Saudi rally ace Yazeed Al-Rajhi followed his victory in the Rally Jeddah recently by winning the Baja Russia Northern Forest 2014 on Sunday.

The three-day competition is the first round of the Cross-Country Rallies World Cup that took place in Leningrad region, according to a press release issued by the event website www.bajarussia.com.

Al-Rajhi with co-pilot Zhiltsov Konstantin took the lead on opening-day Friday at a short spectator special stage and managed to keep the advantage on Saturday and Sunday through 312 kilometers for 3 hours and 36 minutes, which is about 2 minutes faster than Russia’s Vladimir Vasilyev and 6 minutes faster than Brazilian Ricardo Varela. Only 26 out of 44 crews succeeded to get to the finish line. Zhiltsov Konstantin was the co-driver of Vasilyev and Gugelmin Gustavo co-driver of

Snow and ice baja is one of the most difficult event types in motorsports world. Unpredictable weather made additional barriers for drivers. Thaw, so unusual for Russian winter during the first two days of the event, changed to fog and then snowfall and frost. With these conditions the road surface becomes soft but very slippery and makes contenders either risk or lose speed and precious seconds.

The Russian Championship leader board was also hardly predictable: a Finnish crew of Tapio Suominen was leading firmly until the very last special 300 meters to the last special stage finish the driver made a fatal mistake that kicked his Toyota Hilux out of the track.

Vladimir Vasiliev won the Russian Championship. Ruslan Misikov finished second and Boris Gadasin third at the national event.

As for T2 standings, the leaders are Andrey Rudskoy and his co-driver Evgeny Zagorodniuk.

Participants said the competition was tough and less speedy, but far more interesting, the press release concluded.