OREANDA-NEWS. January 17, 2007. The world rally-marathon which earlier started in Paris, Barcelona or Lisbon, but invariably finished in the capital of Senegal – Dakar – may move to the American continent.

It was reported by Semyon Yakubov, the leader of the KAMAZ-master team, at the press conference in Naberezhnye Chelny. Perhaps, the race will pass through the rout Buenos Aires – Santiago. The official and reliable news is only one for the time being – Dakar-2009 will take place despite everything!

New, undoubtedly good vehicles KAMAZ-4326 VK of the KAMAZ-master team were tested in Spain – on the way home from Lisbon after the cancellation of Dakar-2008. The results of the test are so good that it will give an opportunity to increase the resource of the racing trucks not resorting to large costs, but even somewhat reducing them.

The leader of the team deflated the rumor mentioned in some mass media that the team had lost heavily, and the sponsors whose money the team hadn’t worked off raised claims. Factor costs which can’t be recovered are travel expenses. The application money will be paid back to all competitors. Expenses for creation of a new vehicle will also be returned – besides Dakar this year there will be several stages of the World Cup on rally-raids and also other well-known and popular races. Sponsors have no reason for complaint. Moreover, the news that the main race of the year had been cancelled roused new potential investors who are ready to finance the team.

Semyon Yakubov named several races in which the team would probably compete in 2008. This is Optic-2000 in Tunis, Race of Pharaohs in Egypt and Objective Sud. An emphasis will be made on the rally-marathon Trans-Oriental which will pass through the route Saint-Petersburg - Beijing this year. This race might become an alternative to Dakar if the racers had enough time before it. Nevertheless, many well-known teams which hadn’t managed to compete at Dakar can participate in it.