FIA releases 2023 W2RC, Cross-Country Bajas schedules

The final round of the 2022 World Rally-Raid Championship will also be the final run for the Andalucía Rally as an FIA international championship leg. On Wednesday, the FIA World Motor Sport Council approved the 2023 schedules for the W2RC and three Cross-Country Bajas Cups (World, European, Middle East).

As usual, the championship will begin with the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia on 31 December 2022 and run through 15 January 2023. The second round will once again be the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge from 25 February to 3 March.

The next two legs will take place in the Americas for the first time beginning with the Sonora Rally on 22–28 April followed by the Desafío Ruta 40 on 26 August to 8 September. The FIA rarely visits either continent for rallies due to travel constraints as teams are primarily based in Afro-Eurasia.

Held in Mexico with the 2022 edition taking place concurrently with Andalucía, the Sonora Rally is regarded as the top rally raid-style event in North America as its multi-stage format makes for good practice ahead of the Dakar Rally. Mexico already has one of the top off-road scenes in the world with premier races like the Baja 1000, and the arrival of the W2RC will only add to its reputation.

“You feel a sense of satisfaction when you finish the Baja 1000. In the moment, it’s difficult to call it fun,” Sonora Rally competitor and 2023 Dakar Rally entrant Ace Nilson told The Checkered Flag in August. “It’s a lot of survival, you know? But I think I like the staged races of, like, the Sonora Rally and Baja Rally, just because the days are difficult, but it’s not just one day, it’s multiple days, so you might have a 250-mile day and then you have to rest and turn around and do it over again.”

The Desafío Ruta 40 (Route 40 Challenge) in Argentina was previously a Dakar Series round, which gave top performers a free spot in the Dakar Rally akin to the current Road to Dakar programme. The race ran from 2010 to 2018 as a part of the Campeonato Argentino de Rally Cross Country (CARRC).

The season will end with Morocco’s Rallye du Maroc on 12–18 October. It was originally the final round of the 2022 calendar before wildfires bumped Andalucía to that slot and Morocco instead served as the penultimate event.

“As we bring down the curtain on the inaugural season of the W2RC, which struck gold from its first edition with a long-running series of high-stakes duels, we are thrilled to welcome new organisers that will make the circuit even more balanced and consistent,” said W2RC overseer Amaury Sport Organisation motorsport director David Castera. “Expanding the event to include the Sonora Rally in Mexico and the Desafío Ruta 40 in Argentina will inspire the globetrotter inside every rally-raid fan and competitor. The rich tapestry of landscapes will also provide opportunities for all sorts of talent to shine.”

Andalucía does not return, nor does Rally Kazakhstan. The Kazakh round was initially the third race for 2022 before being called off due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although the FIA, FIM, and ASO hoped to bring it back in 2023, the ongoing war between Kazakhstan’s neighbours has made hosting international events difficult.

The Russo-Ukrainian War unsurprisingly also results in the World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas dropping the season-opening Baja Russia Northern Forest, and the slate will instead begin with the Saudi Baja. The Qatar International Baja has been promoted to World Cup status while the Jordan Baja moves from February to November.

While the Italian Baja and Baja Poland remain World Cup races, they fall off the European Cup schedule in favour of the Baja TT Sharish Reguengos Mourão and Baja Troia Türkiye. The Middle East Cup increases from four to six races with the additions of Baja Kuwait and Baja Troia. Overlapping dates like Baja Troia are held together as combination races, though each competitor earns points for their declared championship.

“Cross-country rallying is a fast-growing motor sporting discipline and we have been delighted by the success of the inaugural FIA World Rally-Raid Championship,” stated FIA rally director Andrew Wheatley. “ASO is an experienced promoter and it was a very positive step to bring the Dakar Rally into the series as the first round of the championship.

“The 2023 calendar will offer its own unique challenges to competitors, with demanding terrain for drivers and tricky navigation for co-drivers. We are also encouraged by the interest in smaller Baja-type events from different countries and are excited to announce revisions to the three FIA Baja championship that run as support and feeder series to the W2RC.”

2023 W2RC schedule

#	Race	Country	Date
1	Dakar Rally	Saudi Arabia	31 December 2022 – 15 January 2023
2	Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge	United Arab Emirates	25 February – 3 March
3	Sonora Rally	Mexico	22–28 April
4	Desafío Ruta 40	Argentina	26 August – 8 September
5	Rallye du Maroc	Morocco	12–18 October

2023 Cross-Country Bajas schedules

World Cup

#	Race	Country	Date
1	Saudi Baja	Saudi Arabia	2–4 February
2	Qatar International Baja	Qatar	16–18 March
3	Italian Baja	Italy	6–9 July
4	Baja España Aragón	Spain	20–23 July
5	Baja Poland	Poland	24–27 August
6	37ª Baja Portalegre	Portugal	26–28 October
7	Jordan Baja	Jordan	2–4 November
8	Dubai International Baja	United Arab Emirates	1–3 December

European Cup

#	Race	Country	Date
1	Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura	Spain	14–16 April
2	10th Rally Greece OffRoad	Greece	17–20 May
3	XX. Hungarian Baja	Hungary	3–6 August
4	Baja TT Sharish Reguengos Mourão	Portugal	22–24 September
TBA	Baja Troia Türkiye	Turkey	TBA

Middle East Cup

#	Race	Country	Date
1	Saudi Baja	Saudi Arabia	2–4 February
2	Qatar International Baja	Qatar	16–18 March
3	Jordan Baja	Jordan	2–4 November
4	Baja Kuwait	Kuwait	23–25 November
5	Dubai International Baja	United Arab Emirates	1–3 December
TBA	Baja Troia Türkiye	Turkey	TBA