MAZ at Dakar 2016 – Follow Us!

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MAZ Trucks Press Release / December 29, 2015

MAZ Trucks held a press-conference at the Minsk Automobile Plant on December 22, 2015 to announce the participation of the MAZ-Sport Team in the 2016 Dakar rally.

2016 marks the fifth time that the MAZ-Sport Team will participate in the Dakar rally.

The MAZ-Sport Team headed out to South America on December 24.

MAZ Trucks will have three trucks at the race – two main crews and a “fast technical” truck for immediate assistance during the stages.

The truckmaker’s reputation will be defended by three crews:

Crew no. 507:

driver – Sergey Vyazovich;

navigator– Pavel Garanin;

mechanic – Andrey Zhigulin.

Crew no. 512:

driver – Alexander Vasilevski;

navigator – Valery Kozlowski;

mechanic – Anton Zaporoschenko.

Crew no 541:

driver – Vladimir Vasilevski;

navigator – Dmitry Vihrenko;

mechanic – Aleksey Neverovich.

The specially prepared MAZ race trucks are already in Argentina.

The Belarus-based MAZ team is staking its success on speed, experience, strategy and advanced truck engineering.

The 2016 Dakar rally will take place in two countries – Argentina and Bolivia.

The start of the race will take place on January, 3 in Buenos–Aires and the finish will be in Rosario on January, 16, 2016.

59 truck category race participants will drive 9385 kilometers (5,832 miles) over some of the toughest conditions on earth.

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The Belarusians became 11th at the first special area in Dakar 2016

MAZ Trucks Press Release / January 5, 2016

Sergey Vyazovich’s crew came to 11th place at the happened stage of the rally-raid DAKAR-2016. All three Belarusian trucks got to the finish.

The second stage was intended to be one of the longest at this DAKAR race. But the organizers decided not to risk and reduced the special area from 510 to 387 km.

The race took place along the rather speedy route with a big number of bumps and water barriers. Sergey Vyazovich’s truck overcame it in 4 hours 30 minutes. The Belarusian crew lagged behind the leader Hans Stacy (Holland) in almost 12 minutes. Three KAMAZ crews stood higher the Belarusians in a fixture table. Alexander Vasilevskiy’s truck finished the second stage at 21st place. It took him 4 hours 44 minutes to overcome the special area. Its lagging behind the winner was 25 minutes 29 sec. The technical truck of Vladimir Vasilevski finished at 33rd position – it took him more than 5 hours to overcome the distance and 45, 5 minutes of lagging behind Hans Stacy.

The speedy stone route had not became a serious problem for the Belarusian crews.

“Everyone had performed a good work – the racers and the trucks as well. Sergey Vyazovich went with a good speed, but tried not to risk without a clear reason. Such areas are rarely decisive for the race result, but let one silly mistake occur and the crew will pay a high price for it. There was a number of examples when the trucks have been just thrown out the race. The main stages are ahead, that’s why we have to take care of people and trucks before the forthcoming trials”, – was marked by the team.

At the same time the sickness of Sergey Vyazovich somehow had affected the team’s performance. Alexader Vasilevskiy’s MAZ truck had passed the turn, and thus lost some time. Besides, while overcoming the narrow part of the road, the truck had touched the tree, and the windscreen was knocked out.

The core is that competition for “golden Bedouin” began with the second stage. The first stage was cancelled by the organizers due to extreme weather conditions – heavy rain and zero visibility produced high risk for the crews. Earlier the trucks prolog had been discontinued when the Chinese female racer rushed the crowd of spectators as she failed to handle driving her Mini Cooper – 10 people suffered, 3 of them are in hospital in bad condition.

The third stage includes quite small special area (only 190 km) between cities Termas de Rio Hondo and Jujuy. It will be much more speedy, but with mountains areas. As a rule such routes hide a lot of “surprises”.

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The Belarusians have started in Dakar 2016

MAZ Trucks Press Release / January 5, 2016

Sergey Vyazovich’s crew of MAZ-SPORTauto Team started on January, 3 in a prestigious rally-raid DAKAR-2016 at the 8th position.

Alexander Vasilevskiy’s crew began the race at the 12th position, while the fast technical truck of Vladimir Vasilevskiy started at the 40th position.

On the first day the racers had to overcome 600 km between two Argentinean cities – Rosario and Villa Carlos Paz, but due to the poor weather conditions the special area in 258 km including speedy areas and rough routes in a sloping area was turned down.

There are 55 crews in trucks category. Earlier MAZ trucks had taken part in a traditional podium, after which they had to go for a Prolog – small spectacular route that would define crews’ start positions. But this stage was cancelled due to the tragic incident – the Chinese racer rushed the spectators crowd at her Mini Cooper. 10 people suffered, three of them are in hospital in a bad condition. Thus sport trucks began the rally-raid according to the board numbers. The Russian crew under Airat Mardeev’s piloting was the first one (the truck is under 500 board number).

Belarus is represented by three sport trucks - two main crews and one “fast technical truck” to assist during the race.

No. 507 is crewed by Sergey Vyazovich, Pavel Garanin and Andrey Zhigulin.

The 512th truck crew includes Alexander Vasilevski, Valery Kozlowski and Anton Zaporoschenko, while the 541st “fast technical truck” is manned by Vladimir Vasilevski, Dmitrij Vihrenko and Aleksey Neverovich. The aim of the team is to be among leading crews, while the minimum task is to overcome the whole route and be among the top-10.

The sport trucks have been tuned before Dakar start: the suspension, fuel tanks, transmission and steering control were improved. Besides, a new technical truck that functions as a “fast technical truck” was assembled.

Truck 507 is 300 kg lighter now and equipped with 930 horsepower engine rated at 4,200 N-m of torque.

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