Story: Eva Kovkova
Pictures: Eva Kovkova
HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS’ photojournalist Eva Kovkova has been busy of late, covering the White Nights Rally 2010 in Russia. Her is her interesting report and fantastic photography from this rally.
The annual White Nights Rally, Round Four of the Russian Rally Championship was held in Lahdenpohja, Karelia near the Russian-Finnish border. Some 200km from St. Petersburg, this rally attracts a large number of rally stars, now drawing not only Evgeniy Novikov and Andrey Zhigunov, but also Patrik Flodin.
The “White Nights Rally” thrills every rally fan in Russia (and those around the world following this event, too) with high-speed action from the first to the last kilometer. For this past weekend’s event, it was once more a duel between former WRC rally ace Evgeny Novikov and Russian legend Andriey Zhigunov fighting for the top positions, with current and defending Russian Rally Champion Patrick Flodin fighting to keep up with the top two drivers. In the last edition of this event, the Snow Rally Lahdenpohja, it was the same finishing order for the top two, in fact.
The name of the event is derived form the geographical phenomena that is “white nights.” In the most beautiful city in Russia, St. Petersburg, the nature of the “white nights” can be explained simply by the city’s geographical location: it is the world’s most northern city with a population of about 5 million. It is, howeve, on the same latitude as Oslo, Norway, and Seward, Alaska, but is the only city in the world where this phenomenon occurs. The sun does not go under the horizon deep enough for the sky to get dark. The dusk meets the dawn…
Flodin is currently contesting the Chinese Rally Championship alongside his task of defending his Russian title. Interestingly, the Subaru Impreza STi of Flodin was unable to match the pace of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X of Novikov or the older Evolution IX of Zhigunov.
For Flodin the event started with a one-wheel driving moment on the very first stage that nearly saw him and co-driver Emil Axelsson crash out of rally, but he luckily managed to land back on four wheels without much further incident. At the same time, Zhigunov battled through the stage with a left rear tyre problem, resulting in him losing precious time to the young missile that is Novikov.
The remainder of the event saw Novikov challenge Zhigunov for the overall lead, and eventually snatch the victory. Flodin was clearly shaken up by his first stage incident and could not draw within striking range of the two leaders, but he drove his Subaru Impreza hard to claim third place overall to record his first defeat on Russian soil in 2010.
The fifth round of the Russian Rally Championship is the Rally Gukova 2010, and takes place next month on 16 – 17 July.
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