Media Information
2022 Baja Russia Northern Forest
FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas, round 1
February 11-13, 2022
AL-RAJHI SUFFERS DISAPPOINTING START TO BAJA CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA
IGORA (RUSSIA) – Sunday, February 13: Overdrive Racing’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Michael Orr began their campaign for honours in the 2022 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Baja and a hectic two weeks’ of racing at the Baja Russia Northern Forest in the Leningrad region of the country.
Despite winning the Qualifying Stage and setting a good pace through the first of eight further icy and snowy special stages, the Saudi clouted a stone lying hidden in the snow and the resultant impact damaged the Toyota Hilux’s steering and lower suspension arm. Al-Rajhi had originally planned to continue through the remaining two stages on Sunday, but took the decision not to restart and risk the car chasing minimal championship points.
As Orr explained: “We made a really nice start and Yazeed was in a good rhythm from the beginning and we were comfortable. Unfortunately, one place there was a stone covered in snow, directly on the line, and we touched it. We didn’t see it and it broke the steering and the front.”
This year’s Baja Russia ran in the Leningrad region for a third successive season and was again based at the Igora Drive Sports and Entertainment Complex – the largest of its kind in the Russian Federation.
Al-Rajhi had made the perfect start to his challenge for a second win after his triumph in 2014. He carded a time of 13min 18.1sec through the opening Qualifying stage and was 37 seconds quicker than eventual event winner Vladimir Vasilyev. Spaniard Enrique Reyes came home in third place, 45 seconds behind the Saudi.
“It was a nice Qualifying stage for us,” said co-driver Orr. “The roads, the conditions are really nice. It’s the first time for me in a car like this in snow conditions. We have a lot of experience together with the WRC car, but it’s a different feeling, different experience. Not too many, some small mistakes, but we enjoyed it a lot. There are some fast local guys who know the conditions, but we will do our best. We push. There’s only one target, we try to win.”
The bulk of the action took place over two short stages of 36.05km and 15.53km run three times on Saturday. The first ran between Krutaya Gora and Razdolye and spelt the premature end of the event for Al-Rajhi.
The crew now head directly to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to begin preparations for next weekend’s Jordan Baja in the sun-drenched deserts of southern Jordan.
Studded snow and ice tyres will be replaced by harder compound rubber that can cope with abrasive desert surfaces with temperatures rising from around -8˚C in Northern Russia to around 30˚C in Wadi Rum…
Ends
For further information:
Jean-Marc Fortin (E-mail: jmf@overdriveracing.be), Overdrive S.A., rue de L’Enterprise 1, 4530 Villers-le-Bouillet, Belgium, Tel: + 32 475 762 391. www.overdriveracing.be, Facebook: Overdrive Racing, Twitter: @OverdriveToyota