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The Dakar Rally 2012 was more than difficult for InstaForex Loprais Team. With a victory in the second most important Silk Way Rally 2011, the team of Ales Loprais was among the major candidates to win the Dakar.

One of the most difficult races the Dakar Rally 2012 is over. Lima, the capital of Peru, witnessed on its streets the racers on 60 trucks, 78 offroaders, 97 motorcycles, and 11 quads.

The victory of Ales Loprais was officially confirmed upon the handling of the protest raised by the Kamaz Team against the time penalty handed to Kabirov. The afternoon ceremony in Krasnaya Polyana concluded the tough event.

Stage 6 of the Silk Way Rally brought only few changes on the track but big ones afterwards. Stage 7 is canceled and therefore the results are final, and after a time penalty on Kabirov Ales Loprais gets to the first place!

Stage 5 of the Silk Way Rally left the Kalmykian desert and offered fast surfaces full of steppe paths. Following the tough run of the previous specials, organizers decided to shorten the opening part of the special by 60 kilometers, which complicated a bit the race for some of the newcomers as they had not recorded new version of the roadbooks to their GPS machines.

What could not be done the day before was achieved in Stage 4. Ales Loprais controlled the stage from the very beginning won the stage. 400 kilometers in the Kalmykian desert created the toughest stage so far in the rally. Even the greatest stars of the car category were barely searching for words after they had finished. It was a stage of truly Dakar parameters.

Ales Loprais was the pacesetter of Stage 3, which he eventually could not win and the podium is still to be fought for. Stage 3 of the Silk Way Rally did not bring as long time gaps as the previous stage but it brought all competitors to the desert of Kalmykia. The difficult final dune part kept many competitors on the track and especially car drivers were still on the way. The profile itself was not as difficult as the navigation, which played a key role in the stage not only for the stage winner but also for Ales Loprais.

The drama of the second grueling stage of the Silk Way Rally brings more changes and turnovers than last year's edition itself. Even after troubles, Ales Loprais moves to 3rd overall. There hasn't been a stage like this at Silk Way Rally! A weird mixture of the remaining Russian agricultural suburban and soil paths together with the upcoming sandy surface close to the Volga river on 483 kilometers of day's special created a too difficult piece to swallow for many

Stage 1 from Moscow to Lipetsk was marked by recent rains and even today the weather was not i favor of competitors, either. The route offered what one can expect in this area: muddy soil in the Russian suburban area, lots of wet grass and a slippery surface. In addition to that, there were many changes in direction, which finally stood against Ales Loprais. After a small navigational mishap he drove 8 kilometers the wrong direction and had to return and catch up, which he eventually managed without problems, finishing 6th right behind the leading quintet of the domestic Kamaz trucks.

The already traditional event of the Dakar Series starts earlier this year and will be run on July 9-16 from Moscow to the 2014 Winter Olympics venue of Sochi. In seven stages at similar locations as in 2010, the race will head from moscow to Sochi through Lipetsk, Volgograd, Astrakhan, Stavropol and Maykop.The organizing team is preparing a 4000-kilometre long route and its core part should take place in the Kalmykian desert around Astrakhan where also the most gruelling stages.