The second day of the Baja Russia Northern Forest, the opening round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas, the first round of the Russian Championship and the FIA Eurasia Zone Cross-Country Rally Cup, ended with a sensation: debutants Tomasz Bialkowski and Dariusz Baskiewicz became the event leaders.
However, the situation could have been different if it were not for the problems that Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Vladimir Vasilyev – the main favorites of the Baja Russia Northern Forest had.
One of the main events of the second day that had an impact on the course of the struggle for victory in the entire race has happened at the fifth kilometer of the starting special stage on Saturday – the Toyota Hilux of Yazeed Al-Rajhi, who was the event leader at the end of the first day, hit a stone and stopped with a broken suspension: the lower arm did not withstood. After that Vladimir Vasilyev had no rivals left – the three-time Baja Russia Northern Forest winner secured a victory at this special stage and set the second time at the next one. However, at the next leg the Russian also had problems!
The baja leader’s MINI lost its front-wheel drive after a disappointing hard landing at the jump. As it turned out during the service, the cause of this was the gearbox breakdown. Mechanics and crew members carried out the replacement of the gearbox as quickly as possible – it took less than an hour. But nevertheless, Vladimir Vasilyev and Oleg Uperenko were late leaving the service, which resulted in a penalty of almost five minutes.
Vladimir Vasilyev won the remaining two special stages of the leg, and at the final special stage the Polish driver Tomasz Bialkowski excelled, and it was he who led the baja overall standings at the end of the day. Sergey Uspensky set the best time at two more special stages – the third and fifth.
As a result, Tomasz Bialkowski takes the first place in the overall and in the T4 standings. The second is Vladimir Vasilyev, he is also the best in the T1 standings. Anastasia Nifontova, the T3 standings leader, secures the third place. Then there are Sergey Uspensky, Sergei Remennik, Fernando Alvarez, Vadim Fedotov, Pavel Silnov, Saleh Al-Saif and Armen Puzyan rounds out the top ten.
There are seven crews that retired after two days. On Friday at the qualifying special stage the Lithuanian crew of Valeisa/Varza rolled over and retired. Brazilians Cristiano De Souza and Wladimir Grunenberg did not start in the morning – they were disqualified for equipment that did not meet safety requirements.
Saturday special stages were the very serious test for wheels, suspensions and steering elements. In addition to the failure of Yazeed Al-Rajhi – one of the main favorites of the baja, Vyacheslav Paputsky came to the service without a left front wheel. Bogdan Vavrenyuk broke the tie rod. And Leonid Petrov lost his wheel.
Evgeny Sukhovenko got out of this list – his GAZelle shifted from the compacted trajectory and fell into soft ground and mud. The car got stuck so deep that neither his teammate Alexander Rusanov, nor two cars with winches, nor the team’s Ural truck could pull it out…
Vladimir Vasilyev, driver, “The first leg passed without any incidents, everything was fine. The road is cool, though very narrow in the forest. We went first, and it is always hard to drive the first one, but in general it was still okay. On the second pass the track was loose and even water appeared. So, we had to be more careful. At the spectator stage, we landed hard on the jump and thought we had damaged the suspension arm. But in fact, we broke off the shank on the front axle near the gearbox, which led to the gearbox replacement. The whole service should be completed in half an hour, our mechanics were able to change it in just fifty minutes! It’s so cool – usually it takes at least two hours, and here it is almost an hour. I remembered how to turn nuts! Yes, we didn’t have time to leave in due time and we’ll receive some kind of penalty. If we don’t play it back today, we’ll do it tomorrow”.
Sergei Remennik, driver, “Everything that happens with Yaroslav and me this weekend is marked as “surprise”. We are surprised by everything that happens around us. It is indeed a very interesting experience, an interesting adventure. But let’s draw conclusions in a more relaxed atmosphere when we get to the finish line. Our task is to finish this race. But what is happening with the track surface… makes the finish seem more and more illusive to us!!”
Egor Okhotnikov, co-driver, “On the first lap we gave names to the stones, on the third one we habitually greeted them, as the road was remembered and was the same. After each lap the track became worse, we drove the first one carefully, then we slightly increased the pace, the third lap we drove at the same pace as the second one, we didn’t take risks. It’s a pity that the final leg was shortened, but in general everything is not bad. The road was not frozen and this is an indicator that such a large field ruined it in three passes. The car is ok and everything is fine!”
Vadim Fedotov, driver, “It’s a beautiful day, the car is perfect, everything is fine – but we are tired for some reason! I don’t even know why… In fact, now is just the case when you can drive again! Last time, where there were pits, pits, pits and someone’s spare parts, now it’s even. After the heavy vehicles have passed and leveled the track to perfection, you can go well”.
Dania Akeel, driver, “The second leg was great, but because a lot of cars passed, the road was very loose. So, at the second section we were cautious. Everything is well so far. It’s snowing. The second leg is better than the first one and I hope the third leg will be good too… But I doubt it: when a lot of cars pass, and pass, and pass through one place, stones roll out onto the road. The snow is soft and therefore very slippery. And the car is great”.
On Sunday Baja Russia Northern Forest competitors will tackle two special stages with a total distance of 215 kilometers
