Dubai-born Aliyyah Koloc and her Polish co-driver Marcin Pasek finished 24th in the T1+ category at the Trans-Kubuqi Desert Elite Challenge, held from 29 September to 2 October.
-- Racing a JJ3 T1+ for Buggyra ZM Racing, supported by Chinese manufacturer-backed race squad JJ Sport, they were the only foreign crew in a combined field of 104 starters, with 44 crews classified in the top T1+ category. Koloc was also the highest-placed woman in the T1+ category. The rally is the first of three events the team is running in China in under four weeks.
The Trans-Kubuqi Desert Elite Challenge is part of the China Auto Off-Road Rally Championship (CCR), China's top national and largest-scale long-distance rally series, sanctioned by the Federation of Automobile and Motorcycle Sports of China. The rally was based around the town of Ordos in Inner Mongolia. A prologue determined the starting order for Stage 1, which ran mainly across riverbeds. Stages 2 and 3 ran predominantly through desert terrain.
New terrain
The Trans-Kubuqi is Buggyra ZM Racing's first rally in China since the Taklimakan Rally in May. The event was new to both Koloc and Pasek, who had to discover it kilometer by kilometer, without a roadbook to ease navigation. Before the start, Pasek said the crew did not know exactly what to expect: "It should be gravel, maybe with a bit of water along the riverbeds. We will follow the track."
After finishing the prologue in 17th place, the crew finished Stage 1 in 9th. Stage 2 then became complicated. Eleven kilometers in, both rear driveshafts broke. The crew carried only one spare, and another JJ car stopped to help, but with around 65 kilometers still to go, they returned to the bivouac. The stage was recorded as 31st for the crew. The mechanics repaired the damage and had the car ready for the final day.
Stage 3 was run entirely on dunes. Starting far back in the order, the crew was able to pick up the pace and pass a number of cars. "We got lost two or three times, but we quickly found our way again," Koloc said. "We ran in a group with two other JJ cars for a while, and for the final 30 kilometers I followed a fast JJ car ahead of me.” They finished the stage in 14th position.
Aliyyah and Marcin finished the rally in 24th position in the T1+ category.
What’s next
The team now has only a few days to travel the 1.500 kilometers to Gansu Province in northwestern China for the Dunhuang Rally, running from 9 to 13 October. Covering more than 1,000 kilometers and five days of special stages, it crosses some of the world's most demanding terrain, from dry riverbeds and rugged canyons to the open expanses and towering dunes of the Gobi Desert.
The Dunhuang Rally is the second of three events the team is running in close succession in China. The final one is the Yecheng Rally in the Kashgar Prefecture in southern Xinjiang, near the Kunlun Mountains, from 17 to 23 October.
"We will see you again in a few days," Koloc said at the finish of the Trans-Kubuqi.
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