After a dramatic and action-packed two weeks, the 2014 Dakar Rally has come to a thrilling conclusion today with Sparco-equipped teams well represented in the final classification.
Sparco-supported teams have been particularly triumphant in the trucks category in this 36th running of the Dakar rally with the Kamaz Master Team’s Andrey Karginov taking the victory following a thrilling final stage. It was an incredibly close-run battle between the leading two trucks after Gerard de Rooy fought hard in his Petronas Team Iveco to take the fight to Russian Karginov on the closing day. In the end, Karginov took the honours as Sparco was represented by the entire top five of the truck category. Sparco has also played a key role in the car category with some high profile entries in this year’s event.
Ultimately, it was Giniel de Villiers who finished the tough event as the highest placed of those using Sparco products, taking fourth place overall and fastest in today’s final stage. Earlier in the event, Carlos Sainz was making headlines as he took several stage wins for the Red Bull SMG Rally Team. Sainz, who was using Sparco’s latest overalls developed with their innovative Hocotex technology, won the fourth and seventh stages before a crash in stage ten which brought his event to a premature end.
The results marked the conclusion of another epic Dakar which has this year taken in a brand new route through Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. 9,000km of challenging course has made this year’s Dakar one of the most demanding yet with an impressive line-up of 450 crews taking the start. Sparco’s overalls, clothing and equipment has had to withstand a rigorous test and provide drivers and teams with the highest standards possible in one of the world’s toughest tests of man and machine.