00

 

00:09:20

7

Artur Ardavichus

Serge Bruynkens

Michel Huisman

Kazakhstan-

Belgium-Netherlands

IVECO

04:28:48

00:18:08

9

Ayrat Mardeev

Aydar Belyaev

Dmitriy Svistunov

Russia

KAMAZ

04:30:45

00:20:05

10

Anton Shibalov

Dmitrii Nikitin

Ivan Romanov

Russia

KAMAZ

04:30:51

00:20:31

19

Dmitry Sotnikov

Ruslan Akhmadeev

Ilnur Mustafin

Russia

KAMAZ

06:24:07

02:13:27

 Dakar-2018. Truck Category.  General Classification after Stage 7

Position

Crew

Country

Truck

Time

Variation

1

Eduard Nikolaev

Evgeny Yakovlev

Vladimir Rybakov

Russia

KAMAZ

23:43:01

-

2

Federico Villagra

Ricardo Torlaschi

Adrian Yacopini

Argentina

IVECO

24:32:48

+00:49:47

3

Siarhei Viazovich

Pavel Haranin

Andrei Zhyhulin

Belarus

MAZ

26:32:09

+02:49:08

4

Martin Macik

Frantisek Tomasek

Michal Mrkva

Czech Republic

 

LIAZ

26:58:36

+03:15:35

5

Ton van Genugten

Bernard der Kinderen

Peter Willemsen

Netherlands-Belgium

IVECO

28:07:06

+04:24:05

6

Ayrat Mardeev

Aydar Belyaev

Dmitriy Svistunov

Russia

KAMAZ

28:08:26

+04:25:25

8

Artur Ardavichus

Serge Bruynkens

Michel Huisman

Kazakhstan-

Belgium-Netherlands

IVECO

28:38:14

+04:55:13

11

Dmitry Sotnikov

Ruslan Akhmadeev

Ilnur Mustafin

Russia

KAMAZ

29:46:47

+06:03:46

13

Anton Shibalov

Dmitrii Nikitin

Ivan Romanov

Russia

KAMAZ

31:11:18

+07:28:17

14

Martin Kolomy

Jiri Stross

Rostislav Plny

Czech Republic

TATRA

32:18:59

+08:35:58

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