What happened to the official MAZ team, registered with three Trucks in the Dakar 2022, was sensational. The team was transporting the three 6440 RR models ready to be boarded on the ferry that was to take them to Saudi Arabia. But the sudden stop came from the organizer A.S.O! The vehicles of the Belarusian team had not received authorization to load the trucks, so after having crossed the EU borders on 26 November, the vehicles turned back and returned to Minsk. The team obviously lobbied for official explanations.
EU SANCTIONS IN BELARUS ... BUT THIS IS POLITICAL!

It seems somewhat absurd to have to talk about political issues to explain the exclusion of the Maz team, a sports team, to the Dakar 2022. Going to touch the political context of Belarus, the criticisms raised against the Lukashenko government are well known, which is considered in Europe as a dictator and protagonist of the 2020 electoral frauds denounced by the political opposition. Yes, it would in fact be the resulting EU sanctions against Belarus that began in 2020 that blocked A.S.O from the participation of Belarusians. Residents in the EU are obliged to terminate all economic-financial relations with entities in Belarus (of which MAZ is also part as it is partly controlled by the state). This would therefore be the official explanation, but it is hard to understand how a sports team can fit into this whole scenario of political war. The MAZ team was very disappointed. Among other things, it had already paid the registration fee for the Trucks (about 100,000 euros) and spent its budget to develop and test to participate in this Dakar. The decision of A.S.O, although officially supported, is incomprehensibly late, moreover after having already accepted the official registrations!

For the team at the moment there is no other solution than to abandon the race. The only way out would be to legally detach the team from the MAZ parent company, but this would be quite difficult given the financial support that the parent company makes for the sports team. A total chaos that for now remains unsolved and sees the Belarusian trucks relegated to gathering dust in their warehouses. We recall that MAZ won 2 podiums in the Dakar with the driver Siarhei Viazovich, of which a 2nd place in 2018 behind the winner Nikolaev.

https://www.rally.it/2021/12/dakar-2...otivi-politici