KAMAZ-master Team

"KAMAZ-master is flesh of our automobile plant’s flesh, the team is thoroughly imbued with its spirit", said Sergey Kogogin, Director General of KAMAZ PTC. This should be cherished. KAMAZ was standing, stands and will stand behind the team.

KAMAZ-master Team: Legend Goes on Living

In 2018 the KAMAZ-master team celebrated its 30th anniversary. It was in 2018 when three KAMAZ trucks took part in the Jelcz Rally held in Poland. None of the habitues of the rally – both sportsmen and fans – even in their bold predictions could imagine the team of beginners claiming the podium. Then everyone miscalculated – the debutants took second place in the race. Thus began the ascent to the top of the sports Olympus of the team from Naberezhnye Chelny which soon gained international fame under the name of KAMAZ-master.

It is still the only Russian factory team that successfully represents the country in the world motorsport. It is a multiple prizetaker and nineteen-time winner of the Dakar super marathon, deservedly ranking high among the world's automotive teams. Vladimir Chagin, a seven-time winner of the Dakar rally, Master of Sports of International Class, Honored Master of Sports of Russia, is at the hed of the KAMAZ-master racing team.

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The KAMAZ-master team consisting only of KAMAZ racers includes five World Cup winners, 16 international masters of sports, 12 honored masters of sports of Russia, 16 masters of sports. The team is unique because it is the only one among the elite of international rallies that develops, designs, assembles racing trucks and competes on them. Therefore the team has all necessary functional units: a design bureau, a support bureau, a marketing department, a chief engineer service, an accounting office and a production department.

The team has always been competing only on domestic trucks, popularizing Russian motorsport and promoting domestic engineering products at the world level. A total of 17 generations of sports trucks have been created. The main principle of the KAMAZ-master team is that its racing trucks are designed and made with the use of components, units and assemblies made by manufacturers which supply their products to the conveyor of the parent enterprise. And KAMAZ, in its turn, uses rallies as a testing ground for technical innovations and design developments in real conditions, before they go into serial production. Technologies applied in off-road sports trucks bring results not only on the competition tracks, but also in the modernization of serial products of KAMAZ PTC. By the way, the main rivals of the team at international competitions are IVECO, MAN, TATRA, RENAULT, GINAF, MAZ, etc.

The team has been taking part in the Dakar rally since 1990, and in 1996 the KAMAZ team won this prestigious race for the first time. In addition, KAMAZ-master is an eight-time winner of the Silk Way international rally, the permanent leader of the Russian rally-raid championships. Almost the entire galaxy of KAMAZ racers has been highly decorated many times.

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In addition, the team is doing a lot to support children's and youth motor sports, as well as to guide young people in engineering education. The KAMAZ-master pilots are role models for the younger generation. In 2015, by the decision of the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, the Chelny karting track was transferred to KAMAZ PTC to be managed by the KAMAZ-master team. Thus, kart racing in Naberezhnye Chelny received a boost. Today, more than 80 children participate in kart racing, more than half of them are a training group representing Naberezhnye Chelny at intercity competitions.

Since 2012, the team has been focusing on renewal – the honored and experienced masters have given way to young ones belonging already to the third generation of pilots. The team was taken over by Vladimir Chagin, the seven-time winner of the Dakar rally. The young crews showed their worth already in 2013: the entire Dakar podium was taken by KAMAZ (first place went to Eduard Nikolaev), and Andrey Karginov’s crew won the 2014 Dakar rally. In 2015, the KAMAZ team won the entire Dakar podium again (first place was taken by Ayrat Mardeev). This was followed by the bright victories of 2017-2020. In addition, the team won the Africa Eco Race rally-marathon four times (Anton Shibalov’s crew became winners in 2013, 2015, 2016, and Andrey Karginov’s crew won in 2018).

The KAMAZ-master team won four top places in the truck category at the 2022 Dakar rally, which took place in Saudi Arabia in January. Dmitry Sotnikov became the winner of the Dakar in the truck category for the second time in his career. Eduard Nikolaev became a runner-up, third place went to Anton Shibalov. Andrey Karginov's crew finished fourth in the 2022 Dakar. This is the 19th champion title for the KAMAZ-master team.

More detailed information about the KAMAZ-master team can be found on the website: https://kamazmaster.ru

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