![Photo courtesy of the press-service of the Astana Motorsports](/userdata/news_en/2014/news_25342/thumb_b/photo_36367.jpg)
Kazakhstan’s Astana Motorsports racers have successfully completed the tenth stage of the Dakar 2014, Tengrinews reports.
The distance of 631 kilometers was divided in two parts. The racers faced a sharp descent to the Pacific Ocean coast, plenty of fesh-fesh and of course the navigation was difficult. Even experienced pilots had troubles with navigation, not everybody managed to find the right direction at the very beginning. However, Kazakhstan's racers showed all their mastery and improved their positions in the overall of the Dakar.
Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports.
The car crew of Aidyn Rakhimbayev and Vladimir Demyanenko finished the tenth stage in the 16th place and advanced to the 11th place in the general ranking of the race.
Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports
"The tenth stage was one of the hardest ones. Day by day the organizers increase the pace and complicity of the tracks. There was a lot of sand today, the tires were slipping and the vehicles were getting stuck. Unfortunately, we lost a some time in the sand, although were we working hard and pressing the car to the utmost. During the second special section we understood that we had to fight for the starting position, because today's finish is tomorrow's start. We advanced several lines up in the overall and we are certainly pleased with the result," pilot Aidyn Rakhimbayev said.
Aidyn Rakhimbayev. Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports.
"From my point of view, the Dakar finally has become even more interesting. A few days ago I was distressed by lack of navigation challenges in the routes; all I had to do is tell the turns – a simple rally dictation. But these two days (the 9th and 10th stages) were really navigational, yesterday there was a point when we could simply drive in the wrong way, and today in the sand it was very hard to find the right direction. There were difficult situation, when we missed one checkpoint and had to go back and take it. Thanks God, we did it. We lost some time to navigation, but all we collected all the way points and got no time penalties. We are in a cheerful mood, we have a stable pace and results and we will try to keep it up till the end of the Dakar race," navigator Vladimir Demyanenko said.
Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports
The other car crew of Astana Motorsports -- Denis Berezovsky and Ignat Falkov -- came to the finish in the 30th place and moved 8 lines up to the 35th position in the overall.
Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports.
The truck crew of Arthur Ardavichus, Alexey Nikizhev and Radim Kaplanek completed the tenth stage in the 13th place and retained the 21st line in the general ranking.
Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports.
"We performed well in the dunes and sand and outraced many racers. The start was fine, but then the truck lost its shock-absorbing capacity. After that things were really bumpy, we felt all the hillocks, big and small. Our right-side windscreen crashed because of the rocking. We couldn't continue driving at a high-speed. However, we were the 13th place at the finish and it is a fine result, considering that our truck was rehabilitated after a serious accident. I think, it is not over yet and the finish will be ours!" Arthur Ardavichus, the bronze winner of Dakar 2012, said.
There are three more stages to be completed by the racers. The Dakar 2014 started in the third most populous city of Argentina Rosario on January 5. The total length of the route makes around 9 500 kilometers before the racers will reach the finish in Valparaíso, Chile, on January 18.
Kazakhstan’s Astana Motorsports racers have successfully completed the tenth stage of the Dakar 2014, Tengrinews reports.
The distance of 631 kilometers was divided in two parts. The racers faced a sharp descent to the Pacific Ocean coast, plenty of fesh-fesh and of course the navigation was difficult. Even experienced pilots had troubles with navigation, not everybody managed to find the right direction at the very beginning. However, Kazakhstan's racers showed all their mastery and improved their positions in the overall of the Dakar.
Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports.
The car crew of Aidyn Rakhimbayev and Vladimir Demyanenko finished the tenth stage in the 16th place and advanced to the 11th place in the general ranking of the race.
Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports
"The tenth stage was one of the hardest ones. Day by day the organizers increase the pace and complicity of the tracks. There was a lot of sand today, the tires were slipping and the vehicles were getting stuck. Unfortunately, we lost a some time in the sand, although were we working hard and pressing the car to the utmost. During the second special section we understood that we had to fight for the starting position, because today's finish is tomorrow's start. We advanced several lines up in the overall and we are certainly pleased with the result," pilot Aidyn Rakhimbayev said.
Aidyn Rakhimbayev. Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports.
"From my point of view, the Dakar finally has become even more interesting. A few days ago I was distressed by lack of navigation challenges in the routes; all I had to do is tell the turns – a simple rally dictation. But these two days (the 9th and 10th stages) were really navigational, yesterday there was a point when we could simply drive in the wrong way, and today in the sand it was very hard to find the right direction. There were difficult situation, when we missed one checkpoint and had to go back and take it. Thanks God, we did it. We lost some time to navigation, but all we collected all the way points and got no time penalties. We are in a cheerful mood, we have a stable pace and results and we will try to keep it up till the end of the Dakar race," navigator Vladimir Demyanenko said.
Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports
The other car crew of Astana Motorsports -- Denis Berezovsky and Ignat Falkov -- came to the finish in the 30th place and moved 8 lines up to the 35th position in the overall.
Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports.
The truck crew of Arthur Ardavichus, Alexey Nikizhev and Radim Kaplanek completed the tenth stage in the 13th place and retained the 21st line in the general ranking.
Photo courtesy of Astana Motorsports.
"We performed well in the dunes and sand and outraced many racers. The start was fine, but then the truck lost its shock-absorbing capacity. After that things were really bumpy, we felt all the hillocks, big and small. Our right-side windscreen crashed because of the rocking. We couldn't continue driving at a high-speed. However, we were the 13th place at the finish and it is a fine result, considering that our truck was rehabilitated after a serious accident. I think, it is not over yet and the finish will be ours!" Arthur Ardavichus, the bronze winner of Dakar 2012, said.
There are three more stages to be completed by the racers. The Dakar 2014 started in the third most populous city of Argentina Rosario on January 5. The total length of the route makes around 9 500 kilometers before the racers will reach the finish in Valparaíso, Chile, on January 18.
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