MINSK, 7 January (BelTA) – Aliaksei Vishneuski's crew of MAZ-SPORTauto Team placed third in Stage 4 of Dakar Rally 2021. The event is taking place in Saudi Arabia, BelTA has learned.
The Belarusian crew finished 14 seconds behind the winner, Dmitry Sotnikov of Russia's KAMAZ-Master Team (2:58.48). Sotnikov's teammate Andrei Karginov came in second, 10 seconds back.
Another Belarusian crew piloted by Siarhei Viazovich faced serious technical problems. "The Belarusian winner of the previous stage estimates the time he needs to fix his MAZ truck at 1-2 hours," the Dakar website says.
Dmitry Sotnikov holds the lead in the general classification (14:45.58). Second is Martin Macik of the Czech's Big Shock Racing Team, 26:22 behind the leader. Russia's Anton Shibalov is third, 26:57 back.
Belarus' Aliaksei Vishneuski goes ninth, 1:30.18.
The Dakar 2021 events are held every day for 14 days, except for one day off (9 January). According to the organizers, the routes have been reconfigured by 80% compared to the last year's edition.
