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„BTA Rally Talsi” Competition of Champions Continues Also in 2010

2010-04-08 15:53
Viesturs Kundziņš
"RA Motosport" press secretary

For the second year in a row „BTA Rally Talsi” can deservedly be called the Rally of Champions as also this year the organizers have promised to spectators exciting competition between the actual N4 class champions of 2009 from the neighboring countries, thus the question in this relation remains the same — will Latvians outrival the guest rally stars?

The strongest competitor of the local drivers can be considered the Norwegian N4 class champion Andreas Mikkelsen, who is a trainee of Marcus Grönholm and deservedly is considered to be one of the most talented new drivers. The twenty-year-old Norwegian sportsman has already participated in 17 stages of the World Rally Championship with a WRC class car, and he is the youngest WRC pilot so far having gained points in the World Championship. In Talsi it will be possible to see Mikkelsen driving a N4 class Subaru Impreza of 2010.

Participation in the competition has been notified also by the fastest Swedish N4 class driver Jocke Nyman, who, like the Norwegian champion, is young, very fast and talented driver. Nymen has been engaged in different types of autosports since childhood; he became interested in rally at the age of 19 and afterwards achieved considerable results and obtained the title of the Swedish Rally Champion.

Last year in Talsi Lithuania was represented by a well-known Lithuanian driver in Latvia — Vytautas Švedas, however after a fierce competition in the local Championship he did not manage to safeguard the title of a champion. For that reason this year in “BTA Rally Talsi” Rally of Champions behind the start line will stand Ramūnas Čapkauskas with the steersman Tomas Šipkauskas. Čapkauskas is a well known sportsman not only to the rally spectators, but also to the circuit competition admirers, as for several year he has gained good results in the competition Baltic Formula.

For the second year in a row in Talsi honor of Latvia will be defended by the quintuple Latvian champions Aivis Egle and Mārtiņš Jerums, who in 2009 managed to defeat all the titular foreign guests. Although for local drivers the most important aim is to collect the Latvian Rally Championship points, competition with the neighboring champions will be a big challenge for drivers themselves and an intrigue for the rally spectators.

Participation in “BTA Rally Talsi” is actively negotiated also with the Estonian N4 group champion, the trainee of Marko Martin, — Ott Tänak, who last year finished only 3,83 seconds behind Aivis Egle.

“Already now we can promise to the spectators that the competition along the roads of Talsi neighborhood will be exciting indeed, however we continue active work in order to attract as much strong sportsman as possible. All drivers are united with the desire to compare their strengths with the fastest drivers of other countries in one the of most interesting tracks of Latvia”, says the organizer of the competition Raimonds Strokšs.

„BTA Rally Talsi” will be held on 15th and 16th May in Talsi and the Talsi neighborhood. „BTA Rally Talsi” is the 3rd stage of the Latvian Rally Championship and the 1st stage of the newly established Baltic Rally Championship. The general sponsor of the rally is the Insurance Company BTA. Sponsors: Lakalme, Swecon and Dardedzes hologrāfija; supporters: Talsi County Council, Petrol Station „Talsu autotransports” and Petrol Station „Sumata”; informative supporters: TV6, Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze, StarFM, sportacentrs.com, 4rati, draugiem.lv, Talsu Vēstis, www.whatcar.lv and FHM.

Further information about the event can be retrieved from the official web page of the rally www.rallytalsi.lv.