The Taklimakan Rally’s Truck class will look a lot like the Silk Way Rally. Besides the already confirmed KAMAZ-master, MAZ-SPORTauto and Ural Motorsport are also slated to take part.

Like with KAMAZ, Taklimakan will be the first rally raid outside of Russia (and technically Mongolia) for MAZ and Ural since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Ural Automotive Plant formed its racing division in 2023.

MAZ was also a Dakar Rally regular until sanctions on the Minsk Automobile Plant were imposed in 2021 due to the state-run manufacturer’s crackdown on protesters demonstrating against the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. The sanctions prevented MAZ from entering the 2022 Dakar, which took place a month before the invasion.

In the meantime, all three teams have been the top truck manufacturers in the Russian Rally-Raid Championship and Silk Way. While KAMAZ continues to dominate, including winning the last two editions, MAZ broke their Russian rival’s win streak in 2023. Ural has seen modest results by comparison, though they’re aware of the other two being far stronger adversaries.

Their Taklimakan entries were made possible by the Chinese Automobile and Motorcycle Federation loosening restrictions on Russian and Belarusian teams. Despite growing ties between Russia and China, the CAMF previously followed the FIA’s policies that forbade them from racing unless they agreed to condemn the invasion and to not use their respective countries’ emblems. Sergei Kariakin had notably tried to sign up for the 2024 Taklimakan but wasn’t able to because of this, though he’s since found foreign racing opportunities in the UAE.

KAMAZ also frequently fields a Silk Way truck for Chinese crews as part of the “One Belt One Road” program, and in November held a training camp in Inner Mongolia’s Ulan Buh Desert. The SWR was even supposed to have a few legs in China in 2024, though those were eventually canceled for ostensibly logistical reasons and left Mongolia as the only other country to host post-invasion/COVID stages.

“I’m glad that the lengthy negotiations regarding the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in this international race have ended positively,” KAMAZ-master head Eduard Nikolaev stated. “The Taklimakan is a very serious race.

“I remember the sands of China well from the Silk Way Rally: challenging, treacherous, but incredibly interesting. I’m confident the new route will offer us an equally exciting competition. We’ve missed the real sand element and are ready to challenge our competitors.”

The Taklimakan Rally will begin on May 16.

Featured image credit: Ural Motorsport