'Tsar of Dakar' Fears Toughest Race Yet in 2013

© RIA Novosti . Yegor Aleev  / Go to the mediabankVladimir Chagin
Vladimir Chagin - Sputnik International
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The Dakar Rally's greatest-ever driver fears next year's course, confined to the arid deserts and Andes peaks of South America, will prove the toughest in its 34-year history.

The Dakar Rally's greatest-ever driver fears next year's course, confined to the arid deserts and Andes peaks of South America, will prove the toughest in its 34-year history.

Vladimir Chagin, known as the Tsar of Dakar for winning a record 63 stages in all categories, retired after his last win in 2011 to manage the team he took to glory, Kamaz-Master.

The 42-year-old warned that restricting the 15-day race to three South American countries, which organizers are doing for the first time come January, will make it the most taxing edition ever.

"In the forthcoming rally there is just more desert. Chile, Peru, there will be lifeless expanses of land. The heat will hit 50 degrees (Celcius). There's no life - not even insects or plants," Chagin said.

"This Dakar will distinguish itself as a really rigorous course. It's harder. In past Dakars the race was always tougher in the Chile and Peru sections, but now the whole thing's going to be only there," he said.

The 35th edition, beginning on January 5, will start in the Peruvian capital, Lima, cross Argentina and finish in Santiago, Chile two weeks later.

It's the first time the prestigious raid rally event will start in Peru, hugging the Pacific coast as it traverses the dunes of the Atacama desert and the Andes mountains.

Chagin holds two other Dakar records: Most wins in the truck category, with seven, and the most stage wins in a single race, with 9 out of 14 in 2010. He is the most successful Dakar driver in any category.

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