This weekend, we will see the fifteen year old Finnish talent Kalle Rovanpera (son of the legendary rally driver Harri Rovanpera) tackle the Rally Talsi stages, competing with the fastest Latvian and Lithuanian rally drivers. We will also see two Škoda Fabia R5 cars, driven by Latvian Raimonds Kisiels and Lithuanian Martynas Samuitis.

Rally Talsi will also be an opportunity to see drivers who have not been seen in rallying for some time. Among them is Latvian rally champion Aivis Egle, who last competed two years ago, right here in Talsi. Vasily Gryazin is also preparing for the event, with this being his first event after a car crash and the following rehabilitation process. Gryazin will be driving a Sports Racing Technologies prepared Baltic Open class car. Talsi native, RA EVENTS director and organiser of the rally Raimonds Strokšs will also be competing this year, marking a return to the Talsi stages after a significant break – he last raced here all the way back in 2008!

Qualification stage and start position selection

Rally Talsi will be using a system previously seen in the World Rally Championship and European Rally Championship by organizing a qualification stage, followed by start position selection. The 3.90 km long stage will take place on Friday, May 21, with 26 all-wheel drive cars taking part, having been chosen based on the lowest start number. Each of the crews will go through the stage once, and the 14 quickest will be able to choose their start position during the Rally Talsi opening ceremony.

World Rallycross Championship talents – Jānis Baumanis and Reinis Nitišs

The Rally Talsi route will once again lead the crews through the narrow city streets, where the Latvian FIA World Rallycross Championship drivers – Jānis Baumanis and Reinis Nitišs – have prepared a great gift for the Rally Talsi fiftieth anniversary. On day one of the event, they will take part in the Neste World RX of Latvia demonstration showcase, going through the city special stage starting from 19:15 and doing so twice each, while showing the full technical capabilities of all-wheel drive Supercar class rallycross cars to the spectators.

Stage maps

In collaboration with Nissan Norde, who will provide the official car of Rally Talsi, it is also possible to receive the Rally Talsi stage maps free of charge in all the ticket sale locations in Talsi, Rīga and other cities in Latvia. The leaflets list all the spectator areas for the stages with the pacenotes along those areas, and other useful information! These A5 size leaflets will also be available at the location of the opening ceremony and at the entrance of stages. It is possible to download the stage maps in PDF format from the official website of the rally at www.rallytalsi.lv, where you will also be able to view them in Google Maps.

Opening ceremony

Both the opening and awards ceremony will take place next to the Talsi region administrative centre. There, in a large territory, rally fans will be able to see not only the modern rally cars and historic regularity rally cars, but also listen in on interviews with the crews and watch them leave for the first special stage. A special entertainment programme will also be available to the youngest rally fans – there will be inflatable attractions, creative workshops and skilled artists who will be able to draw anything imaginable on the young faces. It will also be possible to take a picture together with the anti-littering superhero Cūkmens!

Live broadcasts on Talsu TV and Re:TV

The fiftieth anniversary rally will also be widely accessible through various media outlets. Rally opening ceremony will be broadcast live on Talsu TV and Re:TV. Rally Talsi will show up on TV screens on Saturday, starting with the Youngtimer Rally Talsi cars at 13:00, followed by the opening ceremony at 14:00, and the first rally cars crossing the ceremonial start from 15:00. The rally will return to the TV screens on Sunday, when fans will be able to follow SS10 from 13:00 to 14:00, with the crews competing on a parallel stage!

Kurzemes Radio reports from the stages

If your radio is tuned in to Kurzemes Radio, you will be able to follow all the Rally Talsi news on Saturday and Sunday. Andris Grīnvalds will be leading the rally radio studio, assisted by correspondents Viesturs Saukāns and Kristaps Bērziņš. Kurzemes Radio is broadcast at 106,4 MHz in the Talsi region, but it is also available elsewhere in Latvia and online at www.kurzemesradio.lv.

Be a responsible spectator

Rally Talsi organizer RA EVENTS would like to remind spectators that motorsports events can be dangerous, and your safety is wholly dependent on your own behaviour at the special stages. We would like to urge spectators to watch the rally from the specially designed spectator areas, where the organizer has made sure to limit the possible danger as much as possible. The event organizer cannot take responsibility for safety of the spectators outside of the spectator areas.

Tickets to Rally Talsi are already available, with a single rally pass price of 15.00 EUR. It is advised to buy the tickets before leaving for the first stage, which will save you some time so that you do not miss any action. Spectators who buy a rally pass to attend all the stages will also receive a souvenir – a lanyard with the Rally Talsi 50 year anniversary logo!

Rally Talsi would not be possible without our supporters, so we would like to thank the rally city of nine hillocks – Talsi, sponsors Neste and Talce / SC Grupa, as well as Nissan Norde, who provide the official car of Rally Talsi. We would also like to thank our supporters – Canon IB Serviss, Krauzers, Lakalme, Ramirent and Swecon. Thanks to our media partners Delfi, Kurzemes Radio, Go4Speed, Talsu Vēstis, FHM, Zebra, Talsu Televīzija and What Car?, for informative support. The event would also not be possible without our rally friends – Alfa SLS, Castrol, Dardedze Hologrāfija, easyshop.lv, ecoRent, FN Serviss, Ingrid D., Niedrāji MR, Red Bull, RMS Group, Skrīveru Saldumi, Torley, Venden and the Latvian Automobile Federation.

More information about Rally Talsi: www.rallytalsi.lv and http://autorally.lv. In addition to that, news and other information about Rally Talsi is available on social media Twitter @RallyTalsi, Facebook /RallyTalsi, Draugiem.lv /RallyTalsi and YouTube /RallyTalsi.

Jānis Unbedahts, Media secretary, RA EVENTS. Photo: GO4SPEED.LV