OREANDA-NEWS. July 24, 2012. Sobol BUSINESS SUV on the platform of GAZ-23107 has successfully completed the rally proving its reliability and excellent cross-country capability in extreme conditions, reported the press-centre of GAZ.  

Silk Way Rally is the biggest Russian and one of the most important international rallies. It took place in Russia along Moscow-Ryazan-Volgograd-Elista-Maikop-Gelendzhik route from 7 to 13 July. The route was 3,859 km long.

It is the first time GAZ vehicle has taken part in such an event. Sobol was a part of Za Rulem automotive magazine’s team. The support vehicles were also provided by Gorky Automobile Plant: two all-wheel-drive Sobols, Valday and camper on GAZelle BUSINESS platform. The Sobol’s result turned out to be quite high for the first race: it came 33rd out of 122 vehicles that had started the rally.

Vyacheslav Subbotin, the driver of Za Rulem team: “We were driving through the sand and watching the others sink into it….We were able to cope with Volgograd and Kalmyk sands simply because Sobol is a vehicle for off road, dirt and sand. The worse the road, the better it was for us …Sobol travels rather smoothly, that’s why we were comfortable even on a bad road… But comfort is not the most important quality for an SUV. Speed, reliability and cross-country capability are more important, and Sobol was up to the mark…”