The very fact of going to the start of the Dakar Rally means being prepared for the most difficult tests, including psychological ones. But the incident involving the KAMAZ legend stands apart even against this background.

The Russian racer ran over a spectator with a huge truck and was disqualified.

“I was sure that everyone had run away”

Dakar 2019 started off very well for the 2014 rally winner Andrey Karginov. Of the four stages, his crew won two. The KAMAZ of the titled racer took second place among trucks.

At the fifth stage, the participants were treated to a special section 345 km long, as well as a 431 km liaison across the vast expanses of the Peruvian deserts (a section on public roads). In the best traditions of the legendary rally, the drivers had to face high sand dunes.

Another racing day did not immediately go according to plan for Karginov’s crew. At the start of the special stage, the truck’s front axle gearbox failed. High dunes had to be overcome exclusively on the rear axle, which complicated the task for the pilot. We had to choose other trajectories for passing sand barriers.

On one of the dunes, this circumstance played a cruel joke on the Russian crew. There were many chaotically standing groups of spectators gathered in the sands. A passing car began to pull onto one of them. Naturally, the fans rushed in all directions. Andrey thought that the spectators had cleared the way, and without a second thought he continued the race.

Only at the finish line it became clear that not all motorsport fans managed to leave the ill-fated dune. An accidental victim of Karginov’s crew was 60-year-old South African Evens Derek Hudson.

“I was sure that everyone had run away, and I continued moving. But, as it turned out later, one spectator tripped and fell. “I just drove over his leg,” Karginov said in an interview with the KAMAZ-master YouTube channel.

Crew of Andrey Karginov / Photo: © KAMAZ-master

“The most cruel thing that could happen”

Despite all the explanations and apologies made to the viewer, the Dakar management made a harsh decision – the disqualification of one of the main contenders for victory. Naturally, this circumstance upset Andrei.

— The situation is actually controversial. If I had realized that I had hit a person, I would have stopped, provided assistance and called the doctors. Thank God it’s just a broken hip. He will have surgery soon. The decision to disqualify us is the cruelest thing that could happen in this situation. It was possible to give a temporary penalty or any other, but to give the truck the opportunity to continue the race so that the car would be on the special stage and benefit the team,” Karginov said.

The next day, team leader Vladimir Chagin, doctor Irina Zelenkova, and Karginov himself visited Hudson in the hospital. The joy of the victim and his brother knew no bounds. They hugged the pilot and took photos.

The South African had no complaints against our team and even asked for forgiveness that the driver was disqualified because of him. KAMAZ representatives, in turn, were ready to bring Hudson to the team’s base in Russia to undergo rehabilitation.

Evens Derek Hudson (center) / Photo: © KAMAZ-master

Unfortunately, the position of the victim did not influence the decision of the organizers, and the disqualification remained in force. The only good thing is that this circumstance did not prevent our team from winning another victory. The champion of Dakar 2019 was the crew of Eduard Nikolaev.