On Monday, December 20, an online conference with the head and drivers of the KAMAZ-master team, dedicated to participation of the Russians in the Dakar Rally 2022, was held at the MIA Russia Today.
The 44th Dakar will start in Ha’il on January 2 and end in Jeddah on January 14, the rest day is scheduled for January 8 in Riyadh. Administrative checks and scruteneering will take place on December 30, 31 and January 1. The starting podium and the prologue of the race will take place on January 1.
“Saudi Arabia is an interesting and unique country with a varied and constantly changing landscape. Our vehicles are already in place and ready for battle, a few days ago the ferry arrived in Jeddah. In December, the team went through various seminars, sharpening technical and physical skills. Now we are all awaiting departure to Saudi Arabia on December 26th. Applying new trucks for the Dakar, we know what the plant management, leadership of the republic, of the country, our fans await. We want to excite all Russians with a successful performance, we will do our best for this," - said Vladimir Chagin, the head of KAMAZ-master team and seven-time Dakar winner, at the meeting.
The head of the Blue Armada also commented on the sanctions of the World Anti-Doping Agency against Russian sports, which at the stages of the World Rally-Raid Championship in 2022 will also affect the team from Naberezhnye Chelny.
“No sanctions will take away from us our Russian spirit, the desire to win and be on the podium. We follow other kinds of sports as well, and we see that Russians without a flag and anthem are even more respected by their rivals, because it is even more difficult to pull together and win in such conditions. We have studied all the documents, unfortunately, during the race we can’t have the Russian flag on the sports outfit and vehicles, since the Dakar will be the first stage of the World Championship. But we have kept the tricolor on the license plates," – noted Chagin.
KAMAZ-master team will perform on 4 sports trucks in the race. Two of them are familiar to fans KAMAZ-43509 and the other two are new KAMAZ-435091 of the K5 family. Crews of the reigning Dakar champion Dmitry Sotnikov and the five-time winner of the rally-marathon Eduard Nikolaev will represent Russia in the international competition on the new KAMAZ trucks of the K5 family. Crews of Anton Shibalov and Andrey Karginov will take part in the race on trucks of the previous model with technical improvements, implemented during 2021, which make the traditional KAMAZ a serious rival to the sports vehicles of the leading foreign teams in the Dakar truck category.
“To perform on new vehicles is a great responsibility for the whole team. The second truck of the K5 family was built just before the departure, and the first such truck successfully performed on the Silk Way Rally in the summer. I think the truck turned out well. We have done a great job in many areas. Dmitry Sotnikov's crew also worked a lot on the truck. In the new truck there are many changes - weight distribution, steering”, - said Eduard Nikolaev.
“Before leaving for the Dakar, the team carried out tests in Kazakhstan, these were four days of a full-fledged race of all crews, including Airat Mardeev and Bogdan Karimov. By that time, we didn’t even think of a second new truck, but the team's leadership gave everyone an opportunity to drive this truck. Making new KAMAZ trucks, we try to make them faster. Our rivals mainly drive bonnet versions, and we know who and where has an advantage. We do not forget about the previous truck generation, which will be used by the two crews. We also made certain changes there, worked with turbochargers. After studying all the data at the training camp, we improved reliability of our engines,” – pointed out Nikolaev.
In his turn the reigning winner of the truck classification Dmitry Sotnikov noted that one should not focus on any separate special stages of the rally-marathon: “It is alarming that at the very beginning there will be marathon stages. There will be sandy areas, not all beginners will have time to roll into the race. There are many circular sections, in Riyadh, I think there will be the most difficult sands, as there may be large dunes. But you shouldn't get hung up on this, there will be a lot of navigation on the Dakar, so you can't relax, wait for some straight and flat roads."
“Almost 60 contestants entered the truck classification. I am glad that Gerard de Rooy's team is back. They missed the sports season, but were seen on tests, built four bonnet trucks. Unfortunately, Gerard himself will not perform, but experienced and strong guys has joined his team, and their composition was a bit unexpected for us. We know the speed of their trucks, so the competition will be worthy,” - continued Sotnikov. - I would like to mention the team of Martin Macik, at the last Dakar he was fast, he won the fourth position. Now he will have three crews instead of one truck, so Martin will fight for the first place. One of the strongest drivers will be Ignacio Casale, he will definitely cling to the leading position. Aleš Loprais is also an experienced and stable driver. There will be many other drivers who can impose the fight. And the new hybrid trucks will add extra intrigue to the race.”
As for the safety of the race in the context of the coronavirus, Vladimir Chagin assured that KAMAZ-master team pays special attention to this aspect.
“Organizers of the large-scale international competition have adapted to conditions of the coronavirus and are holding them at a high level. In 2021, the so-called “bubble” was successfully practiced at the Dakar, where no outsiders were allowed. Everyone valued their health, no one wanted to leave the race. We all got vaccinated with Russian vaccines, and we were also vaccinated with a foreign one. So our team has been vaccinated several times, and I wish COVID-19 to bypass everyone,” - concluded Chagin.
Answering a question from journalists about the absence of the Belarusian team of MAZ-SPORTauto, Chagin noted that members of KAMAZ-master sports team regret the denial of Minsk residents to the race.
Vice-President of VTB Bank Aleksandr Erofeev addressed the team with a speech: “Cooperation between VTB Bank and the team has been going on for many years. We are pleased that our logo is on the bodies of the trucks. KAMAZ is the flagship of our automotive industry, and the fact that we are promoting the KAMAZ brand on the international market together is our common merit. We are glad to our cooperation with the team, during this time our partnership has become a friendship. And we always respond to the guys’ requests, we try to solve them. I wish the crews good luck in the race, and another first places will be the best present for the New Year. "
Crews of KAMAZ-master team - contestants of the Dakar-2022
No. 500. Driver Dmitry Sotnikov – co-driver Ruslan Akhmadeev - mechanic Ilgiz Akhmetzianov.
No. 501. Driver Anton Shibalov - co-driver Dmitrii Nikitin - mechanic Ivan Tatarinov.
No. 505. Driver Eduard Nikolaev - co-driver Evgenii Iakovlev - mechanic Vladimir Rybakov.
No. 509. Driver Andrey Karginov - co-driver Andrey Mokeev - mechanic Ivan Malkov.
