A 49-second gap

After 13 years

The track along the famous vineyards of the Krasnodar Krai is called one of the most difficult and treacherous in Russian rallying. The passions of national championship finals have raged here more than once, and at the turn of the 2010s, even a candidate race to host a world championship stage took place.

It so happened that since 2013, neither the cup nor the Russian championship had reached the dirt and gravel special stages. And after a long 13 years, the Russian Automobile Federation decided to bring the stage back, and the roar of engines once again echoed through the picturesque surroundings.

Among those who started in the absolute classification was the TAIF Motorsport crew: the driver — International Master of Sports, multiple prize-winner and winner of Russian championships, holder of national cups, European champion in autocross Radik Shaymiev; the co-driver — also an International Master of Sports, Maxim Tsvetkov.

Skipping ahead, it can be noted: the TAIF Motorsport crew achieved a convincing victory, pulling 49 seconds ahead of their closest pursuers — the crew of Oleg Fleganov and Alexey Krylov. The gap to Yaroslav Motorin and his co-driver Vladimir Ivanov, who came third, was more than one minute and 25 seconds. But...

The coveted 60 points in the standings as stage winners were not received by TAIF Motorsport — the vice-champions of the country from last year, who hold “Priority” status and are therefore temporarily forced to cede the right to compete for the cup to other teams — but rather by the VRT crew of Fleganov/Krylov.

“Rally is the queen of motorsports”

Back in 2023, in an interview with Realnoe Vremya as part of preparing a series on the history of motorsport development in Tatarstan, Radik Shaymiev emphasized:

— I've become addicted to rally, it seems, for life. An amazing discipline. Great champions like Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi have tried it... I even saw him on the tracks. It is the queen of motorsports. To win there, you need to know a lot and be able to think.

He also added that the foundation of success in rally motorsport is the balance of four fundamentals: brain, sincere love for motorsport, a bit of selfishness, and luck. But at the base of everything is precisely intelligence and love:

— The brain is the foundation of everything. In any sport. In life. Everywhere! — Radik Shaymiev is confident. And adds: — What is the specificity of classic rally? The mental load is unique. On a road or circuit race, you know the track, you know the points — there can be 32 of them at most. You memorize them and just fly. Here, every turn is improvisation. It's like music: blues, jazz... You can't tell yourself that you'll only take this turn one way. The cars passing in front of you might kick up a stone that ends up on your trajectory, or some other surprise. At that speed, you have to make a decision. And that's exactly what I like most about it — that mental load. Plus the need to work in two planes at once: the real one — right in front of your eyes, and the one still ahead — around the bend, about which the co-driver warns you. And all this at tremendous speed, with which you strive for another victory. And without the desire to win, the meaning of racing itself is lost. Finally, a person is a sane, normal egoist. And, probably, that's right; without that, there will be no victories. But there must be balance: if you develop this selfishness too much, life in society will be very difficult. There are the 'yin' and 'yang' signs. That's a great sign of the great Chinese nation. All the answers are there. The most important thing is balance. In good and in bad. There are antagonistic particles, and the whole question is solely about balance. Two wolves live inside each of us: a white one and a black one; the question is — which one you feed. But the second one is still there (smiles). Without that, there will be no balance.

Maxim Tsvetkov adds a fifth component to success: sporting curiosity. And it is this, along with the desire to once again feel the adrenaline of the race and one's own control over the outburst of emotions, allowing one to keep every moment, every passage of a special stage under control, that again and again pushes athletes to the start line, even when you are the country's vice-champion and have priority status that prevents you from participating in the fight for the cup. The Shaymiev/Tsvetkov crew started the race out of competition. They did not expect points, even for a win. But there was sporting interest and excitement.

Maxim Tsvetkov spoke about this, as well as about how there are no two identical tracks in rally, and about the crew's plans for this season, in an interview with Realnoe Vremya.

“We had never been to Abrau-Dyurso before”

— Maxim, your crew came to the race near Novorossiysk without contending for the cup. Still, you started and showed real competition. Why? What for?

— The answer is simple: the Abrau-Dyurso track was only returned to the racing calendar this year. In 2026, it is a cup stage, and in the future, when it gains a bit more mileage, it will be given the status of a Russian championship stage. Why did we go, having priority status? To open the summer season. Plus, it was very interesting. We had never been there before. We wanted to try to navigate it. Especially since next year, if it becomes a championship stage, we will already know the character of the roads. Yes, we arrived with no expectations. As 'priority,' we got number one — meaning we started first.

— What does it mean to open the track?

— Well, to some extent, it helped us that we went first, and we weren't bothered by dust from the cars ahead. We had good visibility. But this track has its own features: the road is rocky — somewhat slippery. And another thing: the first ones in rally are called 'road sweepers.' Whether in winter or summer, the one going ahead, in combat mode, clears the road for those who go second, third — it's somewhat easier for them to drive.

— To follow in the tracks?

— Yes, to follow in the tracks. Those driving behind the first one can see: where the person braked, where to go around, where to start the maneuver. But it's not all simple here either: this works roughly up to the tenth crew, until the race participants break up the road. I'll reveal a little professional secret: the ideal positions are somewhere from third to seventh or eighth place. But again, with nuances: if the road is dusty, like at Abrau-Dyurso, where a very fine dust suspension rises right behind the first car, then it's better to go first. If it's muddy, then it's worth waiting a bit, letting your rivals pass so they clean the road, and start somewhere around fifth or sixth, when the road is already cleaned but not yet broken up (smiles).

— The co-driver is the person who sees the road several steps ahead. How difficult is that job?

— It all depends on the track. After a training day, as a co-driver, I see the road from the notes. I know what lies ahead. But the sections can be completely different: there are 'twisty' ones — mountainous, by the way, Abrau-Dyurso is just such a track — it was quite twisty. You had to constantly talk, talk, talk. Make certain emphases so that the driver could more easily perceive the large flow of information at that speed. And there are flowing ones — with long straight sections.

“Inside a race car, a language of its own is spoken”

— Speaking of communication between crew members during the race...

— Yes, inside a race car, a language of its own is spoken. A kind of transcript, implying direction, distance, jumps, crests behind which nothing is visible. For us, it's a mix of Russian and English: short words. After all, the shorter the command, the clearer and brighter it is. Try commanding at full speed “right in 10 meters” or “left in 100 meters.” Some fellow athletes say 'apple' and 'pear.' Apple means left, pear means right. You remember and everything is clear. We took the English 'A' and 'D,' like from a computer keyboard layout: 'A' — left, 'D' — right. One short sound and there are no questions left.

— The Abrau-Dyurso track was a discovery for you. But they say it is called one of the most treacherous and capricious. Did you feel that? Why?

— By feel, it is somewhat similar in some sections to Argentina and Mexico, where we have been when we participated in the world championship. Quite twisty. The road surface is slippery and rocky. You can easily damage the wheels. But that's not rare: there are also many stones in Karelia, and there are even such... how to put it: not exactly a boulder, but, for example, a very large stone that simply cannot be removed from the road. You just need to know it to slow down a bit when passing that section, so as not to puncture the tire or break the wheel rim. There is a lot of fine dust at Abrau-Dyurso, which doesn't get blown away like in other places after several cars pass; instead, it seems to accumulate.

But every track has its own features, and they make completing the stage only more interesting. On the second pass, we even improve our time. Now there's a week of rest, checking over and putting the car in order, and then we go to the Pskov rally — the third stage of the Tatneft Russian Championship. It starts on May 27 and runs through the 31st.

— What is interesting about the Pskov track?

— It's high-speed. There are many straight sections, but there are also subtleties to its navigation: it goes straight, straight, and then bang — a twisty section. You won't get to relax. You come out of a corner and need to accelerate again.

And the composition of the ground is completely different: a mix of clay and sand. You'll have to fly differently. Again: if it's hot, then there's dust in the air, and the two-minute interval between starts isn't enough for the dust to settle. If it rains, it's a completely different picture.

“Andrey Zhigunov's crew was just unlucky”

— Returning to the seventh stage of the Tatneft Russian Cup at the Abrau-Dyurso track. The leader of the race at first was, if I'm not mistaken, the crew of Andrey Zhigunov. What happened?

— Anything can happen to anyone on the track. They were just unlucky: a 'slow puncture,' when the tire deflates not immediately, but gradually. He caught a puncture somewhere in the middle of the special stage, and when there was only one and a half kilometers left to the finish, the tire simply burst from overheating. The shredded remains of the tire tore off the fender, the headlight, and some piece of that rubber got under the belt tensioner. It cracked. The mechanics inspected it, but... visually everything was fine, but when they arrived at the special stage, the tensioner simply fell apart.

Our crew has also had many similar moments when we had to retire early from the race. That's sports...

It was hard to leave a clubmate on the roadside. We could have taken two podium places, like we did last year in Asbest: we took the entire podium. That was nice for us and for our mechanics.

— Speaking of mechanics, their contribution to the result is invaluable, but they usually somehow remain behind the scenes.

— We trust our mechanics completely. We don't interfere with advice on what and where to do. But the mechanics are among the first to greet us after the finish. The first question, like that of the hero Smirnov — Makarych from the film 'Only Old Men Are Going into Battle' (smiles): 'Well, how's the machine?' And seriously, they worry: How's the car? Any comments? What malfunctions have appeared? How did you go through the track? Any hits? Is the steering pulling? How's the alignment? And in their heads, they are already forming a map for the upcoming diagnostics: first, check all the points that the crew mentioned. Then, of course, they will check everything. But when you say that there was a hit here, something happened there, they check that first, so as not to miss anything. To be 100% confident themselves. I used to be a mechanic too, and when we raced in autocross, we also repaired and prepared the car. First, the main points, and then, when we had time, we would check all other possible problem areas. It's not necessarily that something is wrong there, but it's better to be sure everything is fine.

“She is like a living being and even takes offense”

— In conversations with Radik Mintimerovich, and now with you, I catch myself feeling that you talk about the race car as if it were a living creature. Is that so?

— Well, yes, of course (smiles). Any sports car requires due attention. If, of course, you want to compete with it at the leading positions. You need to take care of it.

— Does it have a name?

— No, no name. But... There was a case where we practiced a lot in one car, and only then got ours out. And it started breaking down. In minor ways. And my first reaction was: it's offended — I said, offended that we drove that other car so much, and only now took this one out. It's good that all the malfunctions showed up during practice and we fixed them before the race. If it had happened on the track, it would have been a retirement. And in rally, car servicing is only at the service point. There's no support vehicle following us on the track. The car must reach the service station on all four wheels and under its own power. Or retirement. That's the specificity of rally.

There are still four stages of the Russian championship ahead

— Are you focusing on the championship now? What lies ahead for the crew?

— Yes. We have four more championship stages ahead: at the end of May — Pskov, then from July 22 to 26 — Karachay-Cherkessia, the 'Kavkaz' track, in August — from the 12th to the 16th we go to the Sverdlovsk region — the city of Asbest, the 'Ecover' track, and we finish on September 23-27 in Karelia — the 'Sortavala' track. In Karelia, the track usually took place near the city of Lakhdenpokhya, but this time they made it near the city of Sortavala. It seems like it's the same region, only 40 kilometers away, but the character of the track is completely different: there are very twisty roads. It will be interesting.

And in general, the scheme for utilizing rally tracks is constantly changing: where the Russian championship took place last year, a cup stage is held this year. Sometimes new tracks open in new places, and a cup is held there first, like a test run, and then the Russian championship.

— Do you plan to participate in the stages of this year's Tatneft Russian Rally Cup?

— Definitely several cup races. To maintain form, to learn the tracks of different regions. We plan to go to Yekaterinburg. To Almetyevsk, for example, we also haven't had a chance to participate in a race. The season ends, if I'm not mistaken, there. It will be interesting to see what and how. And in two years, when the priority period expires, we will fight for the main award.

— And now? Are you going full throttle at the cup stages, or can you relax?

— A race is a race, and we never give ourselves any indulgences: it doesn't matter if the result counts or not. An athlete must always give one hundred percent, work at maximum capacity.

— Thank you for the interview! Good luck at the starts and bright finishes.