OREANDA-NEWS. December 28, 2011. A press conference had been held with the KAMAZ-master team the day before its members went to South America to participate in the legendary Dakar rally marathon.

The press conference took place at the KAMAZ-Avtosport center of the KAMAZ-master team where Semyon Yakubov, the leader of the KAMAZ-master team, and Vladimir Chagin, the team’s manager and trainer, together with pilots announced that KAMAZ’s famous team would send its four crews to participate in the race. Young pilots – Eduard Nikolaev, Andrey Karginov, and Ayrat Mardeev – will drive sport trucks. Experienced racer Ilgizar Mardeev, the Dakar’2007 silver prize winner, will accompany them driving an emergency truck. Eduard Nikolaev and Ayrat Mardeev will drive brand-new trucks, and Andrey Karginov and Ilgizar Mardeev will drive vehicles of the previous generation.

Semyon Yakubov said that the young members of the team had prepared for the race very well. “Now we can’t be as fully confident of success as we were before when Vladimir Chagin represented our team at Dakar,” the leader of the team added. “But our guys are experienced enough to successfully compete with their rivals at Dakar. But the team has got the same task: to get to the finish and win the podium. Most of our competitors can’t wait to knock us off our pedestal. Dakar’2012 will be a severe test for us. I think we will enjoy a very interesting show.”

“I will assume an unusual role of a trainer and manager of the team at this year’s Dakar,” noted Vladimir Chagin. “I have been holding this position for nearly a year, and, to be honest, it’s a little bit unusual for me. But we started training our guys for these changes nearly several years ago, and I tried to share my experience with them. I’m glad that they adopted it, but they are worried, of course. And I understand them perfectly well, as I was in the same situation once. Now I’m going to accompany them at Dakar, to help them, analyze things in order to avoid mistakes.”

It should be recalled that last year’s Dakar was really successful for the KAMAZ-master team as they broke a lot of records there. The first 4 places in the truck category were taken by the Russian crews. The team’s 20th Dakar became the tenth victory of the KAMAZ-master team, and Vladimir Chagin became a sevenfold winner of this prestigious rally marathon.

The Dakar’2012 rally is the 33rd transcontinental marathon. It will pass in South America for the fourth year in succession. On January 1, the participants will start in Mar del Plata (Argentina). The route of the rally will cover territories of three countries – Argentina, Chile, and Peru – and will finish in the capital of Peru – Lima – on January 15. The racing drivers will have to cover 8,333 kilometers for 14 stages. This year’s route and racers of the forthcoming event promise us a very spectacular and strong struggle. The young members of the Russian racing team will have to compete with the following teams: Petronas Team De Rooy Iveco (Gerard de Rooy, Hans Stacey, Miki Biasion, Pep Vila, Joseph Adua), Instaforex Loprais Team (Ales Loprais), Veka Man (Franz Echter, Marcel Van Vliet), Ginaf Rally (Wuf Van Ginkel). In all, 76 crews of the truck category will participate in the Dakar rally marathon.