The FIA overturning its restrictions on Russian and Belarusian drivers last week has, unsurprisingly, led to significant controversy. Vaidotas Žala, the defending winner of the Dakar Rally’s Truck category, issued a particularly harsh rebuke as he said, “While missiles fall on Ukrainian civilians, Russian flags belong in the trash.”

In contrast, his classmate Aleš Loprais took a more accepting stance. In an interview with Rádio Prostor, the Czech driver opined “sports should unite people and not divide them. That’s how the Olympics work, so I know a lot of guys from those teams. I personally don’t judge people by nationality, but individually.”

Said teams include KAMAZ-master and MAZ-SPORTauto, Truck powerhouses respectively from Russia and Belarus. Despite the rule change, neither team has confirmed whether they’ll be at the 2027 Dakar because their parent companies are impacted by sanctions; MAZ had already been barred from Dakar since 2022, prior to the full-scale invasion. Consequently, KAMAZ wasn’t as celebratory of the new policy as other Russian drivers and instead issued a vague statement about monitoring the situation.

Should either come back, especially KAMAZ, Loprais is fine since he can take on a strong rival. He faced KAMAZ in 16 Dakars from 2006 to 2022, with his best finish being a third in 2007; ironically, that was one of the few years that a non-KAMAZ truck won, though he still finished behind Ilgizar Mardeev. Otherwise, KAMAZ won all but thrice during this stretch.

“Maybe I have it differently than most people, but I always say that competition is what makes a race, and the race will certainly be better because of it,” he stated. “From a sporting perspective, definitely. I don’t care about politics.”

That said, he does have his musings about the 19-time Dakar class winner. He noted that KAMAZ’s dominance stems from the team fielding so many trucks with what feels like an bottomless wallet, aided by the parent company being owned by the Russian government and big-name sponsors such as Red Bull, VTB, and Gazprom (Red Bull left after the invasion of Ukraine). KAMAZ swept the Truck podium at Dakar in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2021, and 2022.

Loprais put some blame on the ASO for this.

“They can beat you with sheer numbers, to put it in layman’s terms, but it has to be said that the French organizers let them do that,” Loprais explained. “While Formula One and the World Rally Championship have two cars per team, Dakar allows them to field an unlimited number of cars, so they have several of them. They make the most of their size and strength and their unlimited budgets.

“The question is more for the French than the Russians themselves. They’re just taking advantage of what the competition allows.”

2027 will be Loprais’ 21st Dakar. He had been uncertain about whether he’d participate due to the ongoing war in the region, but as it stands, he has testing planned in November and hopes to be in Barcelona when the ASO ships everyone’s rides to Saudi Arabia. His family team will also bring four trucks for the Dakar Classic.

Featured image credit: Frédéric Le Floc’h / DPPI / ASO