A unique situation has arisen in world sports. Russians are not allowed to participate in international competitions, which, of course, is not encouraging. On the other hand, the level of Russian championships has risen significantly – the leaders of the planet are fighting in their narrow circle. This is also how the stage of the Russian Rally Raid Championship passed – the Simbirsk Tract. The two strongest teams competed in the truck category: KAMAZ-master and MAZ Sport-auto. We witnessed a finale that would have done honor even to Dakar.
The final day of the Baja Simbirsk tract 2023 – about 200 kilometers of fast country roads and tense turns. All two hundred kilometers – pedal to the metal. It usually rains in Ulyanovsk at this time of year, and the local black soil turns into an ice skating rink. This year everything is different. Unusual summer heat – 26 degrees! The sun has dried up the steppe, and behind each car there is a giant trail of dust. There is practically no wind, the dust curtain hangs in the air for a long time. From a distance it seems that there are clouds of smoke and the steppe is on fire. But no, sports cars are gathering dust.
The best result was shown by Vladimir Vasiliev in a BMW. An excellent athlete driving the fastest car in Russian rally raids.
“We drove along this route for the first time,” said Vladimir Vasiliev. “It has never been in a race.” The first piece is very cool: winding, through the hills… And the second piece is like this: a kilometer straight – to the left, two kilometers straight – to the right… Through the fields. We didn’t have any problems, the only thing was that at first the navigation was difficult, then when we went out into the fields, everything was simple. Good race!
Alexander Zhikharev
If Vasiliev successfully arrives at the finish line of Russian competitions, then he always becomes first. On the previous day, consisting of two 191-kilometer sections, Vasiliev managed to overtake five crews on the second lap that were still completing the first lap. It’s difficult to say whether Vasiliev is interested in racing without opponents. In any case, he did not attend the awards ceremony; his co-driver took the cups.
Alexander Zhikharev
In the category of serial T2 SUVs, the winner was the crew of Andrei Sushentsov, which, in fact, was predictable. The current Russian champion Anton Melnikov, after surgery, is physically unable to squeeze out the maximum. Melnikov’s crew showed the second result. After the unfortunate departure of the crew of Andrey and Anton Dinaburg from the track, the UAZ team – Vadim Novikov and Dmitry Rybin – took third place. Based on the results of the Simbirsk tract, Andrei Sushentsov de facto became the winner of the Russian Championship in the T2 category in the 2023 season.
Alexander Zhikharev
Active competition is going on in the T3 category – buggies. Anastasia Nifontova fell ill – everyone is now suffering from acute respiratory infections. Her navigator Ekaterina Zhadanova felt no better. We swallowed some pills, slept and in a semi-sick state… we retained our leadership in the T3 category! The crew of Dmitry Mordkovich lost a lot of time on repairs the previous day. At the final stage, Mordkovich squeezed everything possible – both from himself and from the car. But Nifontova was unable to win back four minutes. He is second in T3 and third in the overall standings (trucks do not appear in the overall standings).
Alexander Zhikharev
“Despite all yesterday’s breakdowns and problems with the car, today we managed to snag second place in the class and third in the overall standings,” said Dmitry Mordkovich. “The mechanics managed to bring the car back to life, and I was able to drive at full speed today!” We’re back in the championship game!
Alexander Zhikharev
Alexander Zhikharev
The crew of Alexei Cherkesov and Artem Shevelev was breathing at Mordkovich’s back. At the end of three days, they lost only one (!) second to Mordkovich!
“The day and the track itself are very interesting,” summed up Alexey Cherkesov. At first lethal and very dangerous. We drove carefully and were not very happy with the result…
Alexander Zhikharev
Yes, the winners finish side by side, every second is important… The same situation is in the Raid-sport category. Ulyanovsk dry tracks are similar to classic rallying, and the gifted rally driver Alexey Ignatov had a blast on the Gazelle NN on the final day. Let us remind you: the crew of Ignatov and Pavlov made an unfortunate navigation error in the prologue, lost time, got an unsuccessful starting position at the end of everyone and acted as a catch-up throughout the race. No one believed that they could not only catch up, but also overtake their rivals. But… Never say never! Alexey Ignatov and Evgeny Pavlov are in first place!
Alexander Zhikharev
“Everything is fine with us today,” said GAZ Raid Sport team driver Alexey Ignatov. The road is absolutely great! We’ve never raced here before. It turns out that there are many cool paths next to the routes we are used to, traveled far and wide. Thanks to the organizers and personally to Alexander Grachev for finding an interesting route. Today we tried to attack, because we have a three-minute gap from our main competitor Konstantin Ivanov. But the heat and technical difficulties affected the high engine temperature. Yesterday’s problem with engine traction was solved perfectly by the mechanics, but today we tried not to overheat the engine and sometimes slowed down. Otherwise everything is fine, they didn’t break down or stop anywhere. The road allowed the pilot to demonstrate his skills. There were high-speed turns, bunches of turns, late braking – everything I like about classic rallying. This was more than enough here!
Alexander Zhikharev
Alexander Zhikharev
Alexander Zhikharev
In second place is the crew of Alexander Semenov and Dmitry Okhotnikov in the Gazelle NN. Although the final day was not easy for them:
“Yesterday was a better day,” said Alexander Semenov. The track is very fast, as if it were some kind of Formula 1! Everything in the car must be given away. On the way you have to take off because the engine overheats. Five kilometers before the finish line, we hit a hole, the front drive broke off, the brakes disappeared… Personally, I didn’t have enough of the mud that was usual for the Ulyanovsk stage of the championship…
Alexander Zhikharev
Alexander Zhikharev
Alexander ZhikharevAlexander Zhikharev
Konstantin Ivanov and Alexander Gorkov in a Toyota Land Cruiser fell back to third place and won bronze in the raid sport category at the end of the competition. And finally, the icing on the cake is the cargo classification. It turned out to be exceptional – both in speed, in intensity of passions, in beauty and dynamism!
KAMAZ and MAZ fought. Let us remind you that Sergei Vyazovich from MAZ SPORTauto surprised everyone by winning the race in Astrakhan in the spring. Then they said that this was an accident: they say that KAMAZ sent young navigators to run-in.
Alexander Zhikharev
Alexander Zhikharev
Vyazovich’s crew sensationally became the winner of the Silk Road 2023 – essentially, KAMAZ’s home race. Which, by the way, indirectly proves that KAMAZ-master fights honestly and they were not leaked information. After two victories, Vyazovich received special attention from both spectators and participants. And especially the Blue Armada – the KAMAZ-master team.
Alexander Zhikharev
Vyazovich’s crew performed poorly in the prologue, but on the second day they turned up the heat and showed a fantastic result: second in the overall standings and first among trucks. Before the third, final day, the crew of Dmitry Sotnikov (KAMAZ-master) was three minutes behind Vyazovich, followed by three more (!) KAMAZs. As they wrote in ancient novels, Vyazovich’s crew “had no right to make a mistake.” And he allowed it! A minor error in navigation led to the loss of several minutes! And also problems with the wheels…
Alexander Zhikharev
The final day is the moment of truth. Sergei Vyazovich shared his impressions of the final:
— It was a very nervous stage and a nervous finish. Already at the 20th kilometer we made a navigation error in the forest and lost three minutes. We realized that the status quo had been restored and that everything would then depend on whether Dima Sotnikov could pass us or we could get away from him. The rest of the race was based on this. Then we managed to get a speeding ticket, which was another 10 seconds. We realized that we needed to move away from Sotnikov not by 7 seconds, but by 17, which is a lot at such speeds, 140 km/h. 70 kilometers before the finish we launched a maximum attack. After about 30–35 km, the tread fell off both wheels at once. We lost control, but still continued to attack. The ending was actually very dangerous, very risky, but there was something to risk. About three or four kilometers before the finish, one of the wheels burst, which had been running on a cord without tread for a long time. The car could no longer reach 140 km/h – they held on as long as they could: full throttle to the finish line without a wheel at all.
Alexander Zhikharev
Racing behind Vyazovich was Dmitry Sotnikov, a two-time Dakar champion and winner of many, many, many… Although he also had difficulties.
“We caught up with Vyazovich, ran into the dust and followed him,” said Dmitry Sotnikov. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do anything. The route has changed, and dust was blowing away in places, but when you start to get closer, it again stands up like a pillar, you can’t see anything. There were a lot of dangerous departures, and it was impossible to move either to the right or to the left. You cannot cut across the fields, as there was an official warning from the judges about penalties. We tried to make the best of this situation, but it was impossible to get closer in such conditions. Vyazovich was driving ahead, there were essentially few tracks, but it was difficult to see the right road in the dust.
Alexander Zhikharev
The crews were neck and neck. The judges checked the final time: Vyazovich’s crew won, Sotnikov was only 25 seconds behind him! A brilliant victory for Sergei Vyazovich – pilot and team leader, Pavel Garanin – navigator, Andrei Kragelsky – mechanic.
The KAMAZ-master team won silver for the third time in a row. But this does not mean that KAMAZ-master is performing poorly. This is Sergei Vyazovich, how wonderful he is! He is an exceptional pilot, the car is beautifully designed and prepared perfectly. Yes, and luck has not been canceled. Our Russian motorsport especially benefits from such interesting rivalry!
Alexander Zhikharev
Alexander Zhikharev
The KAMAZ-master team is a 19-time Dakar champion. The best racing team in the world knows how to maneuver and knows how to win. At the end of October, the final stage of the Russian rally-raid championship – Sands of Archeda – will take place in the Volgograd region. It is already clear that the 2023 Championship is one of the best. He has already gone down in history. First of all, thanks to the beautiful competition in the truck category.
We are waiting for the final. The Sands of Archeda will determine the winners! /m
