Dmitry Sotnikov: “We’re glad to continue our tradition of victory”

Dakar 2021 | Stage 12 | Yanbu > Jeddah
January 15 ^th 2021 - 14:05 [GMT + 3]

The 18th triumph for Kamaz in the truck race was offered to them by Dmitry Sotnikov, who added his name to the Dakar roll of honour for the first time, having led the rally without interruption from the finish of the first stage.

“It was the best race in my career. It was my dream and a lot of work, many years of work since my first Dakar in 2014 and finally we have won it. Last year we had a failure due to a big stone, but this year everything was good. The first half was really fast for us and we got a good gap with our time. On the second part, it was just a case of reaching the finish every day. I think this tactic was the best for us. I’m full of emotions. All the crew, all the team, all the guys did a perfect job. I think it was a team job, not just me, I was just the driver, it was the whole team. I'm happy to drive this truck because it is the best truck in the world. We’re glad to continue our tradition of victory. Thank you to all the guys who support us all the time. A lot of people were waiting for our win and now I can tell them we've done it. There are a lot of other trucks that are close to us in terms of speed, but I don't know what happened to them, because on some stages they won, like Martin Macík, but they didn’t have enough luck maybe, I don’t know. It wasn’t an easy race and I think this Dakar was harder than the previous ones. The last stages like today and yesterday were really hard. We're looking forward to the next race here, it is good place for the Dakar, I think”.