A ROUND OF FIA WORLD CUP FOR CROSS COUNTRY RALLIES  “RALLY KAZAKHSTAN 2019” STARTS IN AKTAU

AKTAU, May 26, 2019. On May 27, on the Caspian Sea coast, the next round of the World Cup for Cross Country Rallies of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) “Rally Kazakhstan 2019” starts. The total distance of the race starting and finishing in the city of Aktau will be more than 2500 kilometers. The Kazakhstan round is the longest in the world championship of the current year. The racers face  six days of competition on the picturesque, but sometimes extreme tracks of Mangystau, running through the sands and dunes, salt marshes and stones.  The best world cross country racerswill race through  the west of Kazakhstan until June 1.

The total number of crews entered  for Rally Kazakhstan 2019 is 28 from 17 countries. Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Qatar, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Turkmenistan, the Czech Republic, Chile and France are among of them. Kazakhstan is represented at the rally by a number of crews.

The “Rally Kazakhstan 2019” crews will compete in the following FIA categories: T1 - Prototypes Cross-Country Vehicles, T2 - Series Production Cross-Country Vehicles, T3 - Improved Cross-Country Vehicles Lightweight side-by-side (SSV), T4 - trucks, and the National class of the Republic of Kazakhstan Cup for Cross Country Rallies.

On May 26, the day before the ceremonial start of the competition, there was a press conference  at the official  race HQ, Caspian Riviera Grand Palace in Aktau withFIA representatives, the Rally Kazakhstan 2019 participants, the Automotosport Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Akimat of Mangystau region.

Deputy Akim of Mangystau region Ruslan Sakeyev declared the start of the rally and wished the crews a successful race and successful finish.

- We are pleased to welcome the participants of this huge and prestigious race in Aktau. Mangystau is known for its unique natural landscape and varied terrain, and attracts the best racers in the world. Hosting the World Cup Round for the third year in a row, we demonstrate the rich tourist potential of Mangystau region and our traditional hospitality. I wish all the participants of the cross country rally a fair competition and sports fortune, and all the guests and spectators unforgettable impressions, - said Ruslan Sakeyev, Deputy Akim of Mangystau region.

Ruslan Sakeyev also emphasized that the regional leadership is ready to continue to fully support the cross country rally in the region, and added that such competitions help to attract young people to technical sports and have a positive impact on the development of sports in the country in general.

Ronan Morgan, a representative of the Automobile and Touring Club of UAE, will be the Clerk of the Course of the Rally Kazakhstan 2019 for the second successive year. The cross country rally is being organized by the Automotosport Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

- The organizing team is fully prepared for the World Cup Round in Mangystau. Every year we strive to improve the route of the cross country rally in order to make it spectacular and diverse. A distinctive feature of the race in 2019 will be a greater number of sand sections and less speed sections. The length of the special stages will be slightly decreased compared to the last year, the liaisons will be reduced to maximixe the comfort of the racers, the sequence of special stages will not fundamentally differ from the route of the last year, - said Marat Abykayev, President of the Federation of Autosport.

This year, like in previous years, Aktau expects to host the most titled world racers. The winner of the “Rally Kazakhstan 2017” and four-time World Cup Cross Country Rallies winner (2008, 2015, 2016 and 2017) Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, a rally driver from Qatar, will again take part in the race and strive for victory in Kazakhstan round. Last year, the Qatari failed in Mangystau, technical problems with the engine of the Nasser car did not allow him to continue the race on the very first stage of the rally.

One of the most outstanding rally drivers in the history of cross country rallies, 13-time Dakar rally winner, Stephane Peterhansel (X-raid MINI JCW Team) will participate at the “Rally Kazakhstan 2019” with his co-driver and spouse Andrea Peterhansel. The couple won the second leg of the World Cup Cross Country Rallies in Abu Dhabi. At the moment, Stephane Peterhansel and Nasser Al Attiyah head the standings of the FIA ​​World Cup with  30 points each.

The victor  of  last year’s “Rally Kazakhstan”, Saudi driver,  Yazid Al-Raji , driving this year in  a new car Toyota Hilux Overdrive, intends to repeat the success of the last year in Kazakhstan. He currently has 21 points in the World Cup standings. It is expected that this year the struggle for the first position in the overall standings will be between Yazid Al-Raji, Peterhansel and Nasser Al-Attiyah.

The winner of the World Cup Cross Country Rally 2014 and the bronze medalist of the “Rally Kazakhstan 2018”, Russian racer Vladimir Vasilyev (VRT Team), also expects to compete with these experienced rally drivers in Mangystau. Vasilyev is currently taking the 4 position in the overall World Cup standings.

The fans of autosport in Kazakhstan are well familiar with the crew of Yakub Przygonski (Orlen X-raid Team), since the Polish pilot took second place in “Rally Kazakhstan”   in 2017 and 2018   The current season  started unsuccessfully for current World Cup Cross Country Rally Champion  Przygonski. In the first leg of Qatar World Cup, officials had  to disqualify his crew due to insufficient vehicle weight required by new requirements in 2019.  As he intends to ‘take revenge’, we can be guaranteed  Przygonski can be considered as the “dark horse” of the Kazakhstani round.

Another candidate for  first place, is a very fast but not very stable racer from the Netherlands, Bernard ten Brinke. He competes with an experienced Belgian co-driver Tom Colsul who names the “Rally Kazakhstan” his favorite round of the World Cup.

This year, Jutta Kleinschmidt, a truly legendary person in autoracing, the only female winner in the world of the Dakar Marathon and the winner of the World Cup Cross Country Rallies,  will arrive to Aktau in her capacity as the President of FIA Cross Country Rallies Commission.

The leaders of the National Cross Country ranking of the Kazakhstan Cup will also be determined according to the results of the “Rally Kazakhstan 2019”, where the professional crews GAZ Raid Sport and KAMAZ-master from Russia will also take part.

Kazakhstan is represented at the Rally by several crews, including such professional teams as the “MobilEx Racing Team”, “OFF ROAD Kazakhstan” and “Aktau Motorsport”, which have significant experience of participating in domestic and international cross country rallies and rally marathons. As part of the “MobilEx Racing Team”, two crews will participate in T1 category, Yuri Sazonov, the winner of the “Rally Kazakhstan 2016”, and the racer Yerden Shagirov, the World Cup and international competitions participant, who intend to compete seriously to the famous racers in their native land. An experienced Kazakhstan racer, silver winner of the “Rally Kazakhstan 2016", participant of the Dakar rally, Andrey Cherednikov is success-oriented in the T1 category.

The captain of “Aktau Motorsport” team from Kazakhstan, the winner of the “Silk Way 2017” rally marathon, Kirill Chernenkov is also fully ready to participate in the race in the T2 category.

The ceremonial start of the competition will take place on the evening of May 26 on the picturesque quay of the city of Aktau. The next day, in the first leg of the rally the participants will drive to the south from the city of Aktau towards Kenderli resort, located 210 km south-east from the regional center. The second day will include a ring section through the desert to the east around the village of Senek. The segment of the third leg is directed to the east of Kenderli. The fourth leg will go around the city of Zhanaozen, then the participants will return to Aktau. Two final legs will go to the north from Aktau. In the final leg on June 1, the rally drivers will race along the coastline of the Caspian Sea and finish at around 03.00 p.m. on the embankment of the city of Aktau.

- We strive to hold more international competitions in Kazakhstan and to improve the image of our country as a sports nation capable to organize and host international competitions of any level and class in a professional way. These competitions allow us to attract partnership funds to our country so that they would remain in Kazakhstan, - added Marat Abykayev, the President of the Automotosport Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. - Our activity today is focused on improving the professional level of the Automotosport Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan representatives in order to hold successfully international events in our country, as well as to expand the participation of Kazakhstan's athletes in national and international competitions.

A national yurt will be traditionally installed at the Kinderly bivouac, where the cross country rally participants and guests will be able to get familiar with the life and traditions of Kazakhstan, as well as to taste various national dishes.

The rally organizer is the Automotosport Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Mangystau region Akimat. The general partner of organizing and holding the “Rally Kazakhstan 2019” is “Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund” JSC.

Winners of the "Rally Kazakhstan":

2016 Yuri Sazonov, Dmitry Tsyro (Mobilex Racing Team)

2017 Nasser Al Attiyah, Mathieu Baumel (Overdrive Racing Team)

2018 Yazeed Al-Raji, Timo Gottschalk (X-Raid Team)

All information about the routes and results can be found on the official website www.rallykazakhstan.com.

For more information, please contact the Press Agency of the Automotosport Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, Kazybek Bi Str., 22, tel: + 7 727 266 21 08, + 7 777 020 12 60, E-mail: y.amangeldi@infores.kz and rallykazakhstan@gmail.com.