Story: Liga Stirna
Pictures: Kriss Karnitis
Round Three of the Latvian Rally Championship, the BTA Rally Talsi 2010 held this past weekend, proved to be a real thriller when crews had to cope with all nature’s elements – sun, dust, heavy downpours and mud – and, not to mention, their rival crews.
Rally Talsi is one of oldest events in Latvia, and was formerly held when the country was under Soviet rule and this rally now has a 30-year history. This event carries its name from the small northwestern Latvian town, Talsi. Last year this rally was organized by a new committee who introduced new and fresh concepts that was carried over to this year’s running. Billed as the Champions’ Race, the organisers invited Class N4 national champions from neighbouring countries to compete with the best Latvian crews. This year the entry list included Norwegian champion Andreas Mikkelsen, Swedish champion Joakin Nyman, Lithuanian champion Ramunas Chapkauskas and, of course, Latvian champion Aivis Egle. Interestingly, all Class N4 competitors pilot the mighty Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution models.
The Springtime weather in Latvia is unpredictable: SS1 saw sun and dust; SS2 was blighted by a thunderstorm. On Day Two of the event, the weather was pleasant and sunny, but the rally action was fierce.
This rally’s stages are fast, but the gravel is soft and soon big stones and deep ruts form immediately after the first few cars have passed through.
Proving too arduous for Mikkelsen’s car, after only six stages his gearbox started suffering from problems. Mikkelsen struggled through six stages, before retiring while in sixth place in Class N4. Mikkelsen is now turning his attention to the IRC, he used this event to familiarise himself with the tyres before he heads to Sardinia next month.
The same technical problem forced Lithuanian champion Ramunas Chapkauskas to retire; in the service park, he decided to preserve his car’s gearbox and retired from the event.
With a strong lead this “Champions Race” was Aivis Egle while Joakim Nyman was in place place.
The final stage of the rally was 36,66km-long: a real test for the car, driver and co-driver. Before this last stage, just 2,5ssec separated the fastest Class N4 cars: Aivis Egle and Andis Neiksans were poised for a battle royal to claim the Class N4 win. In an all-or-nothing manner, Egle suffered a puncture to lose more than nine minutes in this final stage and gifted Andis Neiksans the class win. Egle was understandably disappointed. The overall winner of BTA Rally Talsi 2010 was Ivars Vasaraudzis in a Mitsubishi Lancer WRC.
Here is a YouTube video link to the BTA Rally Talsi 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDpi4xN_SpY
Overall Classification:
01) I. Vasaraudzis/P. Spredzis
Mitsubishi Lancer WRC – 50m 07,35s
02) A. Neiksans/P. Dzirkals
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX + 01m 50,17s
03) M. Neiksans/R. Jansons
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX + 02m 07,22s
04) J. Feldmanis/Anrijs Jesse
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X + 02m 23,29s
05) R. Kisiels/G. Panavs
Mitsubishi Lancer WRC + 02m 24,19s
06) V. Svedas/Z. Sakalauskas
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX + 03m 19,76s
07) J. Nyman/B. Holmstrand
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX + 03m 36,21s
08) R. Lipeikis/I. Lipeikyte
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII + 03m 40,24s
09) J. Ducis/G. Kampe
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX + 03m 46,44s
10) R. Jeets/A. Toom
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo + 03m 49,71s