The second round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies takes the contenders to central Asia for Rally Kazakhstan (June 08-13), where the arid scrublands, savannahs and deserts of the world’s largest landlocked country form the backdrop for yet another unique adventure for the 34 crews on the start list.

This is the fourth time the event has run as a round of the FIA World Cup and, while it remains in the Mangystau region of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the route has been significantly revised and will provide a fresh challenge for the contenders. All legs of the rally will essentially start and finish in the city of Aktau on the shores of the Caspian Sea. However, also new this year is the inclusion of a Marathon Stage. The second leg will take the crews from Aktau to the coastal resort of Kenderly for the overnight halt, 250 kilometres away, and here only the competitors themselves will be authorised to work on their vehicles, adding another dimension to the competition.

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel, originally topping the entry list as leaders of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, have had to withdraw due to conflicting commitments leaving Yazeed Al-Rajhi - 2018 Rally Kazakhstan winner – to lead the crews into tomorrow’s section. He got this year’s World Cup campaign off to a good start with a podium placing in Spain and the Saudi Arabian holds third in the standings, 12 points adrift of the lead. As Al-Attiyah’s main title rival going into Kazakhstan, he and co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz will be looking to capitalise on the Qatari’s absence with a significant haul of points.

After an impressive performance in Spain, where they finished fifth overall, Mattias Ekström - 2016 FIA World Rallycross Champion and double DTM title winner - and Emil Bergkvist will be gaining more cross-country rallying experience, again in the MINI John Cooper Works Buggy.

Denis Krotov has entered in a MINI John Cooper Works Rally and he finished fifth in Kazakhstan in 2019. This year he will have Konstantin Zhiltsov alongside him. Vladimir Vasilyev, reigning champion of the 2020 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas, had a disappointing retirement on the first round in Spain last month. He and Alexey Kuzmich need to get their first points on the leaderboard and conquer Kazakhstan’s dramatic landscape after an early retirement in 2019, the last time the event ran due to the global pandemic.

Miroslav Zapletal and Marek Sykora were just off the podium, in fourth, last time out in Kazakhstan and they will be competing in a Ford F150 Evo while Mathieu Serradori is back in action in his self-built Century CR6.

Behind a host of other T1 contenders, Boris Gadasin and Dmitrii Kozhukhov head a strong field of T3 competitors. Guillaume de Mevius and Tom Colsoul – the winning co-driver of the 2020 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas – will be looking to repeat their fine performance in Spain, despite ultimately being forced to retire with mechanical problems. Andrey and Vladimir Novikov also join the T3 contenders for this event.

America’s Austin Jones and Dutchman Kees Koolen top the list of T4 entries, the duo first and third in the standings in their Can Am Mavericks.

RALLY DATA

LEADING ENTRIES

RALLY KAZAKHSTAN – TIMETABLE & MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES