KAMAZ-master is the undisputed king of the Dakar Rally‘s T5 category for trucks, having won a record nineteen times including six in a row from 2017 to 2022. The streak was broken when the team refused to denounce the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a rather unsurprising choice given their parent company is partly owned by Russia’s government and supplies trucks to their military for the war, resulting in their absence from the grid.
Speaking to Interfax, KAMAZ driver Anton Shibalov stated he had been told by some foreign competitors, both fellow T5 racers and outside the class, that the Rally was not as intriguing with them not there.
“There are foreign pilots with whom we communicate, indeed there are buddies, friends. Even those who are not in trucks, but from other disciplines, say, ‘It’s not so interesting without you,'” Shibalov said. “But there are those who say that the intrigue has grown as there were chances for other teams. Well, everything that is done is for the best, let them take advantage of the moment.”
Shibalov had competed at Dakar every year since 2017 with podium finishes in his last three starts. He won three stages in 2020 en route to a runner-up finish behind team-mate Andrey Karginov, followed by another second to Dmitry Sotnikov in 2021. He fell to third in 2022 behind Sotnikov and Eduard Nikolaev in a KAMAZ podium sweep.
KAMAZ and Belarusian team MAZ-SPORTauto were not allowed to take part in the 2023 Rally unless they agreed to the FIA’s policy condemning Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began a month after the 2022 race. Due to KAMAZ’s close ties to the Russian military, the team flatly turned down the FIA’s conditions and therefore focused on the Russian Rally-Raid Championship, during which they won the Silk Way Rally with Sotnikov.
Amid global sanctions, the team had to sell some race-winning trucks and switch to developing parts in Naberezhnye Chelny. KAMAZ also lost longtime sponsor Red Bull, though team owner Vladimir Chagin claimed it was merely frozen for the time being and could be revisited once the war ended, leading to state-run PJSC Gazprom taking over as title sponsor. Chagin had also attempted to negotiate with Dakar organisers to let the team take part, to no avail.
With KAMAZ out, Janus van Kasteren won the class at the 2023 Dakar Rally for IVECO’s first victory since 2016. Most KAMAZ personnel were indifferent about those taking part, with Shibalov continuing that he “looked at the results a couple of times and that’s it. If we were driving, of course, I would follow every day.” Karginov, although not pulling for any particular driver, was slightly more invested as he said in January that he was fascinated about teams fighting for podium places that would otherwise not have been able to due to KAMAZ’s domination. The team eventually commended van Kasteren and the other overall winners for their “beautiful fight”.
Nevertheless, KAMAZ was still reeling from the exclusion. In early March, Chagin asserted sport did not overlap with politics until recently (which is incorrect) and said Russian athletes should not take part in international competitions under a neutral nationality; some Russians like Denis Krotov and Alexey Kuzmich currently race in the World Rally-Raid Championship under flags of other countries.
“Dakar, in terms of competition, has weakened, having lost two teams, KAMAZ-Master and the Belarusian MAZ-SPORTauto,” Shibalov continued. “These were the leaders in the Dakar.”
Pending a change in global developments, the FIA does not appear interested in modifying its policy to allow Russian and Belarusian competitors to race unless they stood against the war. In fact, the sanctioning body had recently tweaked the rule to require them to sign it anyway even if they held dual citizenship, while a stipulation about showing solidarity with the people of Ukraine was replaced by acknowledging the FIA’s political neutrality. The latter came in the wake of the FIA passing a rule clamping down on political statements by drivers, especially in Formula One.
“Nothing has changed for us. We did not have second passports, and we are not going to sign any political statements,” stated KAMAZ driver and 2015 Dakar winner Airat Mardeev. “We have clearly expressed our position more than once, and it will not change.”
The widely condemned invasion is now in its 391st day, with KAMAZ having provided vehicles like MRAPs (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles) and equipment transporters for the invading force. According to Dutch OSINT site Oryx, approximately 978 KAMAZ military vehicles have been lost as of this article’s publishing including a whopping 700 6×6 vehicles.
While team members have registered for service in the wake of Russia’s “partial mobilisation” in September 2022, Chagin said they had yet to be called into service. The team does not appear to announce if any personnel has been conscripted.
