Dakar-2011 Rally: Russian ‘masters’ and their opponents

The Dakar-2011 Rally finished in the Argentinean capital of Buenos Aires. Russia’s Kamaz-Master team swept the podium in the Trucks category. It was the team’s 10th world champion title.

The Russians won 8 out of 13 stages of the rally. Russia’s Vladimir “The Tsar” Chagin won this year’s race adding a new crown to his six previous titles at the Dakar World Championship.

In the Cars category, the Volkswagen Race Touareg team also swept the podium with Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah winning the rally ahead of his teammates Giniel De Villiers of South Africa and Carlos Sainz of Spain.

Spain’s Marc Coma won the rally in the Bikes category, which is his third Dakar title. Last year’s Dakar Champion, Cyril Despres of France, finished second after the Spaniard.

Argentina’s Alejandro Patronelli won Dakar-2011 in the Quads category. His younger brother Marcos was the winner of Dakar-2010 in the same category.

The exceptionally difficult rally across the territories of Argentina and Chile with a distance of 9,500 km (5,900 miles) lasted for two weeks.

Teams from 51 countries on 67 trucks, 170 bikes, 30 cars and 140 quads participated in this year’s Dakar. Only half of them made it to the finish line in Buenos Aires. The Dakar-2011 was broadcast over the world in 190 countries.

The first lethal accident at the prestigious world rally, which was formerly called the Paris-Dakar, was registered in 1979 after the tragic crash of motorcyclist Patrick Dodin in Niger. In all, during the 32-year-old history of the rally, 20 racers and 38 spectators have been killed as a result of various crashes .

Despite temperatures of 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit), tens of thousands of spectators gathered at the Rural exhibition center in Buenos Aires for the closing ceremony of the rally.

Kamaz-Master director Semyon Yakubov and Dakar-2011 Champion in the Trucks category Vladimir Chagin holding the trophy.

Russian spectators at the Dakar-2011 Rally