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The fifteenth edition of the International Silk Way Rally has come to an end. On Tuesday, 22nd July, the final stage took place, and the winners and prizewinners of the race were announced.
The main outcome of the entire rally is that the first three places in the truck category were taken by the crews of KAMAZ-Master, with all four KAMAZ vehicles making it into the top five! Anton Shibalov won the Silk Way for the second time in his career. He was joined in the crew by co-pilot Aleksandr Kupriianov and mechanic Danil Telepov. Together, they demonstrated the advantages of the sports KAMAZ, which uses an environmentally friendly gas-diesel mixture as fuel.
The eleventh stage of the rally was relatively short – just 131 kilometres of special stage, after which the competitors had to drive along the famous Chuysky Highway to Gorno-Altaisk. The short but intense stage still had the potential to affect the overall results, and it was Anton Shibalov – the leader of the truck category – who set off first. The mountainous plateau, with its fast roads amidst the snowy peaks and mountain rivers, provided a stunning backdrop for the crews until the end of the race. Crossings over mountain streams were frequent but shallow. Further on, there was an ascent and a sharp transition to rocky roads scattered with sharp stones. Caution was necessary here. No one wanted to lose precious minutes changing tyres, especially those competing in categories where the gaps between podium contenders were minimal.
The accumulated time is advantage over thousands of kilometres in the race that started on 12th July in Irkutsk provided Anton Shibalov's crew with a relatively calm finish today: “These ten hard-working days are over, and we are happy to finish,” said the delighted winner. “Everything is fine with the vehicle, with the crew, and with the entire team. At the beginning, we got a bit lost with the navigation and couldn’t find the right track; it’s tough to be the first on the road. Then we let Akhmedov’s crew go ahead – they are young, so it’s good practice for them to open the route. We followed them for part of the special stage, but towards the end, they got stuck in the bushes somewhere, and we managed to overtake them before the finish. I would like to thank all the participants and organisers for such an interesting route. This is a real rally raid. Also, a big thanks to the entire team – the vehicle didn’t let us down, the mechanics worked brilliantly, and the tactics were well thought out. And, of course, I want to send greetings home – to my wife, family, and all our supporters.”
Throughout the race, the fast, reliable, and environmentally friendly gas-diesel KAMAZ-43509 proved itself in an exceptionally positive light, leading the crew to victory.
The head of the KAMAZ-master team Eduard Nikolaev came in second after the race: "Everything is great, we finished. The goal today is for all five of us to finish, I hope that everything will work out. Today's section is very rocky and the main task was not to puncture the tires or fly into any gully or riverbed." The team leader's bonnet KAMAZ truck, after the most brutal special sections and the damage it received, several times, as they say, "on its word of honor and on one wing," brought the crew of Eduard Nikolaev - Evgeny Yakovlev - Vladislav Glukhov to safety.
The main discovery of the truck category of the Silk Way rally 2025, the debutant of the race Almaz Akhmedov is in the third place: “Today at the beginning there were such winding roads, where Pavel Murylev and Anton Shibalov made a mistake in navigation. We hit it right, drove first almost to the finish. 6 km before the finish we also made a navigational mistake, and Anton Shibalov passed us. In fact, I am happy! During this Silk Way I managed to win one stage. We will continue to try to progress in the same way.” Two important participants in Almaz’s victory are, of course, his crew’s co-pilot Ivan Malkov and mechanic Ivan Tatarinov.
Dmitry Sotnikov's crew finishes the race with the fourth time. Despite the annoying technical problem that happened to him in the first half of the race and did not allow him to claim the championship this year, the KAMAZ pilot was cheerful and optimistic at the finish: "I'm in a great mood - KAMAZ is the first again, the champion - this is the most important thing that we held on, and the equipment withstood. The whole team worked hard, a huge thank you to them. This is a hard-earned victory, everyone fought, everyone had mistakes and problems. Here we had to be patient and finish to the end." Together with Dmitry, all the hardships of the sports route were shared by his crewmates: co-pilot Sergey Krenev and mechanic Ilgiz Akhmetzyanov.
Bogdan Karimov, who set the pace for the entire truck category from the very start in Irkutsk, but lost his chances of winning due to an unfortunate breakdown in the middle of the race, is still happy in the end: “We drove well on this Silk Way Rally, but we had technical problems, so there were time losses. I would like to thank the team for such a great result, we worked towards this for a whole year, we tried. The team once again proves that KAMAZ is the fastest and most reliable truck. I would like to thank the organizers. The rally route was very diverse this year. We started in Irkutsk, where there were all types of tracks. Then we went to Mongolia, where there were high-speed straights. Then the sands began, where there were also very serious tracks. At the end, there were narrow rocky roads in the mountains, where it is difficult for both the truck and the crews. It turned out to be a great race, we are happy!” Karimov also thanked his co-pilot Dmitry Nikitin and mechanic Aidar Bigashev for their support and understanding.
The success of the KAMAZ team became the twelfth victory of the Blue Armada on the Silk Way Rally. Undoubtedly, the athletes also owe their success to the team of mechanics and team specialists, who usually remain behind the scenes, who brought the vehicles into order in the short time between special stages. Well-coordinated teamwork and, as a result, a victory that the entire KAMAZ, partners and numerous fans of the team celebrate together with the team!
