The driver of the Podmoskovye team, Anton Melnikov, told that he was going to participate in the Silk Way rally, but participation in the Dakar rally marathon was impossible due to his refusal to sign special Federation documents International Automobile (FIA). .
In 2022, it was announced that to participate in the Dakar, Russian athletes had to fill out an FIA questionnaire condemning the special operation in Ukraine. The International Silk Road Rally will take place from July 5 to 15 across Russia and Mongolia. Melnikov won the 2023 race in the T2 SUV category.
— The main starting point for rally raids is the “Silk Way” rally. Are you planning to go there?
– Certainly. It so happened that I came to participate in rally raids after the very first “Silk Road” in history in 2009. I participated in a race in the “Raid” class from Kazan to Ashgabat, I saw this sport from the inside and wanted to participate in it professionally. And I was lucky enough to have already won the race in the standard diesel category in 2010.
In 2011, I dreamed of going to the Dakar, I switched to another car, because driving the Dakar in T2 requires either very high skill or a broken brain. I didn’t have either at that time (laughs).
– And now?
— Now, I would like T2 to go to Dakar (laughs). And in 2011 he won the Russian Cup in the general classification, and a year later he went to the Dakar and was recognized as the best beginner in the marathon rally, becoming 17th in the general classification. I really liked the Dakar in South America, then initially there were almost 160 cars, but now it’s half that number.
Of course, I want to repeat or improve my results, but I am not ready, like some pilots, to sign all kinds of anonymous letters. And when we’re all allowed in, I can go too. Fortunately, we have the Silk Road and I will be very happy to start in Tomsk. I will try to repeat my result from last year and win the Golden Tiger in T2.
— Sergei Viazovich said: let the winners of the Dakar come to Russia and prove their worth. Do you agree?
— He is absolutely right about the truck rankings, since KAMAZ-master and MAZ-SPORTauto are the strongest teams in the world. I had the chance to see the evolution of the Belarusians in Dakar, it was in 2012. And the same year, the Russians updated their crew and the current generation of pilots completed their first Dakar.
— When will the Russians be able to return to the Dakar?
– This is politics, so you can’t be guided by logic and common sense here. I’m happy that T2 is back in the World Cup, so I want to win it. Carlos Sainz won the Dakar at 61, so I have free time, everything is ahead (laughs), Melnikov told .
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Source : MatchTV
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