Spain’s Fernando Alvarez teams up with Uruguayan navigator Sergio Lafuente to represent South Racing at this weekend’s Dubai International Baja, round two of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. The event will be fought out over two short timed sections on March 9 and 10.

Backed by Conarpesa, the Spaniard finished seventh overall at the opening round in Russia last month with Argentinean navigator Juan Pablo Monasterolo. The heat of a Dubai spring weekend will be a far cry from the sub-zero temperatures that Alvarez faced as he guided his Vokswagen Amarok to a useful points-scoring finish across the frozen tracks in the Republic of Karelia.

Lafuente, 51, is a former quad rider who took part in the Dakar on a quad on four occasions and achieved a best finish of fifth overall in 2012. He switched to navigating after the 2015 Dakar and has tackled the Dakar on two occasions since then as a co-driver.

South Racing’s managing director Scott Abraham said: “This a new challenge for the team and, of course, very different temperatures compared to Russia. It certainly will be a big change, but we are looking forward to this race. It’s the first time that the team with Fernando will be taking part. It is a short Baja but I am sure the ATC (UAE) will put on a great event.

“Fernando will be pushing for a good result. Sergio is experienced and has competed with the likes of Emiliano Spataro and Nazareno López before.”

The Dubai International Baja evolved from the Dubai International Rally, which had traditionally been the final round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship since the mid 1980s.

With massive construction and development work going on in the Dubai emirate for many years, terrain for special stage events became hard to find and it was a natural progression for the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE to switch to a cross-country rallying format.

The event is based at the Dubai Autodrome for the first time and gets underway with a ceremonial start on Thursday evening. The first of two selective sections fires into life on Friday morning (March 9) and a second timed section follows on Saturday before the finish at the Dubai Autodrome from 18.30hrs.

For its third edition with the Dakar Series label, between 15th and 20th April, the Merzouga Rally will welcome bikers, quad riders and Side-by-Side drivers for a rally-raid challenge in Morocco.

Dunes to be crossed, labyrinths of faster tracks and a demanding marathon stage will be on the menu, for the elite competitors as well as for amateurs who wish to gain an introduction to the rally-raid discipline or test themselves with a view to a first participation on the Dakar.

After a second series of reconnoitring devoted to drawing up the definitive version of the road-book, Edoardo Mossi and his team have concocted a programme that stands out thanks to the variety of terrains proposed. “It’s a more comprehensive route than we usually put forward. It is ideal for an initial introduction to rally-raids whilst at the same time very close to what the Dakar was like when it took place in Africa. We have excellent knowledge of this entire region and we have witnessed the fact that it is a living desert: once we had to clear a rocky zone over two kilometres in order to create a route through it. The following year, it had become a track because the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages had started to use it for their daily travel!”

THE ROUTE

15 April – “Free practice” and Prologue

The Merzouga Rally gives a special place to competitors who are discovering the rally-raid discipline. First and foremost, it is for them that “Free practice” has been adopted: a training route of approximately forty kilometres in length including dunes and tracks. The novices will be able to test themselves against each other, check how their navigation instruments are working and get used to reading the road-book. However, the clock will already be ticking on this day, with a 5-km long prologue.

16 April - Stage 1

The first stage represents an accessible introduction. Two different loops are on the programme and will send the bikes and quads on a separate special from the SxS. Many new zones will be visited on this route, which will be punctuated with sandy spots and quicker stretches.

17 April - Stage 2

The level of difficulty will be cranked up a notch, in particular with regard to crossing dunes. It is also during this stage, contested over two separate loops, that the navigation will be spiced up. Deciphering the road-book will be a delicate task: the most experienced will be at an advantage in following the right heading to find the way-points.

18 April - Stage 3

A marathon stage spread over two days comprises the heart of the rally, as well as the sporting stakes on which the newcomers as well as the experienced riders will be assessed. The rally will head south to stop at a marathon bivouac site that is totally isolated and which has never yet been explored by the event. To reach it, the competitors will have to get through a veritable maze of tracks: “the winner on this special will probably be the one who goes the slowest!” warns Edo Mossi.

19 April - Stage 4

The concept of endurance is especially palpable on the marathon stages, because only assistance between competitors is authorised at the bivouac. It will be decisive for the machines to be in good running order, with dunes to be climbed and crossed as the rally heads back up through Morocco, as well as in the many sandy wadis typical in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Whoever has managed to get through this twofold exercise will be ready for the Dakar.

20 April - Stage 5

The hardest part of the rally will have been completed, but there is no question of relaxing or underestimating the last stage of approximately 80 kilometres in length, made up entirely of dunes. Whilst the start will have a gala ambiance with a grouped start for the three categories, the day’s challenge will nonetheless be physically tough. The title and places on the podium will be contested at the end of an intense sprint. More importantly, nobody will be safe from making a mistake that could be fatal to their chances.

The Automotorsport Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan has announced a number of revisions to Rally Kazakhstan, the fifth round of the 2018 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, which will be held in the west of the country, near the Caspian Sea, from May 27-June 2, 2018.

Rally officials carried out initial route reconnaissance last October and will put the finishing touches to the new road book in April, but have confirmed that 93% of the inaugural route has been modified. Three of the selective sections in the world’s ninth largest country will be completely new and one day’s action will incorporate a tricky Marathon stage.

The experienced Irish rally organiser and former co-driver Ronan Morgan steps into the role of Clerk of the Course for the first time to work alongside Dmitry Makhenya, Rally Director and Chairman of the Organising Committee, and Andrey Cherednikov, Deputy Clerk of the Course and Chief Safety Officer. The team is running under the management of Marat Abykayev, President of the Automotorsport Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who will take part in the event once again.

The rally will be open to FIA T1, T2, T3 and T4 classes and is based in the western city of Aktau, situated on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Rally formalities will be based at the Caspian Riviera Grand Palace Hotel and the event’s Service Park will be located just 50 metres away. The event also counts towards the 2018 Kazakhstan Cross-Country Cup.

Entries open on March 1 and officially close on May 18. Pre-inspection checks for T2 competitors will be carried out on May 26 and the remainder will take place on May 27 prior to the official pre-event press conference. Scrutineering will be held at the Toyota Centre Aktau on May 27.

The competitive route will be divided into six selective sections and around 1,900km of competition in a route of circa 2,500km. Stage one (280.35km) heads south from Aktau City to the Kenderly Caspian Sea Resort in Kenderly, a tourist destination located around 210km south-east of Aktau.

This plays host to the event’s bivouac for the second, third and fourth legs. Second day action (414.12km) loops through the deserts to the east around the town of Senek, before the third leg (327.47km) heads deeper into the area east of Kenderly. Stage four (398.57km) skirts around the nearby oil city of Zhanaozen and returns to Aktau City.  

The final two stages (298.04km and 148.52km) head out of Aktau City to the north, with the final stage passing along the shoreline of the Caspian Sea before the ceremonial finish outside rally headquarters at 15.00hrs on June 2.

Aktau City is located on the Mangyshlak Peninsula, is the only major sea port in the country and has direct international flight links with several major European and central Asian cities, including Moscow, Istanbul, Baku, Kiev, Tbilisi and Yerevan.

“We were delighted with the success of the inaugural event in 2017 and have worked hard to make subtle changes to the rally this year,” said Marat Abykayev. “Cross-country rallying is one of the most popular motor sport disciplines in the world and we are proud to have such challenging terrain at our disposal to offer a real test to competitors of all levels.”

Kazakhstan’s first event in 2015 won by Kazakh Yuriy Sazonov and navigator Arslan Sakhimov in a Mobilex Racing Team-run Land Rover. Success in the official candidate event in June 2016 was earned by Andrey Cherednikov and Dmitry Tsyro in a Polaris RZR 1000 running under the Team OFF ROAD Kazakhstan banner.

Victory in the inaugural round of the FIA World Cup last May fell to Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and French team-mate Matthieu Baumel in an Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux, but the FIA World Cup champion was pushed hard on several stages by the likes of Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Poland’s Jakub Przygonski.

Baja “Russia – Northern Forest” has finished today in the Republic of Karelia, where the Qatari driver Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah became the runaway winner.

This year the three-day race on the snow-ice surface did not leave any driver indifferent and every finished crew gave positive feedback and thanked the organizers.

This year, the weather did everything to ensure that the race would be at an excellent level – the frost and the large amount of snow that fell in the last month, allowed to prepare the perfect track.

The frozen ground and densely rolled snow were not worn down even by the multi-ton KAMAZ that acted as an “opening” safety car, checking the track before the first participant start.

Each racing day is rich for events and emotions, and the final day of the rally put in places all those people who arrived to the Karelian forests to feel the speed and drive of the only snow-ice round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.

The second 229-kilometer competitive day consisted of two special stages that racers studied yesterday – today they have passed them in the opposite direction.

Tapio Lauronen, who was in the third position in the half way classification of the first two days, dropped out of the fight at SS-4 for a technical reason – the driveshaft breakdown cannot be repaired in the course of the special stage.
As for the rest, the final day passed without any adventures.

In T2 standings the podium became international. The first place was secured by the Russian crew of Alexey Titov and Andrey Rusov; guys have confirmed the previously won title of Russian Champions in these standings. The second and third positions were divided between the crews from Portugal and Qatar – Bruno Oliveira / Paulo Marques and Adel Hussain Abdulla / Nasser Al-Kuwari.

This year the T3 standings entry list was longer that the last one, although the participants have much inconveniences during the race, because these small cars in the normal configuration do not provide for windows and heating.

Claude Fournier, this year’s DAKAR bronze medalist in SSV class, took with him the experienced Szymon Gospodarczyk – the owner of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies in 2016 in T3 category. Szymoncomes to Russia for the third time and his knowledge and experience have their effect – victory over the Russian competitors came easier than last season.

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel in Toyota Hilux Overdrive won the first round of the FIA World Cup. Their rich experience of victories in world competitions and performances at the winter races in the World Rally Championship (WRC), as well as the leading position after the second day, left not much chance of winning to opponents.

Overall standings:

1. Nasser Saleh AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) / Mathieu BAUMEL (FRA) – Toyota Hilux Overdrive
2. Martin PROKOP (CZE) / Jan TOMANEK (CZE) – Ford F150 Evo
3. Vladimir VASILYEV (RUS) / Konstantin ZHILTSOV (RUS) – MINI ONE

Т2 standings:

1. Aleхey TITOV (RUS) / Andrey RUSOV (RUS) – Ford F150 Raptor
2. Bruno OLIVEIRA (PRT) / Paulo MARQUES (PRT) – Nissan Double Cab
3. Adel Hussain ABDULLA (QAT) / Nasser AL-KUWARI (QAT) – Toyota LC VDJ 200

Т3 standings:

1.  Claude FOURNIER (FRA) / Szymon GOSPODARCZYK (POL) – Polaris RZR 1000
2. Dmitry PONOMARENKO (RUS) / Kirill SHUBIN (RUS) – Polaris RZR 1000
3. Maria OPARINA (RUS) / Taisiia SHTANEVA (RUS) – BRP Maverick Atmo