FEATURE
Dune Raiders When it comes to campaigning trucks in the world’s toughest rally raid event, nobody can get close to the KAMAZ-master team from Russia. It was a 1-2-3-4 sweep for the Russians in the 2022 Dakar Rally. RUSSIA’S KAMAZ-MASTER SQUAD SHOWS NO SIGN OF LOSING its stranglehold on the Truck category of the gruelling Dakar Rally. The 44th edition of the world’s toughest marathon rally raid event was contested in January and the Russian marque achieved its 19th victory in the Truck category since 1996, setting a clear target for win number 20 in 2023. The 2022 Dakar Rally was raced through the dunes, canyons, mountains and gravel roads of Saudi Arabia for the third time. The 56-strong Truck category was competing alongside cars, motorcycles, quads and new generation UTV machines in the January 1-14 rally marathon. Carrying the familiar Red Bull livery, the four-strong factory
KAMAZ-master squad dominated the 8000km event to sweep the top four places. It was 2021 winner Dmitry Sotnikov who raced to back-to-back victories, this time driving the new K5 generation of KAMAZ competition truck. The latest in a line of KAMAZ rally raid racers, the latest 435091 model is a development of the previously dominant 43509 racer. To cover its chances the KAMAZ-master team fielded two of the new trucks supported by two of the previous generation trucks. However, the new model was already well-tested with a debut outing in the 2021 Silk Way Rally. It has a proven evolution of the 13-litre six-cylinder power plant that develops 1050bhp in race tune and with further development of the suspension system. Truck & Driver | 81
