OREANDA-NEWS. January 12, 2012. Volkswagen Group Rus has been announced the winner of the "Event of 2011" prize in the "Automobile event of the year" category.

SochiDrive is a large-scale event designed to engender broad support for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi among the Russian people and bringing the spirit and ideals of the Olympic Games to Russia's regions. The  organizers of the event were, Volkswagen Group Rus,  the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 General Partner and the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee.

The SochiDrive project is intended to last three years. Having started in Moscow in August 2011, the Olympic road show is travelling to 14 Russian cities. This journey of more than 75,000 km will finish in Sochi, the host city of the Olympic Games 2014.

"We are delighted that our project, SochiDrive, has received the recognition of specialists from the Russian event-industry," said Valdemar Sheller, the Olympic Projects Manager for Volkswagen Group Rus, "We hope that SochiDrive passes the baton of Olympic spirit, Olympic celebration and Olympic hope from region to region as it travels across Russia. We have two intensive years ahead of us, and we are happy that the "driving force", literally, of this "festival on wheels" are the cars belonging to our brands, Volkswagen, Audi, SKODA and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles."

The SochiDrive Programme is scheduled to last 4 days in each city, and it includes a variety of recreational activities on the Olympic and Paralympic themes.  It includes a colourful show dedicated to the Games in Sochi, concerts of popular singers, demonstrative sports performances, training sessions in sports simulators, and much more. In addition to the entertainment programme great attention in the project is given to the informational-educational component. SochiDrive conducts meetings with famous Russian athletes who are Sochi 2014 Ambassadors, it presents exhibitions of Olympic artifacts, and it informs visitors about the current progress on the preparations for the Games in Sochi with the help of video clips and informational displays.

One of the most popular events for SochiDrive visitors is the ability to test drive different models of cars belonging to the Volkswagen, Audi, SKODA and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brands. Up to 300 tests drives are held per day for all who desire in each city along the road show's route.

In 2011 SochiDrive made stops in 4 Russian cities, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd, Krasnodar, and more than 40,000 people attended the road shows. In the summer of 2012 the road show will continue its journey across Russia by visiting 5 more cities, Saint Petersburg, Perm, Ekaterinburg, Samara and Rostov-on-Don.