Published on: 2026-11-10
Source: KAMAZ — An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
On Sunday, November 8, the Head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, met with the athletes and management of the “KAMAZ-master” team at the sports training ground in Tarlovka.
The head of Tatarstan was accompanied by the CEO of KAMAZ, Sergey Kogogin, the mayor of Naberezhnye Chelny, Nail Magdeev, and other leaders. The traditional meeting was dedicated to the results of the KAMAZ-master sports season in the current year. The team’s performance was reported by the head of the KAMAZ-master team, Eduard Nikolaev.
In the 2025 sports season, the KAMAZ-master team won four stages of the Russian Championship and clinched the Championship ahead of schedule. In addition, in May 2026, the team participated in the extremely challenging international rally “Takla-Makan 2026” in China. The rally’s history spans two decades, and the desert race is distinguished by the highest level of difficulty — it is aptly called the “Eastern Dakar.” This year, the competition took place from May 16 to June 1 along the route Urumqi – Aksu and consisted of 14 stages. During the rally, racers covered 8,000 kilometers of complete off-road terrain, including 4,200 kilometers of high-speed special stages. The Russian team competed on the updated KAMAZ trucks of the newest K5 generation. As a result, the young pilots of KAMAZ-master won gold and silver at the Takla-Makan. The top step of the podium was claimed by crew No. 502 led by Bogdan Karimov (navigator Dmitry Nikitin, mechanic Ilgiz Akhmetzyanov). In second place was crew No. 501 headed by Almaz Akhmedov (navigator Ivan Malkov, mechanic Anton Shibalov).
The development of the “Technogorod” project is also ongoing. In 2026, the renovation of the karting track surface was completed, increasing the track length from 860 m to 1071 meters, and all safety elements were updated in accordance with modern CIK-FIA requirements. The update of the “VIRAGE” autodrome has begun. The modernization of the facility not only elevates “Technogorod” to a new level but also lays a solid foundation for nurturing future drivers. By the way, in 2026, the “KAMAZ-Master Junior” team won the title of “Russian Autocross Championship Champions” for the sixth consecutive time.
Rustam Minnikhanov was presented with the latest KAMAZ-435093 sports truck. This very vehicle was fielded by the team in October 2026 at the Russian Championship stage – the ‘Great Steppe’ rally. A distinctive feature of the vehicle, driven by multiple Dakar Rally and Silk Way Rally winner Dmitry Sotnikov, was the use of independent suspension – a first in the team’s 38-year history. Work on creating a new generation of the K5 family truck began last year. It is worth noting that the vehicle uses a mass-produced independent suspension of domestic manufacture from the ‘Rostar’ company in Naberezhnye Chelny. Numerous tests at the KAMAZ-master team’s proving ground and hundreds of kilometers driven over high-speed steppe roads and tough off-road conditions during the race in Kalmykia provided the Tests on the proving ground and in combat conditions have shown that the new truck is a worthy competitor to the sports equipment of the ‘KAMAZ-master,’ which has already been proven in dozens of rallies. Deep holes, washouts, and bumps are much smoother for this latest-generation vehicle, improving road grip on variable uneven surfaces during sharp turns, which allows maintaining speed while negotiating them.
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