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Along with Aydar Belyaev, the trio finished a creditable second place, three hours down on the winning time set by Hans Stacey.
Along with Aydar Belyaev, the trio finished a creditable second place, three hours down on the winning time set by Hans Stacey.
Nikolaev made his Dakar debut in 2006 as mechanic for Kamaz"s Sergey Reshetnikov, finishing in 18th overall, before moving across to the crew led by Ilgizar Mardeev in 2007. In 2010, Nikolaev remained alongside Chagin and Savostin, the three dominating the year"s competition by taking 9 of a possible 14 stage wins - a Dakar Rally record. The Russian proceeded to make his Dakar Rally driving debut in 2011, finishing third behind teammates Chagin and Kabirov, albeit over three hours down on the winning time.
The retirement of Chagin and Kabirov prior to the 2012 event theoretically made Nikolaev the Kamaz team leader, but he was nevertheless disqualified from the event for colliding with a competitor in the car category on the fourth stage.
2006 Company-driver for Sergey Reshetnikov
2007 Company-driver for Ilgizar Mardeev
2009 and 2010 Company-driver for Vladimir Chagin.