On October 10, at a press conference held in Naberezhnye Chelny, KAMAZ-master team leader, Vladimir Chagin, announced crews for the rally “Dakar-2019”. The meeting was held in KAMAZ-master sports center as a part of a traditional press tour organized by the team for the Russian media.
The team’s pilots Andrey Karginov and Airat Mardeev arranged test runs for the media representatives on the training area, and the deputy team leader, Aidar Belyaev, told the guests about evolution of the team’s race trucks. A unique historical exhibition of trucks, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the team, was arranged on the picturesque bank of the Kama River.
After the tests, the media representatives moved to the team’s sports center, where the main news of the press conference held here became compositions of the crews, as well as a talk about how the team’s anniversary year passed and how preparation for the new sports season was going.
Currently, the preparation process of the team for Dakar-2019 has entered the final stage. Only a month has left before the trucks leave for the race to South America. On November 25, vehicles of European race contestants will be loaded onto a ferry to be shipped across the Atlantic, so that on January 6 they will start the 5,000-kilometer route from the capital of Peru, Lima. Finish after 10 stages will also be held in Lima.
KAMAZ-master Team will apply 4 completely new sport trucks for the race. Due to changes in Dakar regulations limiting the maximum amount of engines in the truck category for 13 liters since 2019, the team actually had to redesign the new truck, which became the carrier of the state-of-the-art developments, modern race technologies and 30-year experience of performance in off-road rallies. In the new truck, which saw the light in May 2018 and received index KAMAZ-43509, is installed in-line six-cylinder engine. Generally, it determined significant changes of the truck design.
Externally, it differs from the previous generation of race trucks in its modern aggressive design, chopped and wedgelike forms. In addition, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of KAMAZ-master, the new team’s truck was presented in a new livery, designed to emphasize the technological effectiveness of the new sports line and mark the development of modern technologies in the trend.
CREWS OF KAMAZ-MASTER TEAM ON RALLY DAKAR-2019
Pilot Eduard Nikolaev; co-pilot Evgeny Yakovlev; mechanic Vladimir Rybakov.
Pilot Airat Mardeev; co-pilot Dmitry Svistunov; mechanic Akhmet Galyautdinov.
Pilot Dmitry Sotnikov; co-pilot Dmitry Nikitin; mechanic Ilnur Mustafin.
Pilot Andrey Karginov; co-pilot Andrey Mokeev; mechanic Igor Leonov.
INFORMATION NOTE
DAKAR-2019: 100% PERU
The eleventh South American and forty-first rally in general, the rally-marathon will take place on the territory of one country - Peru. The organizers are positioning it as a 100-percent Peruvian race, trying to emphasize the sandy specifics of the route this year, because mainly it is laid in desert regions, and dune areas will make up about 70 percent of the route. The start of the rally-raid will take place on January 6 in the city of Lima. Then follow 10 stages with a break on the rest day on January 12 in Arequipa. The total length of the route is 5 000 kilometers, 3 000 of which are special stages. The rally-raid will finish in Lima on January 17,
RACE CALENDAR
24, 25 November Scrutineering and boarding of vehicles in the port of Le Havre. Crossing the Atlantic by ferry.
3,4 January Unloading of vehicles in the port of Callao (Peru)
4-6 January Administrative checks and scruteneering at Las Palmas airbase in Lima
6 January Ceremonial start in Lima (Magdalena Del Mar)
7January First special stage Lima-Pisco
12 January Rest day
17 January Finish in Lima
