Carlos Sainz, the fourth Peugeot driver for next year’s Dakar, will contest Baja Aragon at the end of the month.

Silk Way starts from Moscow’s Red Square on Friday and finishes and finishes in Beijing 16 days later. Crews will face a 6,670-mile route, of which 2,550 will be against the clock in 15 stages through Russia, Kazakhstan and China.

Loeb sensationally led the Dakar on his debut for much of the first week in January but said Silk Way will help him and co-driver Daniel Elena work on some of the areas where they struggled.

“Silk Way will be the big challenge for Daniel and I,” Loeb said. “We are still working for the way in things like the navigation and how to drive in certain conditions. It’s going to be a long road, but it’s what we need to help us be ready for Dakar next year.”

Peugeot’s main Dakar rival X-raid is also contesting Silk Way with a team of its Minis. Its line-up is led by Harry Hunt, who finished 10th on his Dakar debut this year, and World Rally Championship regular Yazeed Al-Rahji.

Loeb heads to Russia fresh from equalling the best result of his World Rallycross Championship career so far with second behind Hoonigan Ford driver Andreas Bakkerud at Holjes in Sweden last weekend.

First published on Autosport.com

Republished on Racer