KAMAZ-master is set to make their Taklimakan Rally debut in May. Excluding the Mongolian legs of the Silk Way Rally, the Chinese event will be the truck powerhouse’s first international rally raid since the 2022 Dakar Rally, which took place a month before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The team confirmed their entry at this past weekend’s Russian–Chinese Winter Sports Festival, held on the ice of the Amur River.

“Our team performed excellently last season,” said Andrey Karginov. “We won every stage of the Russian Championship and one of the most difficult races, the Silk Way Rally.

“There is no limit to perfection. Our competitors keep us on our toes, and it’s good that there’s competition. This season, we plan on participating in the Russian Championship as well as the upcoming Taklimakan Rally in China. It’s a very difficult and interesting race. We’re looking forward to it and want to show our best on those tracks.”

Due to FIA policies for Russian and Belarusian teams, KAMAZ had been limited to the Russian Rally-Raid Championship since the so-called “special military operation” commenced in February 2022. The team’s parent company is owned by the Russian government and provides vehicles like trucks for the military to use in Ukraine.

Team personnel have routinely mentioned their desire to return to Dakar should the FIA lift its restrictions, which stipulate racers from Belarus and Russia must condemn the invasion and agree to race under a neutral flag. Such a rule has also prevented KAMAZ’s longtime rival MAZ from racing Dakar.

In the meantime, both outfits have been routinely the top contenders in the RAFRR and Silk Way. KAMAZ has won the latter’s overall 12 times in the race’s 14-year history, including the latest edition last July with Anton Shibalov.

Despite being the premier rally in China, Russian competitors haven’t raced the Taklimakan since the invasion began. The Chinese Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, an FIA member, follows the larger organization’s policies; Sergei Kariakin tried to sign up for the 2023 race but wasn’t allowed.

On the other hand, China and Russia have grown close in recent years, frequently agreeing on political matters despite the former attempting to frame itself as a neutral party in the invasion. The Silk Way Rally has also tried to expand its route into China since 2023 to little avail thus far, while KAMAZ-master occasionally fields trucks for Chinese drivers as “One Belt One Road” (a reference to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative).

In November, KAMAZ conducted a training camp in the Ulan Buh Desert in Inner Mongolia. Karginov, Bogdan Karimov, and Almaz Akhmedov each drove trucks with development drivers Danil Telepov and Dmitry Avdeev also present. The test was mainly to test the vehicles’ dune capabilities for the Silk Way, opting to go to China because its dunes are higher and looser. KAMAZ also eschewed the Great Steppe Baja, the final round of the 2025 Russian Rally-Raid Championship, for the test since they had already locked up the title.

Trucks are a rare sight at the Taklimakan, with none taking part in 2025.

Featured image credit: KAMAZ-master