Russia will meet all the requirements and expectations necessary to gain a place in the World Rally Championship in 2010, organisers have said, following the successful running of their first candidate event🔯 last weekend.

The Novorossiysk Rally of Russia 2008, which🔥 was won by Alexander Zheludov, attracted 47 entrants and comprised 225 competitiveꦫ kilometres, run in mountain areas on the coast of the Black Sea.

While a number💛 of competitors had problems, Sergey Uspenskiy, chairman of the Novorossiysk Rally of Russia and first vice president of the RAF, maintained that the twelve stages were well up to WꦰRC standard.

"Compared ꦰto the WRC rounds the roads here were completely smooth, so the problems many crews experienced were connected with the level of th📖eir preparations," he explained. "I'd say that many of our drivers are just not ready for such a difficult route.

"The roughness of roads we witnessed was somewhere below average level for world rallies, so the roads were in a perfect condi✨tion. Those who want to compete at the world level must understand that this rall๊y isn't anywhere near as tough as some of the legendary WRC events.

"Still we put huge efforts in🎐to the route's preparation. For example, we useꦡd about 300 tones of gravel to prepare only one special stage - Neberdzhay - and the FIA's observers were pleasantly surprised with the way we had approached the organisation of the rally.

"We have two more yea🍒rs to prove we deserve a place in the WRC calend𒉰ar, and we're confident we can make this event even better and meet all the requirements and expectations."

Zheludov meanwhile was absolutely delighted to t♐ake the victory in his Tommi Makinen Racing-built Subaru Impreza N12 as it allowed him to clinch t🦋he Russian Rally title for the second time.

In tꦉhe end he finished around seven minutes up on Sergey Naryshkin's Ford Fiesta ST, while Mikhail Milov came in third.

"We were one of only a few crews to go the distance without using the SupeRally on this difficult event," he said following his fourth win of the year and his third in a row. "There is no point talking of what could have been had our rivals stayed in the fight. They fa♔iled to preserve their cars and make it to the finish, while we did and succeeded. Ou🐈r victory is deserved."