2013 FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies

[kober]

The calendar for the 2013 FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies was posted two months ago, with no changes compared to this year. There will be five European bajas and three marathons in the Middle East, the latter with double points:

2013 DATE COUNTRY NAME 2012 WINNERS
14 MAR - 17 MAR ITA Italian Baja Vasilyev/Yevtyekhov (G-Force Proto)
05 APR - 11 APR AER Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Schlesser/Zhiltsov (Sonangol Schlesser)
28 APR - 04 MAY QAT Sealine Cross Country Rally Al-Attiyah/Cruz (Overdrive Toyota)
19 JUL - 21 JUL ESP Baja Espana Aragon Peterhansel/Cottret (X-raid Mini)
TBC - TBC HUN Hungarian Baja Gadasin/Kuzmich (G-Force Proto)
29 AUG - 01 SEP POL Baja Poland Holowczyc/Palmero (X-raid Mini)
29 SEP - 05 OCT EGY Pharaohs Rally Al Mutaiwei/Schulz (X-raid Mini)
01 NOV - 02 NOV PRT Baja Portalegre Zapletal/Marton (Offroadsport Hummer)Note that every single rally in 2012 was won by a different crew. In the end, the 2012 World Cup have been taken by Al Mutaiwei/Schulz, who finished ahead of Zapletal/Marton and Schlesser/Zhiltsov.

[kober]

The first three World Cup rallies are behind us, and there were three different winners - same situation as in 2012 - although Schlesser/Zhiltsov were on podium on all occasions, so it's small wonder that they're leading the classification. There are five rallies to go, but four of them are bajas, and Holowczyc/Schulz (who are doing the whole season) might be able to catch up. In such a case Schulz would be the Co-drivers' champion fourth time in a row - he won the title in 2010 and 2011 with Novitskiy, and in 2012 with Al Mutaiwei.

*** Italian Baja ****
1. Varela/Guglielmin (Overdrive Toyota)
2. Holowczyc/Schulz (X-raid Mini)
3. Schlesser/Zhiltsov (Schlesser)

*** Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge ***
1. Roma/Perin (X-raid Mini)
2. Schlesser/Zhiltsov (Schlesser)
3. ten Brinke/Baumel (HRX Ford)

*** Sealine Cross Country Rally ***
1. Schlesser/Zhiltsov (Schlesser)
2. Holowczyc/Schulz (X-raid Mini)
3. Coffaro/Meneses (Overdrive Toyota)

Classification after three rallies:
1. Schlesser/Zhiltsov - 122
2. Holowczyc/Schulz - 87
3. Roma/Perin - 60

[MartijnS]

We went to the Sealine Cross Country last week for team van Merksteijn. My first Cross Country Rally, liked it! Obviously not as spectacular as a WRC Rally, but still really nice to see/photograph. Especially in the dunes its nice! Hopefully more will follow and Dakar offcourse!

http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/934837_450967664991208_1199581888_n.jpg

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/317349_450966964991278_998128887_n.jpg

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/401846_451379311616710_222080958_n.jpg

http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/532956_452526671501974_1379242340_n.jpg

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/389129_452526798168628_1584201917_n.jpg

Some more photos and the teamvideos of van Merksteijn can be found at our Facebook Page (http://facebook.com/rallymedia) !

[kober]

Sealine Cross Country Rally Qatar 2013 by Rallymedia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9X1ulP18jU)

PS. It's a shame that JLS don't compete on Dakar anymore :(

[JHvP]

I do not know, I think AER is more Dakar than American "Dakar", so I am happy JLS is there :-) Only pity there is no competition for him..

[MartijnS]

Yeah and he's still really enthousiastic about the AER so don't see anything changing about that. Really nice guy and still has the speed! :)

[kober]

Another three rounds had been completed (dominated by Mini and Hilux drivers), and since the Pharaohs Rally has been postponed until May 2014, there's only one rally left in this season's World Cup - Baja Portalegre. Note, that the top three crews are just eight points apart before the final event.

*** Baja Aragon ****
1. Roma/Perin (X-raid Mini)
2. Terranova/Fiuza (X-raid Mini)
3. Peterhansel/Cottret (X-raid Mini)

*** Hungarian Baja ***
1. Roma/Perin (X-raid Mini)
2. Holowczyc/Schulz (X-raid Mini)
3. Coffaro/Meneses (Overdrive Toyota)

*** Baja Poland ***
1. Zheludov/Rudnitski (Overdrive Toyota)
2. Dabrowski/Czachor (Overdrive Toyota)
3. Zapletal/Marton (Hummer)

Classification after six events:
1. Schlesser/Zhiltsov - 126
2. Roma/Perin - 120
3. Holowczyc/Schulz - 118

[Plan9]

Does anyone have online video of these events?

[Fri]

one from Hungarian Baja:
HunGarian Baja 2013 - rallyheart.hu - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3J2m4UdDIeo)

[kober]

The seventh and last round is over and Holowczyc/Schulz are the 2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies winners. It's the first World Cup for Holowczyc, and fourth (in a row) for Schulz.

*** Baja Portalegre ***
1. Holowczyc/Schulz (X-raid Mini)
2. Kaczmarski/Palmeiro (X-raid Mini)
3. Grancha/Grancha (BMW Evo X1)

2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies - final classification:
1. Holowczyc/Schulz - 147
2. Schlesser/Zhiltsov - 126
3. Roma/Perin - 120

[vino_93]

So the 2014 has started.
First it was the Baja Russia (only cars) on snow :
1 Al Rajhi (Toyota)
2 Vasyliev (Mini) 1'48
3 Varela (Toyota) 6'16
4 Kaczmarski (Mini) 8'30
5 Dabrowski (Toyota) 10'09
6 Misikov (X3) 10'58
7 Gadasin (G-Force) 14'54
8 Ievlev (Nissan) 16'26
9 Cherednikov (Toyota) 20'20
10 Sazonov (Hummer) 20'52
...

Then the Baja Italia, 2nd round for cars, first for Bikes / Quads for the Baja championship (split for them, not for cars)
1 Al Rajhi (Toyota)
2 Gadasin (G Force) 44"
3 Dabrowski (Toyota) 1'52
4 Vasyliev (Mini) 2'10
5 Kaczmarski (Toyota) 2'49
6 Zheludov (Toyota) 3'28
7 Varela (Toyota) 3'55
8 Misikov (BMW) 7'05
9 Magnaldi (Schlesser) 7'56
10 Branco (Toyota) 8'14

Bikes :
1 Cominotto (Yamaha)
2 Ruoso (Honda) 5'35
3 Przygonski (KTM) 7'36
4 Rivera (KTM) 13'57
5 Marè (Yamaha) 14'14

Quads :
1 Biscontin (Yamaha)
2 Wisniewski (Yamaha) 7'53
3 Somfai (E Atv) 9'52
4 Serbista (Yamaha) 12'18
5 Bernat (Can Am) 13'01

So this week it was the first real raid : Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
Great entry list, as it is since the beginning of the year, and big fight between Mini (Roma, Van Loon, Rakhimbayev, Vasyliev, Kaczmarski, Schott) and Overdrive (Dabrowski, Varela, Malysz, Issabayev). Al Rajhi started with his modified Hummer, but early retire ...
Roma first lead, but retired due to physical problems. So it was a great fight between Vasyliev and Dabrowski, until the polish lose time.
1 Vladimir Vasyliev (Mini)
2 Adam Malysz (Toyota) 48'
3 Miroslav Zapletal (Hummer) 1h20
4 Yahya Al Helei (Nissan) 1h20
5 Stephan Schott (Mini) 1h34
6 Erik van Loon (Mini) 1h57
7 Marek Dabrowski (Toyota) 2h04
8 Bauyrzhan Issabayev (Toyota) 2h29
9 Reinaldo Varela (Toyota) 3h34
10 Aidyn Rakhimbayev (Mini) 3h55
...

In Bikes, KTM vs Honda, first round. Two new guys for KTM official team : Sunderland (from Honda) and Przygonski (from Orlen Team). Coma and Viladoms were there vs Barreda, Gonçalves, Rodrigues.
Really big fight between Sunderland, Coma, Barreda, Gonçalves. Sunderland first retire, but at the beginning of the last stage, Coma lead by less than 6' on Barreda, third. Gonçalves was at 1'.
He did an extraordinary last stage and took the victory for 20" !
1 Paulo Gonçalves (Honda)
2 Marc Coma (KTM) 20"
3 Joan Barreda (Honda) 9'
4 Jordi Viladoms (KTM) 41'
5 Miran Stanovnik (KTM) 1h39
6 Mohammed Albalooshi (KTM) 2h00
7 Helder Rodrigues (Honda) 2h02
8 Oliver Lloyd (Speedbrain) 3h02
9 Jakub Piatek (KTM) 3h03
10 Santosh Cs (KTM) 3h12
...

Quads : easy win for Sonik
1 Rafal Sonik (Honda)
2 Sergey Karyakin (E ATV) 43"
3 Mohammed Abu Issa (Yamaha) 1'32
4 Camelia Liparotti (Yamaha) 2h49
5 Patrick McMurren (Yamaha) 4h45
...


There is the Desafio Ruta 40, first round of Dakar Series now too. Only interesting field is in bike, with french David Casteu against local guys (Pizzolito, Rodriguez, Gouet, ...).
In quads the field is nice too, with Sergio Lafuente from Uruguay, and some others south american (Bonetto, Sanabria, ...).
In cars, nothing interesting.

[Co-driven]

Nice post!

Wouldn't it be better to create a new post for the 2014 season?