RUSSIAN TRUCKERS WIN DAKAR

Russian crew on a KAMAZ truck is first in the truck division of this year’s Dakar race, from Buenos Aires in Argentina to Valparaiso in Chile and then back to Buenos Aires. The pilot is Firdaus Kabirov. Two other Russian crews on similar vehicles are respectively second and fourth. Remarkably, it is the eighth time that KAMAZ trucks triumph in Dakar.

This has already come to the notice of President Dmitri Medvedev. In a message to the winners on Sunday, he praised the KAMAZ truck makers for superb quality in their products.
One tribute to Firdaus Kabirov is from the public relations officer of KAMAZ Mr Vladimir Samoilov:

-- I was happy to see him racing again after recovering from a serious injury which forced him to skip the previous Dakar race. The comeback has proved a triumph, propelling Kabirov to world stardom on the truck-racing circuit.

He now has two Dakar titles under his belt. The truck race brought together 32 international crews on vehicles from 10 big-name firms.
The best Russian crew in the car division came eighth. The total participation this year amounted to 500 trucks, cars, motorbikes and quadrocycles from 50 countries.

For the first time in the 30-year history of Dakar, the organizers relocated it from Africa to South America. They cite serious security reasons and mull lingering there.

This year’s race covered 6 thousand kilometres and lasted 15 days.

Konstantin Garibov

Source:The Voice of Russia