The 2020 Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race takes place this weekend with 46 crews to battle it out for the new Motorsport Australia Off Road West Australian Cup.

Taking place around 590km from Perth in the renowned rural town Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the popular event will see crews tackle 390 competitive kilometres in tough conditions over two days of action.

Lasting 130km, crews will undergo three laps of the unforgiving course, which features a mix of clay, dirt, rock, gravel and sand, making it one of the toughest events in Australia and on the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC) calendar.

As a result of the AORC being cancelled for 2020, the Motorsport Australia Off Road West Australian Cup was created as a way to keep participating crews part of the national competition, as well as give crews outside Western Australia another insight into one of the championship’s newest events.

Victory for the fastest crew on the weekend won’t just mean points in the Motorsport Australia WA Off Road Championship (WAORC) and the honour of winning the brutal race, it also gives them free entry into an AORC round of their choosing in 2021, except for the prestigious Tatts Finke Desert Race.

Out of the 46 crews entered for this weekend, there would be a few confident of taking out maximum points in the event, including AORC star Beau Robinson who has won two of the past three events.

Both crews have come close to victory in recent years and podium finishes and this year, they will be once again in the running to knock Robinson off his perch and grab that long awaited victory.

Click here to view the entry list.

Another driver who will enter the round with a lot of confidence will be Jake Clucas.

The Prolite driver took out his first ever victory at September’s Inland Mechanical Three Springs 360 and finished outright third in the GTurbo Rod Hatter Memorial Perenjori 360 earlier this year.

Having been the only driver to finish both WAORC events on the podium this year, Clucas is also on track to claim the state title, and a solid result in Kalgoorlie, an event he finished fifth in 2017, will put him in good stead to do so.

Kicking off this year’s event will be Thursday evening’s Northern Star Resources KDR Street Party at Centennial Park where crews and their vehicles will be on display, as well as plenty of entertainment.

The action then gets underway on Saturday morning after Friday’s scrutineering session with Prologue at 7am AWST, before the first section runs later on Saturday morning. Crews will then take on both section two and three on Sunday.

Fans around the country can stay up to date with the event via its Facebook page here.

The Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race takes place in Kalgoorlie-Boulder on 22-26 October.