The AvtoVAZ factory racing team presented the cars that will participate in this season’s competitions, as well as the updated team lineups. At the official presentation on May 26, there were some surprises. In addition to the expected cars for track racing (these are the new Vesta NG and Vesta NG TCR), the official Lada Sport Rosneft account has published an image of the Niva Legend SUV for rally raids!
Technical characteristics of the car have not yet been reported. But in the comments to the posts of the presentation, the team made it clear that the engine under the hood is not “native”, but a 16-valve. Given the ability of the Lada Sport division to refine the 16-valve VAZ valves, we can assume that the car will turn out to be very interesting. It is promised that all the details will be revealed in detail in the video, which will be published later.
Niva has a long history in rally raids. First she shone in the Dakar of the 80s, led to success by the French importer of AVTOVAZ Jean-Jacques Pok, and in the 90s successfully returned to marathons under the guise of a works car Niva T3, and in January 2022, Due to the appearance of the offset in Dakar Classic, four private teams at the same time – from France, Switzerland and two from Spain – will start Niva. The Spaniards withdrew, while the French and Swiss reached the finish.
The French 191 Classic Rally Team became the best of the Russian cars in the marathon, but the Swiss Niva Red Legend Team also clearly showed that the Russian car can still do a lot. It is likely that this international success prompted factory workers to build their own Niva for rally attacks.
Of course, participating in Dakar this year is a big question for all Russians to say the least, but no one has canceled the Silk Way Rally – which will be held from July 6-16. This will be the main start of the new Legend’s debut season. The crew is strong: Dmitry Voronov and Evgeny Zagorodnyuk. We follow the news!
- The fate of the SV Parts team’s “Dakar” Niva is also interesting, but there are still more questions than answers in this story.
- “Behind the wheel” can be read in Odnoklassniki.
A 16-valve engine has been installed under the hood and the first major launch of the new Legend will take place on July 6.
