"Rally Talsi 2016" Video Žurnāls 1/5

Lithuanians Samsonas / Varža first to choose Rally Talsi starting position

Today, the fiftieth anniversary of Rally Talsi, the Latvian and Lithuanian Rally Championship round, began with the qualification stage. Among twenty five participants, the fastest time was set by the Lithuanian crew of Martynas Samsonas / Mindaugas Varža, who are driving an all-wheel drive BMW M3X. The second quickest time was set by the crew of talented Finn Kalle Rovanpera, while Latvians Raimonds Kisiels / Arnis Ronis were third fastest.

On the start line – Rally Talsi 50

Today, the fiftieth anniversary of Rally Talsi, a Latvian and Lithuanian Rally Championship round, begins with the qualifying. A total of 59 crews from seven countries have registered for the event, in addition to 32 crews that will compete in the historic car regularity rally Youngtimer Rally Talsi. Stages will be run on Saturday and Sunday, May 21 and 22, when we will find out not only the overall winner of Rally Talsi, but also the winner of the Champions Cup, which will be decided between four champions this year – Latvians Vorobjovs and Lielkājis, Lithuanian Švedas and Belarussian Viazovich.

Vorobjovs, Švedas, Lielkājis, or Viazovich: who will take home the Champions Cup?

The fiftieth anniversary of Rally Talsi will, as usual, also contain a special something for the fans – the Rally of Champions, or the battle for the Champions Cup. This year, we will have four current champions competing against each other: Latvian rally champion Guntis Lielkājis, Lithuanian rally champions Jānis Vorobjovs and Vytautas Švedas, as well as Belarussian rally champion Siarhei Viazovich. Rally of Champions has been a part of Rally Talsi since 2009, and it is a battle for the Champions Challenge Cup, which is awarded to the fastest champion.

Youngtimer cars to take part in Rally Talsi

On May 21, first day of the fiftieth anniversary Rally Talsi, the historic Youngtimer class cars will tackle the stages, competing in a regularity rally. A maximum of 33 historic cars will go through the Saturday’s rally stages two hours before the rally cars, and will do each stage twice.

Rallycross talents Baumanis and Nitišs to show off supercars on Talsi streets

Rally Talsi route will lead through the narrow streets of Talsi this year, with day one of the fiftieth anniversary of the event containing a special present from the two Latvian FIA World Rallycross Championship drivers – Jānis Baumanis and Reinis Nitišs. The young rallycross stars will take part in a Neste World RX of Latvia demonstration showcase, going through the city special stage twice and showing the technical capabilities of all-wheel drive Supercar class vehicles to the local fans.