The Russian driver Vladimir Chagin won 7 times on the prestigious Dakar Rally (no one has more titles in the truck category) and won dozens of other races, and after finishing his career in 2013, he became the Director of his native KAMAZ-master team.
In the interview to the Match TV journalist Chagin told how his team, despite all the difficulties, was building new racing trucks and also provided an opportunity to all those who want to buy famous trucks that toed the starting line of international competitions.
-Vladimir Gennadyevich, what is your team doing now?
- In the current situation we have corrected our original plans. Nevertheless there was a lot of work in the spring season. As a result, to the start of Archeda Baja, holding on 19-22 May in the Volgograd region, in the production shop of the team the third racing K5 truck was built. It will be driven by Andrey Karginov.
Leader of KAMAZ-master team Vladimir Chagin (in the left) and driver Andrey Karginov (in the center) / Photo by: © «КАМАZ-master»
(The debut race for the new КАМАZ-435091 from KAMAZ-master became the Silk Way Rally 2021, which Dmitry Sotnikov won. He also became the winner of the Dakar Rally in January of this year, the second place was taken by Eduard Nikolaev, who started on the truck, built by the Russian team).
- An extensive revision of trucks, participating in the Dakar, was made. Within our joint project with KAMAZ PTC a new gas-and-diesel truck was built, on which Sergei Kuprianov’s crew will perform. The main sports starting line for this truck and the crew will be on the Silk Way Rally, but already on the Archeda Baja the truck will be tested in the racing mode.
The period after the Dakar is characterized by constant work on import substitution. Due to it we slightly go behind the schedule of the new team’s bonnet truck readiness. These works are supervised by Airat Mardeev. But for the start of the Silk Way Rally we expect that this truck will be ready for the race and leave the production shop by that time.
In March a very important meeting for us with the Gazprom CEO Alexey Borisovich Miller was held. KAMAZ-master together with Gazprom is launching a joint project on creation of racing trucks with power units on alternative energy sources.
Driver of KAMAZ-master Sergei Kuprianov (at the left) and the team leader Vladimir Chagin. /Photo: © KAMAZ-master
-What are your plans for the future?
-The Volgograd stage of the Russian Cup Archeda Baja is the first racing competition of the team after the January Dakar in Saudi Arabia. Crews of Andrey Karginov, Airat Mardeev, Sergei Kuprianov and Bogdan Karimov have applied for the race. Before it a short training session was held in the Astrakhan region. The main aims are testing the trucks and training of crews, including the young drivers Bogdan Karimov and Igor Chagin.
Thus, May is becoming a kind of prologue for the Silk Way Rally, which will be held from the 6th to the 16th of July. The race will start in Astrakhan and finish in Moscow. Geography of the route is rich in the most various surfaces – from Astrakhan sands to mountainous specials of the Caucasus. Teams MAZ-SPORTauto, GAZ Raid Sport are also going to take part in the truck category, so the fans will not be bored.
- What will the team do if it will not go to the Dakar in 2023?
- Unfortunately, sports has been turned into a part of politics now. Therefore, we are ready to various sequence of events. We have discussed these variants with the General Director of KAMAZ PTC Sergey Anatolyevich Kogogin, the main partner of our team. We see his support and participation in our issues.
Truck of KAMAZ-master team on the tests in the Astrakhan region / Photo: © KAMAZ-master
- The appearance of the truck has changed, there are no previous logos. What is going on?
- With many foreign partners of the team we are no longer connected by contract relationship. But almost with all of them we have preserved our friendship and hope that pour partnership will be revived in the near future.
- Where do you take funds for the team existence?
- The budget is formed on the funds of our main partner KAMAZ PTC and sponsors of the team. You can see them on the sides of our trucks and on the sports outfit. As foreign partners have left us, we are working in the mode of austerity and actively searching for alternatives of budget replenishment.
Truck of KAMAZ-master team on the tests in the Astrakhan region / Photo: © KAMAZ-master
- In previous years we have actively developed our project of souvenir products’ development and the team’s outfit on internal and external markets, including active usage of market-places. Now we are actively developing work in this direction. We have prepared business plan for excursion tours to the team, which includes elements of industrial tourism, as well as test drives on the racing trucks on our testing field Virazh in Promkomzona in Naberezhnye Chelny.
Also we decided to meet a large number of inquiries of Russian and foreign collectors who want to purchase racing trucks. Requests to sell this or that truck we have received from long ago, but now, it can be said, that life has made us to do it. I do not see anything bad in the fact that someone will receive his or her dream KAMAZ truck and the team will receive additional funds for the being.
