Podium for Remennik at 2024 Dubai International Baja
Sergei Remennik and Alexey Ignatov won bronze in the SxS Pro / National Category of the 2024 Dubai International Baja.
On Sunday, the first day of winter, the Dubai International Baja, which is the final round of the FIA World Baja Cup and the Middle East Bajas Cup, ended in the Arabian Desert. Five Russian crews competed in the SxS Pro / National Category with the support of the BIG RED RACING Team: Sergei Remennik and Alexey Ignatov (No. 603), Alexey Shmotyev and Egor Okhotnikov (No. 604), Maxim Deykin and Kirill Izotov (No. 609), as well as drivers without co-drivers Rais Minnikhanov (No. 611) and Sergey Karyakin (No. 612).
On Friday, there were two events: a Qualifying Stage in the Hatta Suhaila area, following which the international classification competitors were allocated starting positions for the first selective section, and the Ceremonial Start at Dubai Festival Bay. Spectators witnessed the competition opening in Dubai Festival City. The competitors were flagged away by His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council, accompanied by His Excellency Mohammed Ahmed bin Sulayem, President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), and other officials.
Two-Day Fight With Sands and Heat
On Saturday and Sunday, the competitors were required to complete two selective sections with a total distance of 385 kilometers. These included the open desert (35%), as well as the Dubai dunes, renowned for their beauty and complexity (45%), which made the Baja so famous and popular among crews from all over the world. In total, the crews covered approximately 867 kilometers over the course of the Dubai International Baja, including liaisons. The Saturday and Sunday stages were held in the same area, but Sunday’s selective section was run in the opposite direction compared to the previous day.
At the Saturday stage, the competition in the SxS Pro category unfolded in a manner that resulted in Sergey Karyakin reaching the finish line with the best time. However, he was subsequently issued a 15-minute penalty for missing several waypoints. Maxim Deykin completed the course in third place, but was promoted to second place based on the results of the first stage. Sergei Remennik and Alexey Shmotyev finished in fifth and sixth place, respectively, and also virtually advanced one position. Rais Minnikhanov was classified with an eighth-place finish, and his result was not affected by the crews’ movements in the virtual standings after readings from navigation and orientation devices were taken.
On Saturday evening, Sergei Remennik commented that the stage distance on sand and dunes, despite the 30-degree heat, was surprisingly easy. The pre-rally test kilometers were insufficient to fully comprehend the suspension operation in the new Maverick. During the day, some comments were identified that the mechanics had eliminated during the evening service and, on the driver’s recommendation, adjusted the suspension differently. Additionally, areas for improvement in driving skill were identified (the lack of experience is notable): as soon as the track resembled a classic rally, Remennik and Ignatov began accelerating, but as soon as dunes appeared on the route, which is challenging to navigate, Sergei slowed down.
At the conclusion of the selective section on Sunday, Andreas Borgman, who competed under the UAE flag, was determined to be the top performer. However, this did not have a notable impact on the final results within the National category. Sergey Karyakin finished in second place, two minutes behind Borgman, while Deykin completed the selective section shortly thereafter. The crews of Remennik and Shmotyev once again placed fifth and sixth, while Minnikhanov finished eighth. Accordingly, the top four positions in the National category, as determined by the competition results, were awarded to Russian competitors.
The crew’s co-driver Alexey Ignatov noted the similarities between the two tracks, stating, “There were no significant differences between today’s track and yesterday’s. It was, so to speak, located in the same place. Yesterday, we drove in a circle in one direction, and today, in the other. Yesterday, we gained insight into the challenging nature of the dunes with hard drops, which presented unexpected difficulties. There were numerous sections where maximum speed was feasible, and today’s route introduced additional complexity with multiple intersections of yesterday’s tracks. In this regard, the navigation presented certain challenges.”
10 SxS Pro / National category crews finished out of 17 starters:
- Deykin / K. Izotov 6:34:57.3 h.
- Karyakin, without a co-driver +11:50.0 min
- Remennik / A. Ignatov +13:58.2 min
- Shmotyev / E. Okhotnikov +17:58.0 min
- Gelazninkiene/ A. Gelazninkas +18:52,6
- Borgmann, solo +27:30,9
- Minnikhanov, without a co-driver +50:10.2 min
Return to Top-Class Sports
Sergei Remennik, driver, “I’m delighted to be back driving a sports car and pleased with my performance. It was a genuine rally-raid, and it has been a significant period of time since I have participated in such an event. The last time I participated in a high-level event was in February 2022, when I finished the Baja Russia Northern Forest. We will now commence planning for the forthcoming season. We have gathered sufficient data for analysis. We are aware of the areas that require improvement and have a clear understanding of the necessary steps to take. We will address this issue.
I am pleased to report that our team crews took the first four places in the Baja, which is also a commendable achievement. We were pleased with the entire experience! I would like to extend my congratulations to all those who participated in the event and in particular to Ruslan and the BIG RED RACING Team for their invaluable contribution to the training process and their success in the Baja.”
The Russian teams demonstrated their superior preparation and team spirit by securing all four first-place finishes in the standings.
Before the start of the Sunday special stages the crew of Remennik and Fedorov lost to the duet of Nifontova and her co-driver Ekaterina Zhadanova for only eight seconds. Agree, it was a shame not to try to compete with them for the first place in the T3 standings of the Russian Championship.
Sergei Remennik, driver,“We are at the finish line – the goal has been achieved! That’s what we did, it was cool. I can say that I enjoyed driving the long stages and I think we will continue. These were the first cross-country rallies in my life. Yaroslav and I have so far driven the longest special stages, probably only in Finland – there is a special stage “Ouninpohja”, about 30 kilometers. Yaroslav has experience in Corsica, where the special stages are 50 kilometers long. But there has never been such an experience of 120 kilometers until now, now there is. It is very interesting from the point of view of how to prepare yourself, to count your strength for such a distance. I understand that this is not the longest distance, as in multi-day marathons. Experienced racers say that at the Baja Russia Northern Forest the advantage is on the side of the classic rally drivers and I agree with them. I only missed the usual notes, because in some places it was possible to push hard from jumps to closed corners. Because you leave the corner and you understand that you could put pressure on the gas to the last there. But, as my senior comrades told me, the cross-country rallies principle is: “if you don’t see, you don’t drive”. Well, I tried not to drive if I didn’t see it”.
Yaroslav Fedorov, co-driver,“It was very unusual for me here, as if I were a useless element. I kept silence a lot here, I have never been so silent at the special stages. There was even an opportunity to chat during the day at Baja, so it seems to me that I underperformed. But we are at the finish line – this is the most important thing and a very cool experience. I liked today, because the special stages were more like roads in our classic sense. And if at the first passage we were turned around twice, now we had an absolutely clean passage. We are waiting for the official results; something tells me that we did a good job”.
Sergei Remennik, driver, “Everything that happens with Yaroslav and me this weekend is marked as “surprise”. We are surprised by everything that happens around us. It is indeed a very interesting experience, an interesting adventure. But let’s draw conclusions in a more relaxed atmosphere when we get to the finish line. Our task is to finish this race. But what is happening with the track surface… makes the finish seem more and more illusive to us! 
I’m really surprised about Anastasia Nifontova! It’s a very pleasant feeling, an incredible surprise, because I saw girls who ride next to me in a kart – they go fast and can be faster than me. But in a rally?! Anastasia is the first person who outraces me. And I’m impressed. 
And now let us talk about the most important thing – the results. According to preliminary calculations, Sergei Remennik and Yaroslav Fedorov finished the day in the fifth place of the baja overall standings (02:09 min behind the day leader) and the second in the T4 standings of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas round. The first day leader is the crew of Tomasz Bialkowski, followed by Vladimir Vasilyev, Anastasia Nifontova, Sergey Uspensky in the order of finish.
Sergei Remennik, driver, “My old friend Sergey Karyakin, whose name is well known to everyone who follows at least the Dakar, has long been beckoning me to cross-country rallies. In addition, it is interesting to try something new, and the World Cup is such an interesting series. There are also the rounds of the Russian Championship and the Eurasia Zone Cup. We’ve applied for everything and we’ll try it! It is interesting to try this discipline. On snow and ice the Maverick impressed me much more than I expected. I would say that it is somewhat similar to the nimble Suzuki Swift R4 in which we trained. 
Yaroslav Fedorov, co-driver, “I have been looking at the cross-country rallies with interest for a long time, because both drivers with whom I previously performed in classic rally – Alexey Ignatov and Evgeny Sukhovenko, were factory drivers of the GAZ Raid Sport team. They talked a lot about this discipline, always very interesting, positive. They talked about some adventures. Therefore, there was an interest in the discipline.
Changing discipline and sports car is always difficult for a driver to adapt, because doing one sport for a long time he gets used to its features and a certain level of concentration. The basic idea of races for the regularity of movement with additional high-speed competitions is the same here, but in classic rallies, unlike the cross-country ones, the crew consisting of a driver and a co-driver moves according to the instructions of the pacenotes that he makes for himself during the recce. It describes all the corners and difficult moments of movement on the special stages, and the length of one special stage rarely exceeds 30 kilometers.
After a service break, the final part of the racing day went on a well-known forest special stage along Lake Akakul in the Ozersky District of the Chelyabinsk Region. A blizzard raged all over, sweeping the roads and throwing snow dust into the air with white curtains, and the wind chilling reached -41°C. Despite the difficult weather conditions, the rally participants reached the finish line without incidents, only six crews could not finish – the reasons for the retirements were related to technical issues.
Sergei Remennik, driver, The rally went fine, it seems, we’ve reached all our goals! During the last two special stages there was such a “safety struggle”, because the roads were swept, we could see nothing in a snow dust; in some places we touched an asphalt with our wheels – it was slippery there, but in the forest part of the route it was loose and difficult to turn. I also observed my Kyshtym’s tradition – to miss some corner and drive straight ahead (past the special stage).
In addition to tackling the test tasks, the crew of Sergei Remennik and Marina Danilova won the 2021 Malachite Rally, leaving the closest pursuer 1.5 minutes behind them.
After the recent victory in Asbest, Sergei Remennik and Marina Danilova continue to “tame” the Oreca Suzuki Swift R4 on the Chelyabinsk region tracks. The main philosophy of the extensive test program is to learn how to communicate with the kit car on an equal footing, as it was with the previous production sports vehicle, in order to go back to the FIA European Rally Championship tracks.
Sergei Remennik, driver, “We continue to study this car; of course, on such roads the maximum speed that we had half of the special stage is not enough. Somewhere a gps sensor showed that our speed was 165 km/h; the roads are very fast here. On the second part of today’s roads we’ve been driving rather carefully; after all, the 1.6-liter engine is weak, when you start to slide very hard, it slows down. Therefore, you need to try to drive this car as straight as possible, but in low and medium gears you can confidently ride sideways. 
With my co-driver we have the opposite learning process – after the fact that Marina Danilova and I won together and even received the titles of International Masters of Sports for this, it’s time for me to learn how to drive according to the pace notes!