Nissans at the Baja Russia Northern Forest Rally...

So now we're into the '14 racing season proper...stage rallies, Baja events, rally-raids, etc.

This past weekend was one of the more unique events on the annual schedule.  The Baja Russia Northern Forest Rally has been going on for a number of years and is part of the FIA's calendar of cross-country raids and Baja rallies.  Held in the typically deep snow of NorthWestern Russia, nearly on the border of Finland--closer to Helsinki than to Moscow, it runs a tight course through icy forest trails.

The best finish for a Nissan this weekend was the eighth place finish (of 41) of Dmitriy Ievlev and the PEC team Nissan Navara T1.1

Four Nissans entered the event and three finished in the aforementioned 8th, 12th and 24th positions.  Of note here is that this event drew some efforts from fairly far away including Reinaldo Varela of Brazil with an Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux, Yazeed Al Rajhi who traded in his Robby Gordon Hummer for the weekend for another Overdrive Hilux and a couple of Italian teams.  In terms of vehicles there were a few oddities like FJ Cruisers, a Jeep Cherokee, a Ford Raptor and a Dakar spec Mini.

So we have a Dakar spec Mini as well as Toyotas and a BMW all out getting some early mileage in on the vehicles and their drivers...