Astana Dakar racing team driver Aidyn Rakhimbayev with his co-pilot Anton Nikolayev finished the world famous Dakar Rally 2015 in ninth position overall on Jan. 17 in Argentina and has established himself as a serious future contender for the Dakar’s ultimate prize.
Every January right after the holiday season, while the world is slowly returning to its routine, Dakar racers are getting ready for the most exciting event in their careers – Dakar Rally.
And year after year, the Astana Dakar team is ironically ‘slowly’ getting faster and faster, climbing the overall standing positions higher and closer to the title.
“When I was a child, I had a dream – to be a part of the most extreme, prestigious and thrilling rally on the planet to successfully start it and make it to the finish,” Rakhimbayev wrote recently on his Facebook page and concluded with “if one wishes something and devoutly believes in it, one can achieve anything!!!”
According to his posts on social media where Rakhimbayev has the staunch support of his fellow countrymen, the world media now considers the Astana-based rally team a serious contender.
The second Kazakh crew of Bauyrzhan Issabayev and Vladimir Demyanenko finished in 17th position, straying from the legend during the last rally stage. However, the previous time advantage let them keep the 17th position in the overall standings. And another Kazakh team, Artur Ardavichus and Alexei Nikizhev, finished 22nd overall.
The Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, a five-time Olympic Games skeet shooter, who won bronze at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, was the Dakar 2015 winner.
