Gazprom - Africa Eco Race 2016

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The official start of the #africa Eco Race 2016 rally raid took place in Monaco on December 27. Our #racing vehicles – gas-fueled KAMAZ numbered 403 and diesel-fueled KAMAZ numbered 400 underwent tech inspection successfully and were sent by ferry to Morocco, the venue of the first stage of the speedy race.

This year, 7 trucks, 30 jeeps and 29 motorbikes were participating in the rally. In the truck category, our athletes had to compete with Miklos Kovacs on Scania (Hungary), Tomasz Tomecek on Tatra (Czech Republic), Elisabete Jacinto on MAN (Portugal), Joe Adua on Mercedes (France) and Samir Benbekhti on MAN (France).

The participants passed through 12 special stages with most diverse landscapes: 5 special stages in Morocco, 6 – in Mauritania and the final, rather symbolic stage in Senegal. Mauritania with its thickest and most pathless sands on the planet was the most challenging part of the race as expected.

This year the African rally raid received exceptional media coverage – five TV channels – Match TV, Russia 24, Lifenews, Eurosport and Euronews – arranged its broadcasting in Africa. From December 27 to January 10, Russian fans had an opportunity to follow the impressive competition of the car and motorbike racers against the picturesque backdrop of the African landscape. The winner awarding ceremony was held on January 10 at the famous Pink Lake (Lac Rose) near Senegal’s capital Dakar.

Sergey Kupriyanov: “Africa Eco Race is not just a crucial rally #event, it is a demonstration of exceptional team spirit and vehicle technologies harnessing the desert sands. We are both competitors and teammates at the same time. The team spirit prevails over the desire to win, because we are all equal under the cunning of nature. We came here to challenge the desert once again – the gas-fueled KAMGAZ has become more powerful and reliable. We have been preparing for this race the whole year and we are ready to prove once again that natural gas is an efficient fuel.”

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