MINSK, 16 January (BelTA) – The Belarusian MAZ-SPORTavto team have posted the best overall result over the history of their participation in the Dakar Rally Raid. Truck racer Alexander Vasilevsky finished the rally in 6th overall, BelTA learned from Belarusian mobile carrier velcom, a technical partner of the MAZ team.
Alexander Vasilevsky has beaten his own record. He took 10th position overall in the 2015 edition of Dakar. This year's rally raid turned out to be more difficult, and yet more successful than the previous runnings of the race. The Belarusian drivers posted 6th fastest time overall, only 8 minutes off the top five.
Russia's Kamaz driver Eduard Nikolaev topped the overall standings of the 2017 Dakar Rally, followed by his teammate Dmitry Sotnikov. Dutchman Gerard de Rooy rounded off the podium.
Belarus' Alexander Vasilevsky finished in 6th overall, some 2h35m behind Eduard Nikolaev. Sergei Vyazovich took 13th place, 5h10m off the overall winner, with Alexei Vishnevsky in 21st position, 11h49m off the Kamaz driver.
“The 2017 Dakar Rally was one of the most difficult editions of the race over the past years. However, the MAZ drivers posted their best performance ever. Today MAZ trucks are among the best vehicles in the world. Kamaz and Iveco are our only competitors. We can say that MAZ-SPORTavto have become part of the world's motorsport elite,” Sergei Vyazovich stressed.
The MAZ-SPORTavto team took part in the Dakar Rally for the sixth time. Alfa-Bank and velcom were the team's partners. The 2017 Dakar Rally ran through Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. The racers covered a distance of some 9,000km. As many as 50 trucks took part in the race, with 42 of them making it to the finish line.
