“Come to the Silk Road, defeat KAMAZ and MAZ and prove that you are the strongest in the world.” Interview with runner Viazovich

Bach “Kagan’s Gold” in Astrakhan launched the season of rally-raid truck competitions. At the first stage of the Russian Championship, the Belarusian team “MAZ-SPORTauto” performs as a single crew, which is extremely unusual.

Leader and driver of the Minsk team Sergei Viazovich in an interview with , he talked about the tasks of the Silk Way rally, injuries to crew members, the desire of KAMAZ-master competitors to take revenge for last year’s defeat and refusal to participate in the Dakar due to special conditions for Belarusians and Russians.

— The season started in Astrakhan. What can you say about the eight-kilometer prologue of Kagan’s Gold Baja?

“We were the first of the trucks to leave, so the position was the most unfavorable: there were a lot of turns, we had to cut. As a result, they lost to four crews of KAMAZ masters. But the gap is small: five cars are 15 seconds behind the leader.

— Why did the team start with just one car?

— There are many nuances. Several guys were not allowed to participate for health reasons: some did not have time to heal their injuries from last year, others suffer from chronic illnesses. They were therefore not able to form full-fledged crews. Even in my crew, the mechanic I competed with in 2023 will not be racing this year due to injury. As a result, Sergei Sachuk, Alexei Vishnevsky’s mechanic, is with me in the cockpit. And our equipment is ready.

— Are you afraid of not being able to bring together all the crews for the summer “Silk Road”?

– Eat. We have to replace two or three crew members out of nine, but this will definitely not add any benefits to the team. We went to Astrakhan with new people, it’s hard for them to go at this pace. And after “Kagan’s Gold” we will stay for a few days to train, pilots Vitaly Murylev and Alexey Vishnevsky will take part in it – next to them we will judge those who apply for a place in the main crews. At the same time, we want to go to Archeda Baja with three crews.

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— Last season was successful for MAZ-SPORTauto.

— The most successful in the history of the team!

— Your competitors from KAMAZ-master are probably impatient to return to their old positions?

– What do you mean for sure? For them, overtaking MAZ is the main goal of the year! We are fully aware of this and have set ourselves this goal for many years.

—How does it feel to act as a leader? Are there any additional responsibilities?

— From a psychological point of view, it’s easier for us. If we, as a crew, lose first place on “Kagan’s Gold,” I think it won’t cause much of a stir. We want to win, but we feel less responsible than the KAMAZ-master guys if they lose to us. So it’s psychologically more difficult for them.

— Did anyone on the team denigrate the success?

– Not particularly. We have something to work on, the crews do not have the same speed compared to the KAMAZ-master team. We worked a lot with the cameras in the cockpit, with the psychology of understanding the road, so the guys could add speed and rhythm. And you have to add a lot. A single team producing results is too high a risk. Others must also maintain the pace, otherwise we have no room for error. And this affects the development of a strategy for the race.

— There are two and a half months left before the start of the Silk Road. What are the challenges?

— We have traveled through Mongolia, we roughly understand what awaits us. Not to mention Russia. Of course, new special stages await us, but for our team and for the car it no longer matters what the special stage will be. The only thing that matters is how fast we can drive it compared to our competitors. So let’s get to it real quick. We understand that the guys from Naberezhnye Chelny have the task of taking revenge in the Russian Championship, on the Silk Road and throughout the season. Their chances are huge, they field 4 to 5 crews, all the guys are equal, but we are once again in a situation where the forces are unequal. Since the creation of the team, we are not used to this situation.

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— Have you managed to get used to the fact that there is only one big departure per year? What is life like without Dakar?

— The long winter period overlaps, there is a slight depression due to the lack of races. But we have missed the Dakar for three years now and the resentments have gone away. But personally, I am not ready to return to the stage, whatever the conditions. It is a humiliation for me to have to carry out someone else’s orders.

We spent the whole last year fighting against the master KAMAZ and I had great pleasure. And after watching the last Dakar, where the second crew (Czech Ales Loprais – approx.) lost two hours to the winner (Czech Martin Macik – approx.), and the third (Dutchman Mitchell van den Brink – approx. .) – four, I realized: nothing interesting, there is no running, there is no struggle.

In Belarus there is a saying: “Among the sheep there is a good man, among the good men there is a sheep.” And now it works in Dakar. When the teams that dreamed of entering the top 10 are now winners and winners, the question arises: among whom did you win? I have a good proposal: we can’t go to you, so come to the Silk Road, prove that you are the strongest in the world.

– They are afraid of the consequences.

“You must act where there is a struggle between the strongest, and not go there to prove that you are the strongest among the sheep.” So come and defeat KAMAZ and MAZ in Russia, and do not hesitate to consider yourself the strongest racers.

— There is a big debate in Russia about participation in the Olympic Games. How is a similar problem solved in Belarus?

– I will only express my position. Personally, I would not go in such conditions. But many Olympic sports are individual, in which a person spends his entire life preparing for these competitions. Some even live outside their country so they can compete and train like tennis players.

— There should be no pressure or orders from above?

— Yes, it is the athlete himself who must decide whether to go or not. There should be no decree for him.