Seventy crews from 25 countries have already applied to participate in the Silk Way truck and 4x4 rally to be held in Russia, the project's organizer said on Thursday.
The rally, to be held for the second time, will be a good test for many participants who are planning to compete at the 2011 Dakar Rally in South America, Semyon Yakubov said.
Participants in the 4,813-km (almost 3,000-mile) rally will set off on September 11 in Russia's second city of St. Petersburg and finish in the Black sea resort city of Sochi, the host of the 2014 Winter Olympics, on September 18.
Almost all the participants in last year's rally and serious contenders at the 2010 Dakar Rally will take part in the race, Yakubov said. Seven or eight Russia-produced KAMAZ trucks are expected to participate in the rally, he said.
"It is very difficult to find such a combination of landscapes in Africa, South America, or anywhere else we have participated," the organizer said.
"If they are attentive, they will not lose their way. But if they get distracted for even a minute, it will be very difficult to find the road," he said.
Last year's Silk Way rally ran through Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
