Eduard Valentinovich Nikolaev (russian: Эдуард Валентинович Николаев; born 21 August 1984) is a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

rally raid Rally raid, also known as cross-country rallying, is a form of long distance off-road racing that takes place over several days. The length of the event can be as short as 2–3 days for a cross-country baja to as long as 15 days with marathon ra ...

driver, best known for winning the

2013 Dakar Rally The 2013 Dakar Rally was the 35th running of the event and the fifth successive year that the event was held in South America. The event started in Lima, Peru on 5 January and finished in Santiago, Chile on 19 January after fourteen stages of com ...

2017 Dakar Rally The 2017 Dakar Rally was the 39th edition of the event and the ninth successive year that the event was held in South America. The event started in Asunción, Paraguay on January 2, then ran through Argentina and Bolivia, before returning to Buenos ...

, 2018 Dakar Rally and the

2019 Dakar Rally The 2019 Dakar Rally was the 41st edition of the event and the eleventh successive year that the event was held in South America. The event started in Lima, Peru on 6 January and finished there on 17 January after 10 stages of competition. Qatar ...

in the truck category for Kamaz.

Career

Nikolaev made his

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in ...

debut in 2006 as mechanic for Kamaz's

Sergey Reshetnikov Sergey may refer to: * Sergey (name), a Russian given name (including a list of people with the name) * Sergey, Switzerland, a municipality in Switzerland * ''Sergey'' (wasp), a genus in subfamily Doryctinae The Doryctinae or doryctine wasps a ...

, finishing in 18th overall, before moving across to the crew led by Ilgizar Mardeev in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

. Along with

Aydar Belyaev Aydar may refer to: People *Aydar Akhatov, Russian state, political and public figure, journalist, scientist-economist, ecologist, lawyer, artist. *Aydar Nuriev, Russian racing driver * Mariana Aydar, Brazilian singer *Seher Aydar, Norwegian poli ...

, the trio finished a creditable second place, three hours down on the winning time set by

Hans Stacey Hans Stacey (born 9 March 1958, Best, Netherlands) is a Dutch rally car driver. He participated in various national championships, where he became the champion of his country in 1991 and 1992, driving a Mitsubishi Galant VR 4. He also was victorio ...

. For the 2009 edition, Nikolaev moved across to join multiple champion

Vladimir Chagin Vladimir Gennadiyevich Chagin ( rus, Владимир Геннадьевич Чагин, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr gʲɪˈnadʲɪɪvɪtɕ ˈtɕægʲɪn; born 5 January 1970) is a Russian rally raid driver. He has won the Dakar Rally driving Kamaz truc ...

and his co-driver Sergey Savostin, finishing second overall (with four stage victories) behind the crew led by another Kamaz driver,

Firdaus Kabirov Firdaus Zaripovich Kabirov (russian: Фирдаус Зарипович Кабиров; born 19 May 1961) is a retired Russian rally racer who won two times the Dakar Rally in the trucks category competing for Kamaz. In 2016, he was named Kamaz's ...

, by a margin of less than four minutes. In

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, 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. Nikolaev had his first taste of driving duties at the 2010 edition of the

Silk Way Rally The Silk Way Rally ( rus, Шёлковый путь) is an annual rally raid type of off-road race. The first Silk Way Rally was raced in 2009 from Kazan, Russia to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. From 2010 to 2013, the race has taken place in Russia. ...

, which he won. 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. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

, Nikolaev profited from delays for rival and defending champion

Gérard de Rooy Gerard de Rooy (born 21 June 1980 in Eindhoven, Netherlands) is a Dutch truck racer, best known for participating in the Dakar Rally. In the 2009 edition he won three stages. He won the truck category race in 2012 and 2016. He is the son of ...

, and despite failing to win a stage took victory in the overall classification by a margin of 37 minutes from Kamaz teammates Ayrat Mardeev and

Andrey Karginov Andrey Olegovich Karginov (russian: Андрей Олегович Каргинов; born 23 February 1976) is a Russian rally raid driver, best known for winning the 2014 and the 2020 Dakar Rally in the truck category for Kamaz. The team of Ka ...

Dakar Rally results

* 2006: co-driver for

* 2007: co-driver for Ilgizar Mardeev * 2009 and 2010: co-driver for

* 2020: finished in the "Dakar Experience" category

Winner

*''

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal ...

'':

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

*''

'': 2010 *''Khazar Steppes'': 2010 *''Russian Championship'': 2012 *''Kagan's Gold'': 2012

Awards

*2006: Medal "For Valorous Labour" *2007: Medal of the " Order of Merit for the Motherland" II Degree *2010: Order of Friendship *2010: Merit badge "For the Service to the Town of Naberezhnye Chelny" *2011: "Merited Transport Worker of

Tatarstan The Republic of Tatarstan (russian: Республика Татарстан, Respublika Tatarstan, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə tətɐrˈstan; tt-Cyrl, Татарстан Республикасы), or simply Tatarstan (russian: Татарстан, tt ...

" *2014: Certificate of Honour by the Republic of Tatarstan *2014: Certificate of Honour by the

President of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

*2015: Gratitude by President of Tatarstan *2017: Medal of the "Order of Merit for Republic of Tatarstan"

References

External links

Profile on Dakar RallyProfile on Team Kamaz Master
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolaev, Eduard Dakar Rally drivers Dakar Rally winning drivers 1984 births Living people Russian rally drivers Off-road racing drivers Rally raid truck drivers Dakar Rally co-drivers