Rally in the snow
Published: 05 March, 2009, 19:56
The best Russian drivers joined a number of foreign stars to take part in the Northern Forest rally in Saint Petersburg.
The Northern Forest rally has been held annually in St. Petersburg since 2003, but only this year has it become part of the FIA International Cup for Cross-Country Bajas – Baja being a shorter version of a traditional rally raid, no longer than 1200 kilometres.
With the first leg in Saudi Arabia scrapped from the calendar, the Northern Forest became the season-opener. It was also the first round of the Russian Rally-Raid championships.
St. Pete offered the daring drivers a set of unusual and challenging conditions, with snow and ice placing extra demands on those competing.
And handling the challenges best was 2007 cup winner Boris Gadasin, and his co-driver Vladimir Demyanenko.
“I’m happy that this rally worked out for us. We were leading last year, too, but some technical problems forced us to pull out. But we were able to overcome all problems this year. It feels great to be winning again,” Boris Gadasin said.
Gadasin was the winner in the T1 class for improved cars and in the overall standings, but had to share at least some of the spotlight with Artyom Varentsov.
Runner-up in the inaugural Africa race earlier this year, Varentsov was victorious in the T2 category for series production vehicles.
Their next stop will be Italy, which hosts the next cup leg later this month.
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