February 19, 2020 |
KAMAZ-master dominates 2020 Dakar Rally on standard Goodyear tyres
Extremely tough edition confirms durability of Goodyear carcass-technology
The KAMAZ-master team finished in 1st and 2nd positions, after 12 challenging stages, and won the famous DAKAR Rally for the 17th time. This was another fantastic win, which further enhances the track record of the team and Goodyear as their official tyre partner.
For many years, the Dakar has been known as the toughest rally in the world. This year however, the rally headed for new challenges in Saudi Arabia. With 7,500 kms, including 5,000 km of special stages of high speeds and close racing ahead of them, the teams did not know what to expect from this new continent.
From the start in Jeddah on January 5th, this year’s rally gave no mercy to the participants. At every stage of the rally, the trucks encountered numerous challenges, ranging from tough desert tracks full of hidden stones, to rocky canyons and river beds with sharp edged obstacles. Faced with these hazardous conditions, it was imperative to monitor the heat of the tyre.
The support teams had to make smart choices to keep the speed high and maintain the tyres in one piece so their teams could finish the race. The drivers had to constantly ensure they were at the top of their game, and carefully manage the tyre pressures to get a good balance between grip and traction, speed and durability. This year’s rally turned out to be even tougher than the previous year’s in Latin America.
“On the outside the scenery was magnificent, however inside the truck we had to stay focused every second and work hard” explained Andrey Karginov, driver of the winning crew 511 of KAMAZ-master. “This year’s race included hazardous sandy dune stages and misleading labyrinths covered with sharp stones. We encountered many risky situations, but the Goodyear tyres kept on going offering supreme traction driving up the dunes and were extremely robust.” he concluded.
Unbeaten performance
With 17 wins, the KAMAZ-master holds the greatest number of wins in the Dakar. Over the years, the team has built up an incredible amount of technical know-how. Although the environment was entirely new to them, the crews mastered the performance of the KAMAZ trucks in each of the stages. Using full throttle, with speeds of up to 140km per hour on the straights, some spectacular jumps in the desert, and then slowing down for some of the risky and rocky tracks, they never failed, and the winning team finished the 7,500 km race in just 46h 33' 36''. During this incredible 12-day journey, the tyres performed incredibly, to the great satisfaction of the team.
“At Goodyear, we design our products to deliver winning performance for our partners. We are extremely proud that once again the victorious KAMAZ-master team could count on exceptional qualities of our standard products proven in probably the toughest race in the world” said Maciej Szymanski, Director Marketing Europe for Commercial Business Unit at Goodyear. “This reconfirms the very strong track record of Goodyear OFFROAD ORD tyres in durability, traction on rocky and sandy terrain and in very challenging circumstances at hi-speed.”
In order to finish on the podium, the truck needs to be perfectly set up. Therefore, the truck and its tyres need to work seamlessly together. Over the past years, the Dakar has seen teams finishing less than one hour apart after 12 full days of close racing, so every single minute counts and any issue can have an impact on the performance and determine whether the team finishes on the podium or not.
Next level product testing and development
For the ASO-organiser of the Dakar Rally, it’s mandatory that all truck teams compete on standard tyres. These must have been developed for normal daily operations, and should be able to be bought in the market by any fleet manager. With the extreme driving conditions, races like the Dakar are the ultimate testbed for the Goodyear OFFROAD ORD. These tyres selected by the winning KAMAZ-master team, are normally used to maximise fleets’ uptime in tough off-road operations such as mines and quarries. Their tread pattern featuring massive blocks, along with the optimised compound, provides a high resistance to tearing and cutting.
In addition, the FIA European Truck Racing Championship enables the company to take its development processes to the next level. Extreme testing conditions stress the tyre carcasses. They need to cope with deformation and the extreme forces caused by jumps like those found in the Dakar, as well as cornering at high speeds in truck racing. The result of these experiences is the advanced Goodyear carcass technology, which offers enhanced durability and robustness. Ultimately these features have a positive effect on fuel efficiency across the full portfolio, including on-road, long-haul and regional haul, mixed-services, off-road as well as in bus and coach tyres.
Goodyear has a long, and successful, history in motorsport, and is very proud to have been selected by leading teams as their official tyre partner. These teams participate in the most challenging rallies across the globe and count on the ultimate performance of standard tyre products. The tyres have to always be ready for the unexpected, whether it is a high jump at full speed in a rally, or on a slippery, muddy slope in daily operations. The next challenge coming up for the KAMAZ-master team will be the Silkway Rally in China from July 3 to 16.
Source: Goodyear
