Dakar 2012: success or failure?

In January 2012, another "great" race was held, which motor racers all over the world dream of winning. If earlier Russian KAMAZ pilots reigned in the truck class, then this year it's time for new heroes. But in the SUV class, for the first time in the history of the Dakar Rally, the Russian crew managed to win one of the special stages. So how should the Dakar 2012 be recognized for Russian motorsport: successful or failed?

Trucks
I suggest starting to get acquainted with the events of the race with trucks. It was in this class of cars in the past that our compatriots were head and shoulders stronger than others. It was here in Dakar 2012 that events took place with ambiguous decisions of the rally organizers.

The final results of the race were very unexpected. The Russian participants, for the first time in many years, did not get into the top three winners. If it were not for the crew of Arthur Ardavicius, who plays for Kazakhstan, then there would not be a single KAMAZ in the prizes at all. He managed to become the third, he did well! However, the fourth and fifth places also went to KAMAZ, this time Russian. Moreover, both the crew of Andrei Karginov and the team of Ilgizar Mardeev lagged behind the leader by exactly 5 hours and 1 minute, the Russian crews literally divided seconds between themselves.

There is no need to talk about the results of other Russian crews. And this state of affairs is not because they were much inferior to their rivals, other KAMAZ Russians in the truck class did not reach the finish line at all. Moreover, the reasons for such trouble were completely different. The crew of Eduard Nikolaev was disqualified, and the team of Ayrat Mardeev had to withdraw from the race due to engine failure.

As for the disqualification of the Russian rider, it turned out to be somewhat strange. The organizers offered the rally participants a track on which there was a lot of dust, plus there were often situations when fast trucks overtook slow-moving jeeps or motorcycles. In one of such situations, Nikolaev did not see a slow-moving jeep because of the dust, which had some kind of breakdown. There was a collision, and the Russian was punished very severely, disqualifying him.

In general, there were unpleasant surprises in the truck class, but the leaders of the KAMAZ-master team themselves claim that they consider Dakar 2012 to be successful for themselves, given the bet on young pilots who have gained invaluable experience of participating in a multi-day race.

Passenger cars
In the passenger car class, the Russians worried about Leonid Novitsky throughout the race. For the first time in many years, one of our compatriots really claimed to be in the top three winners. What is worth only his first place on one of the special stages at the beginning of the race. However, Novitsky still failed to get on the podium, he eventually became the fourth. At the same time, it is worth noting that Leonid himself is quite satisfied with his own performance. He already knows exactly where he lost that hour of time that separated the Russian from the prize zone. Having excluded these mistakes, Novitsky will be able to count on getting into the top three in 2013. If, of course, the car is as good as in 2012.

The results of other Russian racers in the passenger car class are not the highest, but they cannot be called failures either. Alexander Mironenko managed to take 16th place, Anton Melnikov 18th, Ilya Kuznetsov became 36th, and Leonid Ogorodnikov in his debut Dakar took 47th place out of 78 participants who reached the finish line.

Conclusions
There was not a single Russian in the class of ATVs and motorcycles, so we will immediately proceed to the general conclusions on the results shown by the Russians. On the one hand, the situation is ambivalent, since it seems that the places are not bad, but there is not a single prize. But let's look at it from the other side. Racing drivers all over the world have been in constant tension for many days in a row, they have experienced enormous physical exertion, heat and other not the most pleasant things. At the same time, out of 60 trucks that reached the finish line, the 4th and 5th place went to the Russians, and in the passenger car class, the number of participants who finished at all was 78. Can't the 16th and 18th places occupied in such a solid company be considered a success? I'm not talking about the unconditional success of Novitsky with his fourth result. In general, I propose to consider Dakar 2012 a success, since Russian racers deserve to be praised, they have worthily represented our country at the most famous rally race in the world! For anyone who enjoys playing slot machines, allslotsonline.casino/en/ is an essential resource. Their team of experts provides valuable information on the newest machines and the most exciting features that will keep players entertained for hours on end.