Welcoming Ceremony for Winners of Dakar Rally and Africa Eco Race

18 January 2017

The KAMAZ-master members bringing home victory from two continents were heartily welcomed at the Begishevo international airport.

Our racers started the year with the double triumph: Eduard Nikolaev’s and Dmitry Sotnikov’s crews took first and second places at the Dakar rally, respectively, and Andrey Karginov’s crew won the Africa Eco Race in the truck category.   

Notwithstanding the late arrival, relatives, friends, multiple fans, authorities of KAMAZ, Tatarstan, and the city by tradition welcomed the racers in the terminal of the Begishevo airport.

On behalf of KAMAZ (part of Rostec State Corporation), the team members were greeted by Yury Gerasomiv, First Deputy Director General of KAMAZ PTC – Executive Director, “It’s already an old tradition that the new year in Naberezhnye Chelny starts with the winners’ parade and emotionally charged atmosphere, thanks to you. And again we all – KAMAZ, the city, Tatarstan and Russia – were waiting for the moment when we’ll meet the crew members holding golden Bedouins and African trophies in hands. Congratulations on these victories that are of great importance to the country!”

 "On behalf of the mayor and all citizens of Chelny, I’d like to welcome you in your hometown. We believe that you will continue to win, multiply your victories, bring fame to your city, republic, country. The KAMAZ-master team is the best, and the team's trucks are the best in the world. The victory in the race is a perfect proof of that," said Rinat Abdullin, Head of the Executive Committee of Naberezhnye Chelny.

 “Our dear, beloved, irreplaceable KAMAZ-master sports team! On behalf of the Republic and the Ministry, let me congratulate you on your victory. Today there are five winners of the World Cup, 11 honored masters of sports of Russia, 15 masters of sports of international class, 13 masters of sports of Russia here. We are proud of you. May this victory bring new stages of this beautiful year, new victories to you and Russia’s teams in other sports," said Khalil Shaikhutdinov, Deputy Minister for Youth Affairs and Sport of Tatarstan.

As Vladimir Chagin, Head of the KAMAZ-master team, told in the course of the event that the current Dakar sprang weather surprises, "We all went to Bolivia to see its drought much talked about. Since November they have been warning that it was a very severe drought for the first time in 25 years. It was the state of emergency in the country, they said. But just a day or two before the start of the race, we saw “anti-draught" – everything was flooded, it was raining literally day and night."

It should be recalled that this year the KAMAZ-master team has confirmed its undisputed leadership in two international rally-raids. Four crew piloted by Eduard Nikolaev (navigator Yevgeny Yakovlev, mechanic Vladimir Rybakov), Airat Mardeev (navigator Aydar Belyaev, mechanic Dmitry Svistunov), Dmitry Sotnikov (navigator Ruslan Akhmadeev, mechanic Igor Leonov) and Anton Shibalov (navigator Robert Amatych, mechanic Ivan Romanov) participated in the Dakar-2017 race.

The honor of the team and KAMAZ was defended by two crew (pilots Andrey Karginov and Sergei Kupriyanov, co-drivers Andrey Mokeev and Alexander Kupriyanov, mechanics Dmitry Nikitin and Anatoly Tanin) on the African continent. Fourth place in the truck standings was taken by Sergei Kupriyanov’s crew which has been driving a unique gas-diesel KAMAZ truck for the third year in a row.

Top