2021 Dakar | Dmitri Sotnikov takes the fifth win in a row for Team Kamaz Master

Stage 12 from Yanbu to Jeddah was the shortest stage on paper and we somehow had an idea about who is taking the win! With an unbeatable time difference of 40 minutes, we were quite sure of Dmitri Sotnikov taking the win for Team Kamaz-Master. However, in the twelfth special, Big Shock Racing’s Martin Macik led the team to victory in stages nine and ten and was the stage winner in Stage 12 with a timing of 02:32:27 hours. Following him was team Kamaz-Master’s Stage 11 winner Anton Shibalov with a difference of just a minute and at P3 was his teammate and reigning champ Dmitri Sotnikov with a difference of 02:04 minutes from the leader.

Anton Shibalov, winner of Stage 11, was the first driver to start the special. Sotnikov, who missed a podium finish for the first time this year in Stage 11, was the fourth driver to start the special. At the 100km mark, Team InstaForex Loprais Praga’s Ales Loprais was in the lead and following him were team Kamaz-Master’s Anton Shibalov and Dmitri Sotnikov. With just 50km left we saw team Big Shock Racing’s Martin Macik taking the lead from Shibalov and led the team for a third stage win of the year.

Nevertheless, with a massive 40-minute lead over the next competitor, Dmitri Sotnikov, sealed his fifth consecutive Dakar title despite missing out on a podium finish in the second-last stage. Additionally, four of the top six finishers at the 2021 Dakar were from the Kamaz-Master team.