A total of twenty five crews took part in the 3.90 km long qualification stage and, in accordance with the posted times, the fourteen fastest among them will choose their starting position for the first leg of the rally, with the selection taking place during the Rally Talsi opening ceremony. This means that Samsonas will be the first to choose his starting position, and Jānis Vorobjovs will be the last one to do so.

The eleven crews who did not qualify for the start position selection will start Saturday’s stages in the order they finished in the qualification stage, with the quickest crew being fifteenth on the road.

„Setting the quickest time was a bit of a surprise for us as well, as we did not specifically prepare for the qualification stage. In addition to that, the stage was short, so it was very important to not make any mistakes, since you would not be able to make up the lost time. We are very happy it turned out like this and that we will be the first to choose our starting position, deciding between any spot from first to fourteenth.

As for the rally itself, everything is great. The recce is going according to plan and our rally car has no issues. All we need to figure out now is which start position to choose – hopefully we will make the right choice!” says Martynas Samsonas.

Be a responsible spectator! Rally Talsi organizer 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.

SATURDAY, MAY 21>

14:00 Opening ceremony, start position selection, official addresses
15:00 Rally Talsi ceremonial start, interviews with the crews
16:00 SS1 TALCE / SC GRUPA 1
16:19 SS2 TALCE / SC GRUPA 2
18:00 SS3 NESTE 1
18:15 SS4 NESTE 2
19:15 Neste World RX of Latvia demo, featuring Jānis Baumanis and Reinis Nitišs
19:34 SS5 TALSI CITY SPECIAL 1 – city special stage
19:49 SS6 TALSI CITY SPECIAL 2 – city special stage

SUNDAY, MAY 22>

09:45 SS7 KURZEMES RADIO
10:15 SS8 DELFI
12:00 SS9 NIEDRĀJI MR MEŽISTRĀDE
13:00 SS10 CVS PARALLEL STAGE
15:00 SS11 NISSAN NORDE
16:00 Rally finish, interviews with the crews
17:45 Awards ceremony and presenting of the Champions Cup

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.

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