“Our goal is to fight for victory”

After years of learning and climbing up the standings, Siarhei Viazovich entered a new club last year: that of potential Dakar winners. On the 40th edition of the Dakar the Belarussian took his Maz truck to the second step of the podium after capturing his first stage win on the tracks of Argentina. It’s been a bumpy road since his debut in 2013, where he finished in 27th place. Never managing to enter the Top 10 in his five previous appearances, Viazovich surprised the field thanks to his speed and consistency. With Pavel Haranin as his navigator and Andrei Zhyhulin as his mechanic on board, his goal is to at least do as well with a fierce desire to battle for victory.

“What is special about MAZ is that we are colleagues and after work we are friends. Today my hobby (rally and rally raids) is also my job so I’m really happy. The 2018 Dakar was very successful for me. There is no doubt that the 2nd position was a great result. But the race itself was difficult for us: we had an accident and rolled the truck on the 3rd stage and in Bolivia we were stuck in salt flats. The dunes were very hard and they were presented in a large quantity. For the upcoming Dakar our goal is to fight for the victory and to be on the podium”.