The creation of the new World Rally-Raids Championship overshadows any other news within the specialty, especially if the Dakar will be the star event of the championship. In spite of everything, in 2022 there will continue to be a second ‘step’ within cross-country competitions, since the FIA World Cup in Casualties remains very much alive. A contest that will feature in the next season with a total of eight appointments, distributed between the Middle East and Europe. All in all, the FIA has drawn a very fragmented calendar with a hectic start to the season between Russia and Jordan and a subsequent break of several months until the championship picks up pace again. Baja Aragón will be part of the calendar again.
You could say that the FIA World Cup in Casualties will have three types of events in 2022. On the one hand, there is Lower Russia, a unique test. In the end, the icy event in the country’s forests is the only event that takes place on snow as soon as the weather is good between February 11 and 13. Just four days later, Lower Jordan started, the first exponent of desert dating. Due to the proximity of both dates, it is difficult for pilots and teams to compete in both, especially if the mobility restrictions around COVID-19 are still present. Be that as it may, after Russia and Jordan the activity will stop for almost five months.
The return to action will take place with Baja Italia in early July, same month in which the Lower Aragon. The Spanish event marks the halfway point of the championship and will give way to tests with a similar profile, off-road rallies how are the Baja Poland and the Baja Portalegre of Portugal. The final stretch of the calendar is drawn again in a desert setting with Lower Saudi, a new event to be held in Saudi Arabia, and the Dubai Baja. Two scenarios that will not only decide the championships of the championship, but will serve in many cases as training in a competitive environment to prepare for the Dakar in 2023.