First six stages of Rally Talsi, with a total stage distance of 49.88 km, were done today in warm and sunny weather. Even though Martynas Samsonas set the quickest time in all six of Saturday’s stages (and also won the qualification stage on Friday), it turned out that he had arrived at a time control one minute early, for which he received a one minute penalty, dropping him down to fifth place overall, 27.08 seconds behind the leader.

With that, Finnish driver Kalle Rovanpera moved into the overnight lead, having been in a close battle with the experienced Lithuanian Vytautas Švedas throughout the day, with the drivers switching places in the standings twice, and concluding Saturday just 1.06 seconds apart. Vytautas Švedas is also the current leader in the battle for the travelling Champions Cup, having a 24.34 second advantage over Jānis Vorobjovs, who is the fastest Latvian driver after leg one.

“This was a fantastic day, we did everything right – drove through the stages cleanly and without any mistakes! The car is good, and we do not have any technical issues to worry about before Sunday. As for the result, I currently do not have any idea how it will go – we will be first on the road tomorrow, and everybody knows that it is not the best start position on gravel rallies!” Rovanpera is cautious after leg one.

“We had an issue with the turbo during Friday’s qualification stage and, only thanks to the great organization of this event and the work of the Clerk of the Course, we could start today from a higher position than would be deserved with our result! Even though we were lacking a bit of speed in the beginning of the day, I am very happy with how the last few stages went. Considering everything that has taken place, this is the best result we could have hoped for today. On Sunday, overall classification will be on our mind first and foremost, with Champions Cup coming after that – however, if we manage to do well on the first objective, the second one should also be completed!” says Vytautas Švedas.

Historic Yountrimer class cars competed in a regularity rally on Saturday, with their event being part of Rally Talsi for the third straight year. These historic cars also drove six stages and, after reaching the finish, the most precise crew turned out to be Lithuanians Karolis Raišys / Vytautas Černiauskas, with second place going to Latvians Normunds Kalvāns / Ingus Mikuda, and third place to another Latvian crew of Jānis Kundziņš / Andris Pāpe.

Be a responsible rally 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.

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