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...

Baja Karelia (May, 21. - 23.)

The penultimate race of Russian CCR championship was held in Republic of Karelia close to Finnish borders. Winner of previous round Alexander Mironenko won a short prologue but gaps between the main contenders were in seconds. Two seconds behind were Boris Gadasin and Alexander Zheludov.

Organizers prepared just one special stage which was run four times. It wasn’t easy as tracks were narrow with many stones and dust didn’t make it easier. Mironenko was the first on track and also the first to change the punctured tyre. Zheludov had an advantage because he already knew Karelia’s tracks from rally. But Gadasin was faster and therefore first after Saturday. Mironenko returned to top 3 overtaking Ilya Kuznetsov.

Before the Sunday’s stage rain soaked the terrain but without consequences for competitors. Zheludov tried to defeat Gadasin but failed to reach his goal. Gadasin maintained the lead and won his first race on home soil this year. Mironenko finished third. Kuznetsov started the last special with 11 second advantage on Bogdan Novitskiy but finished with 45 second loss. Sixth overall was Alexander Olejnikov winner of T2 class. He was chased by a bunch of Land Cruisers they just haven’t found the way how to catch him.

Overall classification:
1. Boris Gadasin / Vladimir Demyanenko  G-Force Proto  3:39:06
2. Alexander Zheludov / Andrey Rudnickiy  Mitsubishi L200  + 01:46
3. Alexander Mironenko / Sergey Lebedev  Nissan Frontier  + 10:37
4. Bogdan Novickiy / Vitali Yevtekhov  G-Force Proto  + 18:00
5. Ilya Kuznetsov / Andrej Neshin  Mitsubishi L200  + 18:45
6. Alexander Oleynikov / Alexej Kuzmich  Nissan Patrol  + 28:46