Dune Raiders

When it comes to campaigning trucks in the world’s toughest rally raid event, nobody can get close to the KAMAZ-master team from Russia. It was a 1-2-3-4 sweep for the Russians in the 2022 Dakar Rally.

RUSSIA’S KAMAZ-MASTER SQUAD SHOWS NO SIGN OF LOSING its stranglehold on the Truck category of the gruelling Dakar Rally.

The 44th edition of the world’s toughest marathon rally raid event was contested in January and the Russian marque achieved its 19th victory in the Truck category since 1996, setting a clear target for win number 20 in 2023.

The 2022 Dakar Rally was raced through the dunes, canyons, mountains and gravel roads of Saudi Arabia for the third time. The 56-strong Truck category was competing alongside cars, motorcycles, quads and new generation UTV machines in the January 1-14 rally marathon.

Carrying the familiar Red Bull livery, the four-strong factory KAMAZ-master squad dominated the 8000km event to sweep the top four places. It was 2021 winner Dmitry Sotnikov who raced to back-to-back victories, this time driving the new K5 generation of KAMAZ competition truck.

The latest in a line of KAMAZ rally raid racers, the latest 435091 model is a development of the previously dominant 43509 racer. To cover its chances the KAMAZ-master team fielded two of the new trucks supported by two of the previous generation trucks.

However, the new model was already well-tested with a debut outing in the 2021 Silk Way Rally. It has a proven evolution of the 13-litre six-cylinder power plant that develops 1050bhp in race tune and with further development of the suspension system.

Above: A massive service operation supports the KAMAZ-master team and keeps the trucks performing in the severe desert conditions. Below: Hino Team Sugawara debuted a hybrid powered 600 Series and reached the finish in 22nd place after some late-rally transmission problems.

Eduard Nikolaev briefly led the rally in the other K5 entry after the short preliminary stage on January 1. But a win in the first full stage moved Sotnikov into the lead he never lost. By winning the short final stage alongside the Red Sea, Sotnikov sealed a winning margin of 9m 58s over Nikolaev when the celebrations began in Jeddah.

The winning crew members teamed with Sotnikov were navigator Ruslan Akhmadeev and mechanic Ilgiz Akhmetzyanov.

In spite of leading for almost the entire event, Sotnikov said the race was challenging and there was no chance to relax until he reached the finish line of the final 164km stage.

“It was very different from the previous two in Saudi Arabia. The Dakar 2022 began without a warming-up with the hardest special stages in the sand,” Sotnikov said.

“The whole team dominated but the rivalry for the victory went every day, and until the last kilometre it was impossible to relax.

“Even 500 metres before the finish line, we were worried, because it was important to get to the end. We have a new truck, the whole team has worked hard on creation of this truck for the past year. We are grateful to everyone who supported us, this victory is our common result. Russia is the champion!”

It turned out to be a tight battle for the podium after 4200km of competitive timed sections with Anton Shibalov taking third place only 1m 13secs

behind Nikolaev. In the later days of the rally Andrey Karginov climbed up the order as he recovered from an earlier loss of time to finish fourth.

Iveco entries occupied the rest of the top-10 places behind the KAMAZ quartet. The top six was completed by Dutch drivers for Team De Rooy with Iveco Power Stars. Janus van Kasteren finished fifth ahead of Martin van den Brink.

The 2022 Dakar was headlined several by new technology projects in several categories.

The Hino team debuted its hybrid equipped 600 Series racer (which competes in the under-10 litre class) with Japanese driver Teruhito Sugawara climbing as high as 15th place before late-rally transmission and electrical delays dropped him to 22nd. T&D

Left: Dmitry Sotnikov has became the pace-setter in the KAMAZ-master squad and raced to back-to-back Dakar Rally wins in January.

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Dmitry Sotnikov (Russia) KAMAZ, 41 hours, 37 mins, 34 secs

Eduard Nikolaev (Russia) KAMAZ, 41h 47m 32s

Anton Shibalov (Russia) KAMAZ, 41h 48m 45s

Andrey Karginov (Russia) KAMAZ, 43h 27m 29s

Janus van Kasteren (Netherlands) Iveco, 44h 46m 04s

Martin van den Brink (Netherlands) Iveco, 45h 19m 06s

Martin Macik (Czech Republic) Iveco, 46h 21m 45s

Victor Versteijnen (Netherlands) Iveco, 46h 22m 08s

Richard de Groot (Netherlands) Iveco, 48h 07m 01s

Mitchel van den Brink (Netherlands) Iveco, 49h 48m 08s

Hydrogen debuts at Dakar

THE FRENCH HYDROGEN FUEL CELL pioneer Gaussin says its H2 Racing Truck delivered a promising performance in the experimental category of the Dakar Rally.

The H2 Racing Truck is the most powerful 100% hydrogen and electric racing truck ever built and the first hydrogen vehicle to participate in the annual rally raid through the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Entered in the experimental category promoting new clean energies, and designed for the extreme environments of the rally raid marathon, the H2 Racing Truck was driven by Philippe Jacquot while Christophe Gaussin, CEO of Gaussin, was the racing team manager.

The intention was to demonstrate the performance and reliability of the hydrogen-electric powertrain developed by Gaussin for its future production models.

“We are very proud of our first run in the Dakar, which is a great success for Gaussin. The H2 Racing Truck passed the planned test route without a hitch. We even exceeded some of our expectations, with a demonstrated range of 400km, whereas our conservative estimate was for a range of around 250km,” says Christophe Gaussin.

“Our hydrogen truck impressed on the spot, with its speed of 140km/h, coupled with the silence of its engine, which is a huge asset for drivers, and finally a phenomenal torque, which made the difference in the dunes.”

The teams says reduction of the truck’s weight and centre of gravity are among the useful lessons learned during its first Dakar attempt.

“This first entry also allows Gaussin to improve its truck in the future. Our ability to achieve a strong finish to the race is a testament to the conviction of our team that we must fight against climate change now and accelerate the transition to clean energy options,” says Christophe Gaussin.

The H2 Racing Truck previews a new range of hydrogen fuel cell and electric road trucks, designed by Pininfarina, which will be marketed this year. The new zero emissions trucks are designed around the hydrogen and electric powertrain within the lightweight modular “skateboard” architecture launched last April by Gaussin. T&D

Fast-paced EV development from Volvo Trucks is delivering a host of advances and innovations.

Volvo gets a grip

Fast-paced EV development from Volvo Trucks is delivering a host of advances and innovations.

NEW ELECTRIC DRIVE SYSTEMS WON’T ONLY

change how a vehicle is powered, how quickly it accelerates, how much load it can shift or how far it can travel.

Sophisticated control of electric powertrains also opens up new possibilities for how vehicles are able to brake, turn and gain traction, in particular on slippery surfaces.

Volvo Trucks is providing some insight to these possibilities by launching a new, patented safety feature for its expanding electric truck line-up.

Called Active Grip Control, Volvo Trucks says the new technology significantly improves stability, acceleration and braking in slippery conditions.

Volvo says that because of the fast response of the electric motors, the force generated between the wheels and the road can be controlled in an instant to proactively prevent wheel spin.

The feature clearly improves acceleration in slippery conditions. Testing performed with the Volvo FH Electric on a low friction surface with a loaded trailer shows a 45% improvement at full acceleration.

“The improvement when going up a slippery, gravel road is really impressive. I believe this will increase productivity, not least for our construction customers,” says Anna Wrige Berling, Traffic & Product safety director at Volvo Trucks.

If the truck starts to skid, multiple sensors allow the vehicle’s control system to react to the road surface conditions and utilise the vehicle’s electric motors, along with other actuators, in an intelligent way to help the driver stay on the road.

The new feature is also designed to reduce

Testing performed with the Volvo FH Electric on a low friction surface shows a 45% improvement in traction at full acceleration.

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