MOSCOW, 12 Jan – The Dutch crew led by Martin van den Brink on Iveco won the 11th stage of the Dakar rally-raid, which takes place in Saudi Arabia, in the truck category.

Van den Brink completed the 274 km special stage in 3 hours 39 minutes 52 seconds. Second place was taken by Czech Martin Macik in Iveco (18 minutes 8 seconds back), third place went to Pascal de Bar of the Netherlands in Renault (+18.18). After 11 stages, the Dutchman Janus van Casteren (Iveco; 47:02.12) leads the overall standings, followed by van den Brink (+1.12) and Macik (+47.46).

In the off-road category, Frenchman Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive; 2:56.14) showed the best result, his compatriot Guerlain Shishri (Prodrive; +2.16) was second, and Sweden’s Matthias Ekström (Audi; +2.26) was third. Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota; 39:16.33) is leading in the general classification, followed by Brazilian Lucas Moraes (Toyota; +1:21.04) and Loeb (+1:30.41). Russian rider Denis Krotov, who competes under the license of Kyrgyzstan, took 66th place at the stage (Mini; +1:03.55), in the overall standings he is 25th (+7:27.26).

Among motorcyclists, Luciano Benavidez of Argentina (Husqvarna; 2:57.59) was the best on the stage, Australian Daniel Sanders (Gas Gas; +1.38) was second, and his compatriot Toby Price (+1.56) was third. The general classification is headed by American Skyler House (Husqvarna; 38:47.43), Price is second (+0.28), Argentinean Kevin Benavidez is third (+2.44).

Marcelo Medeiros of Brazil (Yamaha; 3:50.47) won the ATV standings, Alexandre Giroud of France (Yamaha; +6.09) was second, Francisco Moreno Flores of Argentina (Yamaha; +8.36) was third. Giroud leads the overall standings (48:31.56), followed by Moreno Flores (+1:20.23) and American Pablo Copetti (Yamaha; +2:07.18).

In March, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) banned competitions in Russia and Belarus due to the aggravation of the situation in Ukraine and allowed the athletes of these countries to compete in international competitions only under a neutral flag, while the riders must fulfill a number of requirements and obligations, including sign a declaration of commitment to the principles of peace and political neutrality. Because of this, racing driver Sergey Karyakin and the KAMAZ-master team refused to participate in the rally marathon.