Dmitri Sotnikov and team dominate Stage 1 of 2021 Dakar

Russian Team Kamaz Master piloted by Dmitri Sotnikov and Ruslan Akhmadeev dominated stage 1 in the trucks category at the 2021 Dakar rally in Saudi Arabia. The duo had a lead of approximately eight minutes over the team Instaforex Loprais Praga and completed the stage in a record time of three hours sixteen minutes.

The 277km stage one started from Jeddah (Liason-345km) and concluded at Bisha. The final standings at the end of the stage witnessed Ales Loprais and Petr Pokora piloting the truck for team Instaforex Loprais Praga and finished second with a time of three hours twenty four minutes.

The first stage concluded after another Kamaz Master truck, piloted by Airat Mardeev and Dmitriy Svistunov finished in tenth place. The team finished with a time of three hours forty two minutes, the reason being after covering the distance of 121 kilometres the radiator fan shattered.

After the prologue and stage 1, the final standings in the truck category were Sotnikov leading the category followed by Loprais and Shibanov in the third position. The Kamaz Master team has been dominating in the truck category from the 1990s and has won a record number of 17 wins so far.

The 2021 Dakar rally is the 43rd edition of the Dakar and has four squads registered under the name of Kamaz Master team, including the reigning World Champion Andrei Karginov.

Stage 2 for the 2021 Dakar will be starting from Bisha heading up to Wadi Al-Dawasir and will be a 457km long stage.