Round four of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge takes the crews into the heartland of the Russian Federation, for Rally Russia. The ceremonial start takes place in the historic city of St Petersburg, which was the home of the Imperial Tsars for more than 200 years.

Nonetheless, the stages are based around the town of Vyborg – which belonged to Finland until 1944 – so it is no surprise that the roads are quite similar to those seen on the World Championship’s famous Rally Finland.

Last year Finnish driver Anton Alen claimed a resounding victory through the Russian forests, which feature wide, fast, and flowing gravel stages. Some parts of the stages are very fast indeed, making Russia the quickest gravel rally that the IRC drivers will face all year. However, these fast roads can still contain some traps to catch out the unwary. Several large stones litter the route, and these can become a particular problem during the second run through the stages.

Russia could not present a greater contrast to the last rally of the IRC series in Ypres. Whereas the Belgian asphalt stages require some extremely precise driving, the Russian gravel stages are all about getting a good flow and rhythm with the car so that it ‘dances’ from one corner to the next.

Rally Russia was run for the first time last year, but this time it has a very different look. The route has been extended by one day and 70 competitive kilometres, giving it a total competitive distance of 229.36 kilometres over 12 stages.

The first day of stages on Thursday takes in roads to the north of Vyborg, followed by a ceremonial start in the historic centre of St Petersburg, while legs two and three are to the east of Vyborg, not far from the town of Kamennnogorsk. The stages have mostly quite soft and almost sandy surfaces, which can cut up quite badly to expose the notorious stones. Part of the art of driving Rally Russia is knowing how to avoid picking up punctures in the tricky conditions. The weather is forecast to be dry and hot, although there is always the possibility of unexpected showers.

One of the most notable features of the entry list on the Rally Russia is that IRC series leader Luca Rossetti will not be contesting the event due to commitments at home in Italy. This presents a golden opportunity for Peugeot Belgium’s Nicolas Vouilloz, who is just four points behind him after finishing on the podium in every IRC event so far, to take over the lead of the series.

However one of the pre-event favourites is last year’s winner Anton Alen (Abarth), who feels at home over the sinuous stages. Also driving a Grande Punto is one of the biggest attractions of the event: 1994 World Rally Champion Didier Auriol, co-driven as always by Denis Giraudet. This will be Auriol’s second IRC outing, after he starred in the Portugal Rally earlier this year.

A new face at the wheel of a Super 2000 car is Finn Juho Hanninen, driving a Peugeot 207. Hanninen’s speed is renowned, and he could be an outside contender for victory. There is set to be an exciting battle in the IRC 2WD Cup category, with Englishman Guy Wilks making his first appearance in the IRC with a Honda Civic Type R R3.

The car ran as high as sixth overall in Russia last year with Dani Sola at the wheel, and Wilks is hoping to spring a similar surprise this time. Marco Cavigioli, a top-10 finisher in Russia last year, is hoping to extend his lead of the 2WD Cup (currently shared with two other drivers) thanks to another strong run in his Grande Punto diesel. As always, there will be a very strong contingent of local drivers who know the roads well, such as experienced Mitsubishi drivers Andrei Zhigunov and Boris Fedotov.

1 PEUGEOT TEAM BELUX     Nicolas VOUILLOZ FRA Belgium Nicolas KLINGER FRA
2 Abarth & C.SpA              Giandomenico BASSO ITA Italy Mitia DOTTA ITA
3 CHAMPION RACING         Jan KOPECKY CZE Czech Respublic Petr STARY CZE
4 PEUGEOT TEAM BELUX     Freddy LOIX BEL Belgium Robin BUYSMANS BEL
5 SOLA' DANI                   Dani SOLA' ESP Spain Oscar SANCHEZ ESP
6 J.A.S. Motorsport           Guy WILKS GBR Italy Phil PUGH GBR
7 Abarth & C.SpA              Anton ALEN FIN Italy Timo ALANNE FIN
8 H.F. GRIFONE S.r.l.         Didier AURIOL FRA France Denis GIRAUDET FRA
9 JUHO HANNINEN             Juho HANNINEN FIN Finland Mikko MARKKULA FIN