RALLY-RAID NETWORK LATEST NEWS

Baja Russia 2019: Tapio Lauronen wins FIA's first race of the season

On February 15th in Sortavala, the Republic of Karelia the first round of FIA World Cup for Bajas took start together with the opening of the sporting season 2019 in National Russian cross-country rallies Championship. Baja RussiaAlready for the fifteenth time Baja took place in the world as a unique snow and ice Baja, and for the fifth time it passed on the roads of the Republic of Karelia. The total distance was more than 550 km. Participants overcame this distance in three days.Among the 44 crews in the starting lists of FIA and National event there were the crews from 15 countries. After morning administrative checks and scrutineering crews have passed 19-kilometers “Super special stage”.First bad luck on Super special stage awaited the crew of Fernando Alvarez Castellano from Argentina. 4 km before the finish line the pilot did not control his speed and stuck at snowdrift. As speed was high, South Americans could get out of snow captivity only by means of crew of safety which goes on the route after passing of all participants.The similar situation has happened on this stage with the crew from Oman. Abdullah Al Zubair and Faisal Al Raisi who have seen the snow have for the first time just one day before race start has ended their race day in snowdrift. Only by means of winch it was succeeded to take the SSV from ice embraces.In night a little frozen has appeared and it was enough that the route remained equal and good clutch with the road has remained. All participants have unanimously noted well prepared route on which it is a pleasure to go. The second stage consisted of two special stages – 104 and 170 km respectively.By the time of start of the third special stage under the influence of the sun the top part of ice covering of roads has melted and became incredibly slippery. The slightest mistake could lead to departure from the route, and pilots should find balance between the high speed and reliability. Several crews including the Russian rally champion Sergey Uspenskiy was stopped by Karelian snow tracks after making mistake on the high-speed site.The best result on the second and third special stage has shown the Finnish crew #207 Tapio Lauronen / Tony Tapio Lauronen. They were ahead of Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhiltsov more, than for 2 min. Has considerably added in the second day also Lithuanian Benediktas Vanagas with the navigator from Poland Bartolomey Boba who after two hundred "fighting" kilometers is ahead of Czech Miroslav Zapletal for only 32 seconds.In the third day of competition the real fight between the Russian and Finnish crew was started for the first place, and two international crews – Lithuanian-Polish and Czech-Slovak – battled for the third position.On the fourth special stage Czech Miroslav Zapletal has not managed to drive on the slippery road, has flown off far the track and could not get out of snowdrift any more. Thus, fight for the third place has ended in favor of the debutant of Baja Lithuanian Benediktas Vanagas.Vladimir Vasilyev on the same special stage has a little won back at Lauronen, and after small regrouping all prepared for decisive fight for victory.After day regrouping crews needed to pass 103 km on difficult Karelian roads. The first on the route the Finnish crew, after it in 2 minutes Vladimir Vasilyev with Konstantin Zhiltsov has left. On the fourteenth kilometer of special stage from the route the signal of stop of several crews has come to the headquarters. After passing of the first two crews because of strong wind the tree has fallen, having partitioned off the road the subsequent crew. The special stage had to be stopped. After the tree was sawn and have freed the drive, all crews has continued the movement, but already in "the road mode".Finally 37 crews passed the finishing podium of Baja Russia 2019!The roads are the same as a year ago, but now they are more narrow. And there were some difficulties. But I like the race, and I'm glad to win it.My father and I are in the same crew. Maybe in terms of work, it is a little bit easier for me to assist my father than a person who is not related to me by family ties. But the most important thing is to do your job well. And no matter what your relationships are.It was a perfect race with gorgeous roads. Although this year they has been narrowly cleaned, we still got great pleasure from driving. Everyone really like the race. Even Sergey Uspensky, who said that everything was wrong for him after the first special stage, speeded up on the second day, went into a snowdrift, but was pleased. He “caught” pleasure.And no fallen trees will spoil our mood. We had a small technical problem. But today, nothing and no one have bothered us. All the rest stopped at the fifth special stage – let these two fight.The winter race is the only Baja of its kind, this is nothing like this in raids. We hope that the race will develop. I would like to hold the race in two regions at once. Most likely we will leave the route here, but we will move the Prologue and the Ceremonial opening closer to St. Petersburg."We haven’t seen the tree that everyone is talking about. But we saw and crossed three other trees. These off-road competitions pass on the tracks we don’t know in advance. There may be any obstacles. The main thing is the crew’s desire to overcome them all and get to the finish line. It was not easy for us, but we coped with three trees. And it didn’t scare us. In any case, the race is great, everyone really likes it."I came to this race for the first time. I usually participate in the classic rally and I’ve done it in many places. Now in Sweden the FIA World Rally Championship round is taking place, and I’m sure that many would envy your roads. You have to be very courageous to drive fast. It was interesting and technically. I think, next year I will come here again.I’m not local and don’t know what the winds are here. But it was the third tree for 14 km. I didn't have a sword, a chainsaw, or even a knife. And we had to stop, we couldn’t overcome this obstacle. It is a pity that Miroslav Zapletal retired at the fourth special stage. We had an interesting fight. He apparently couldn’t stand the nerves. We’ve made mistakes a couple of times today, but not so much.Benedictas and I are driving the first race together, we even didn’t have any tests. I really liked it and I'm happy. The Road Book is well written. We showed a good result, Benediktas drives the car perfectly. I hope to come back here.Source Baja “Russia – Northern Forest 2019”Olga Zvyagina / Rally-Raid Network / Baja Northern Forest RussiaPhotos Baja Russia