All fans who have already bought rally passes for Rally Liepāja should remember that these will be valid in the event taking place in September, and will let you access all the stages of the rally. However, if the rally pass holders already have other plans for the new Rally Liepāja dates, it is possible to return these rally passes until March 31, 2016 and get a full refund. In that case, please have a look at the return terms on www.lvrally.com!

“I am pleased to say that both FIA and the championship organisers Eurosport Events were extremely helpful and we managed to work together to find a new date for Rally Liepāja, which, regardless of the weather, will make it possible to organise a safe and top quality European Championship round in Latvia.

Until now, Rally Liepāja had been planned as the only winter event of the championship, and the lone event where crews would use studded tyres, but I am absolutely certain that the Kurzeme region roads will be a unique and great challenge for the best European rally drivers in the autumn as well. I also hope that the spectators will enjoy the new date, as seeing the top R5 cars fly through the gravel stages will be a new, and highly anticipated, sight!

Rally Liepāja will also retain its important role in the ever more popular ERC Junior Championship – originally set to be the opening round in the championship, the event based in Liepāja and Kuldīga regions will now be the final round, surely providing a lot of exciting moments in the front wheel drive R2 class as well. It is important to note that the last season runners-up in the championship were Latvians Ralfs Sirmacis / Artūrs Šimins – representing Sports Racing Technologies team, and this year they will be driving an all-wheel drive Škoda Fabia R5!” Rally Liepāja organiser, RA Events director Raimonds Strokšs.

“We are very pleased to communicate a new date for Rally Liepāja and we thank the members of the FIA Rally Commission for their assistance. Rally Liepaja is a loyal partner of ERC since Eurosport Events took over the promotion of championship in 2013. Among the last 3 years, the rally organisers have developed the event with his own identity of winter rally in total accordance with the ERC standards. Considered as a real good training for WRC Sweden, they have also opened the ERC Junior season in the last two years. A real success story which now places Rally Liepaja as a key event of the ERC.

Finding a free slot in the current calendar was not an easy exercise, as we needed to avoid any clashes with WRC events and maintain enough time for logistics between one event and the next. This rescheduling has allowed us to keep a perfect balance between gravel and asphalt events – which is a key asset of the ERC – and to ensure that we can run an unchanged six-round schedule in the well-known ERC Junior Championship. By announcing the new date as quickly as possible, we hope it will give teams and crews sufficient time to make the necessary arrangements and also allow fans to start planning for the rally weekend!” FIA European Rally Championship co-ordinator Jean-Baptiste Ley.

All the news and other information about Rally Liepāja is available on the official website www.lvrally.com and on social media Twitter @LVRally, Facebook /LVRally, YouTube /RallyLiepāja and Instagram /lvrally.

FIA European Rally Championship round Rally Liepāja is possible thanks to the support of the Latvian government and the rally city of Liepāja. We would also like to thank our sponsors Neste Oil, NPK Expert, Blue Shock Race, Vivus.lv, our partner Kuldīga city, as well as supporters Baltijas Helikopters, Canon ibServiss Rīga, Castrol, Liepājas Olimpiskais Centrs and SweCon. Informative support is provided by the official news portal DELFI and media partners StarFM, FHM, Go4Speed, JCDecaux, Kurzemes Radio and Zebra. Rally Liepāja would also not be possible without our rally friends: Dardedze, FN Serviss, Guard Systems, Holography, Jānis Pūce, N&J, Liepājas Datoru Centrs, Ramirent, Red Bull, SignTech, Skrīveru Saldumi, Venden and Törley. A special thank you goes out to the Latvian Automobile Federation.

Jānis Unbedahts. Photo: fiaerc.com