GAZel NEXT vehicles became the silver and bronze prize winners of the Russian Rally Raid Cup that took place near Sortavala in the Republic of Karelia on February 16-18. The silver and bronze prizes were presented to the GAZ Rais Sport team by the crews of the pilot Evgeny Sukhovenko and navigators Evgeny Pavlov, Alexey Ignatov and Oleg Nezhnov.

GAZel NEXT vehicles win the Russian Rally Raid Cup. The first stage of the Russian Rally Raid Cup, Bakha Russia - Northern Forest, is the only rally raid competition in the world held in winter. High-speed sections of the track are interspersed with sudden and slippery turns and dangerous jumps, narrow forest roads limit visibility and force pilots and navigators to apply maximum concentration constantly. The sportsmen covered more than 520 km of snow-covered Karelian roads in three days.

The crews' skills and endurance and the high cross-country ability of GAZ vehicles ensured that the GAZ Raid Sport team performed confidently in the first race of the season. The silver and bronze prizes in the Raid Sport category were won by the crews of Evgeny Sukhovenko/Evgeny Pavlov and Alexey Ignatov/Oleg Nezhnov who drove GAZel NEXT vehicles.

The race was the first major rally raid for two new pilots of the GAZ Raid Sport team – Evgeny Sukhovenko, Master of Sports in the International Class, and Alexey Ignatov, Master of Sports, who previously competed in classic rallies. The winning crews also included experienced navigators – Evgeny Pavlov and Oleg Nezhnov, winner and bronze medallist of the Russian Rally Raid Cup 2017.