Russian Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz) has won the third special stage of the legendary off-road Dakar Rally in Buenos Aires.
Chagin's Kamaz truck covered the 182-km (113-mile) distance in 3 hours, 26 minutes and 53 seconds on Monday. Another Russian Kamaz, driven by Firdaus Kabirov, was second in the race, trailing the leader by some 12 minutes.
On Saturday and Sunday, Chagin, who turns 40 on January 5, won the first and second special stages of the rally. Monday's victory was his 50th in Dakar stages.
After three stages of the rally, Chagin is 18 minutes and 43 seconds ahead of Karibov, who is second in the general classification. Brazilian Andre de Azevedo is on third place, more than an hour behind Chagin.
The Russian team already has seven winning titles from the legendary off-road rally. Chagin has so far won the race five times.
The 2010 Dakar Rally is the 31st event. It takes place in South America for the second successive time and will run until January 16. Last year marked the first time that the rally, founded in 1979, took place outside Africa, in South America, due to safety reasons.
Teams from 50 countries on 52 trucks, 160 motorcycles and 138 cars are taking part in the race that kicked off from the Obelisk on Buenos Aires's central 9th of July Avenue on New Year's Day.
The total racing distance is 9,030 km (5,610 miles) for cars and trucks, and 8,937 km (5,553 miles) for bikes and ATVs. There are seven stages in Argentina, and seven in Chile.
MOSCOW, January 5 (RIA Novosti)
