Tatar premier to compete in next stage of World Cup Rally Raid

On Wednesday the KAMAZ-Master team will take the start line in the ninth and final stage of the Off-Road World Cup Rally Raid, Desert Challenge, which will be held in Abu-Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

One of the team's drivers will be Prime Minister of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, who will be participating in the rally for the third time. There is KAMAZ plant in the Tatar town of Naberezhnye Chelny.

The drivers went to the course a few days prior to the start. Famous driver Semyon Yakubov is leading the team and will appear as a navigator, while Vladimir Chagin, who has already won many super-marathons, will be the mechanic.

Yevgeny Kharlamov will make his debut as a mechanic in the other KAMAZ team, which includes the highly experienced drivers Firdaus Kabirov and Aidar Belyayev.

The rally will have a short prologue in Dubai, followed by four stages covering 2,100 km, and will return to the finish line in Dubai on November 2nd.

Yakubov announced before departing for the Emirates that the new KAMAZ 4911 sporting model would be tested in the rally for the first time. Firdaus Kabirov will be behind the wheel. The KAMAZ sportsmen will go all out for victory. They are viewing the event as a dress rehearsal for the most important rally of 2003, the Paris-Dakar Rally. The entire team, which includes six World Cup holders, is getting ready for this particular marathon.