Arthur Ardavichus: Everything is ready for Dakar

Pilot of Kazakhstan team Astana in trucks category Arthur Ardavichus talked about the results of his participation in the Silk Way Rally, Tengrinews.kz reports. Ardavichus’ team was ranked 14th in the general classification being about 6 hours behind the winner Firdaus Kabirov from Russia. “I am very pleased with our results. We didn’t have to win in this race. We wanted to prepare for Dakar as much as possible. Our crew is new and it would have been stupid to try to get first places. The rally is the second difficult in the world after Dakar. The format is the same, and even the organizers are the same. The difference is that there is twice less stages in the Silk Way,” Ardavichus said. Astana pilot also told about the problems his crew faced during the rally: “We lost much time at one of the stages because we did not calculate the fuel consumption correctly. But then we dropped even lower, because our truck's base broke. The good thing about it is that we had to learn to catch up and overtake. We are used to leading races and not noticing the trucks behind us. Here, at the last stages we had to overrun trucks in dusty tunnels, and this is a special art, which we needed to learn: how to approach correctly, how to wait for the right moment and when to attack. I didn’t have such experience before. Now everything is ready for Dakar: we have tactics and strategy for such situations." The sportsmen had to overcome unforeseen challenges in the Silk Way several times. “Actually our tires are prepared and fixed for certain loads and speed. At several points there was a possibility that a tire might blow up and this could cause a catastrophe at the speed of 150 km/h. But we managed to avoid it,” the pilot added. The main race of the year, Dakar in Argentina, will start in December. Ardavichus is already giving forecasts: “Should there be no technical problems, we will be in top 20. Being on the pedestal is already considered a victory in Dakar. 100 trucks will take part in the race and being one of the leaders is cool. There will be no unprepared, weak or amateur drivers this time. These people passed Dakar tens of times. They will compete with each other. This will be a real war and we are ready to take part in it this year.” According to the racer, his crew will again drive a truck rented from KamAZ-Master team, but the truck will be different. “The truck we used for Silk Way is now going to Naberezhny Chelny and will be dismantled. We will change some parts to add stability. Only American engine will be left from the old truck, and the rest will be changed. After that we will make a lot of tests,” Ardavichus shared his plans. Besides, in the coming 5 months the Kazakhstan sportsman is planning to take part in several races in different categories of cars. “I am going to Europe to take part in two stages of European Motor Boating Championship. For me this is more of an entertainment that helps me to stay in good shape. On the other hand, it is a constant drive. I have good results in this sport. Of course, control is much different here, the engine is in the back, but I’m very interested in technical features of the boats,” Astana pilot said. Ardavichus and his crew still have several important races this season, but, according to the pilot, the next year will be even more intensive: “I will take part in three projects at a time. This is the Dakar series which include the Silk Way and Dakar. The second project is Persian Championship on jeep: UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. There is also World and European Motor Boating Championships. These are three absolutely different elements: trucks, cross-country and water.”