The deadline for entries for the Baja Russia Northern Forest is February 1, 2022, and now we can confidently say that the entry list will be very impressive. The preliminary list includes dozens of crews from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Great Britain, Argentina, France, Spain, Poland, Lithuania.
The good news for the fans will be the arrival in the Leningrad Region of several crews that recently fought at the special stages of the Dakar rally marathon.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi, who took the third position at the finish of the 2022 Dakar, will start at the only Russian round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas and the only snow and ice baja in the world. A driver from Saudi Arabia and his British co-driver Michael Orr will drive one of the best cross-country prototypes – Toyota Hilux of the T1 category
The Russian Vladimir Vasilyev intends to fight Al-Rajhi – at the last Dakar the Petersburger finished in the top ten, but at the home race the Baja Russia Northern Forest three-time winner will fight only for the first place.
According to the forecasts of the upcoming event organizers, the T3 and T4 standings will see the largest number of crews – the 2022 Dakar rally competitors Fernando Alvarez, Saleh Al-Saif and Dania Akeel have already submitted their applications, and numerous Russian drivers, including Anastasia Nifontova, Armen Puzyan, Pavel Silnov and many others intend to compete with them.
It will be interesting to see the debut start of rally driver Sergei Remennik. Born in Asbest, he will sit behind the wheel of SSV, which was provided to him by the Dakar competitor Sergey Karyakin, for the first time.
In addition to Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Vladimir Vasilyev, the competitors of the most powerful T1 standings – Andrey Rudskoy, Evgeny Sukhovenko and Alexey Ignatov are also planning to start at the Baja Russia Northern Forest at the wheel of prototypes.
It is worth noting the female participation in the event – above mentioned Anastasia Nifontova and Dania Akeel will be accompanied by the Polish racer Magdalena Zajac
