The KAMAZ-master team that had won a triumphant victory in the 2017 Silk Way Rally returned to the home city of Naberezhnye Chelny. It should be recalled that the crews led by Dmitry Sotnikov, Anton Shibalov and Ayrat Mardeev swept the shole podium.
The aircraft with the winners landed in Begishevo in the late evening of July 24. The guys were welcomed by the representatives of KAMAZ PTC (part of Rostec State Corporation), authorities of the city, relatives and fans at the airport. The famous racers heard numerous congratulations. Sergey Afanasiev, Deputy Director General of KAMAZ for Sale and Service, and Aleksandr Vasiliev, Chairman of the company's Trade Union Committee, thanked KAMAZ's team for the bright performance consolidating the prestige of motor racing and the image of the leading Russian auto maker.
"Today we are greeting the best sons of our country, republic and city, our famous KAMAZ-master team," Nail Magdeev, Mayor of Naberezhnye Chelny, congratulated the winners. "In recent years they have been making us happy with their achievements that cost them selfless labour, sleepless nights and health. Your are real men, you are the positive example for our whole country, our boys and girls..."
The seventh Silk Way Rally passed as a transcontinental marathon on the territory of Russia, Kazakhstan and China. Starting on July 7 on Red Square in Moscow the sporting event consiting of 14 stages finished on July 22 in Chinese Xi'an. The total length of the route was 9607 km, the length of specials was 4088 km.
If we return to the history of the current marathon, the KAMAZ-master team gained leadership only after the fifth stage of the race, but since that moment it was stubbornly keeping top positions and won an undisputable victory. During this rally, showing a well-coordinated teamwork and high skills at speedy sections, the racers tested many technical novelties and solutions on which the team had been working during a year. They include a new 13-litre 6-cylinder engine and an automatic gearbox.