GPS error causes teams to get stuck in Hills of Russia

NASCAR and Formula One fans know all too well about races being shortened by weather, but having the stage of a race whittled down due to an error in the roadbook is a new one.

The Hills of Russia Baja, the fourth round of the Russian Rally-Raid Championship, saw the final twenty-one kilometres of last Saturday’s second stage in Ulyanovsk struck from the official result due to the navigation devices given to all competitors having the wrong coordinates for the finish line inserted. Consequently, the 271-km stage was whittled down to 250.

When teams crossed KM 250, the incorrect coordinates resulted in them driving around looking for the final waypoint. As the rest of the field caught up to the leaders, an “anthill of cars” began to develop before race officials realised the problem. It was another bizarre and comedic chapter for the 2022 Russian Rally-Raid Championship, whose Silk Way Rally in July was marred by multiple vehicles being trapped in water while trying to cross a ford.

“We drove exactly according to the legend,” said Sergey Krenev, the co-driver to KAMAZ-master‘s Bogdan Karimov, after the stage. “The only thing is that after twenty kilometres, there was confusion with the points, perhaps a mistake of the organisers. We lost time due to this, but quickly got our bearings and went to the finish line. We met Andrey Karginov, apparently, he was also trying to take the point and is still not at the finish line.”

Once the predicament was sorted out, the T1 of Vasilyev Racing Team‘s Vladimir Vasilyev won the overall in the stage with a time of 2:34:35. MAZ-SPORTauto‘s Sergey Vyazovich was the Truck category victor with 2:41:37 ahead of Karginov.

“At the 258th kilometre, the organisers slowed us down and said that the race was stopped at the 250th kilometre,” explained KAMAZ-master’s Ruslan Akhmadeev, co-driver to Igor Chagin. “After one of the checkpoints, the race did not end and all participants began to look for it, wandered, and lost a lot of time on this. The organisers did the right thing, they stopped the race a little earlier, so that later there would be no complaints that people were looking for a way through the fault of the organisers, who incorrectly dotted the anchors.”

Vasilyev ultimately won the Hills of Russia Baja, setting a total time of 5:13:06 ahead of fellow T1 Denis Krotov‘s 5:26:55. Karimov was third overall to win the Truck.

Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many of the drivers in the field including KAMAZ will not participate in the 2023 Dakar Rally as they refuse to condemn their nation’s actions. Conversely, Krotov and co-driver Konstantin Zhiltsov have acquired new licences, with the latter holding an Israeli passport, and will be permitted to take part.

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