Similarly to Saturday, day two of the event was also sunny and warm. Rally Latvija competitors tackled two 20.06 km long gravel stages in Tukums region in the morning, followed by Jūrmala city stages SS10/11 Jurmala City Special and a parallel stage, SS12 Bikernieki Parallel Stage – Conti STL, which took place on tarmac.

In the most powerful all-wheel drive class, LRČ, Kalle Rovanperä (Škoda Fabia R5, co-driven by Risto Pietiläinen) demonstrated a quick and consistent pace, leaving no chance for victory to other crews. The talented Finnish driver was fastest on all five of Sunday’s stages.

“The gravel stages were fantastic, and had multiple challenging spots. However, I enjoy the asphalt stages a bit more. City stages were quite difficult, we were barely able to set the fastest times through there. We managed to avoid large mistakes, however I would have wanted to win every single stage of the rally,” admits Kalle Rovanperä.

Having sorted most, but not all the issues that plagued the car on Saturday, the experienced Jānis Vorobjovs (Mitsubishi Mirage R5, co-driven by Ivo Pūķis) finished in a safe second position, one minute and 34.18 seconds behind Rovanperä. Getting their best finish of the season in the Latvian Rally Championship, Jānis Berķis (Ford Fiesta R5, co-driven by Edgars Čeporjus) concluded Rally Latvija in third place.

“We made a few errors early on, and had to slow down and restart the car on SS9, losing some time. In the finish of Kauguri stage, we nearly turned right a bit too early, and the engine oil overheated on the last stage, but we are at the finish. Overall, this was a very good rally! Lots of driving on asphalt, but the gravel stages were also fantastic. A great weekend! The age of Kalle does not show the full picture – he has done a lot of test kilometres, and is likely a future World Champion,” says Jānis Vorobjovs.

“We gained some valuable experience, and did not try to go for the best possible result in Jūrmala city stages, instead choosing to save our tyres. We should have driven a bit faster from the very beginning – only once we put the throttle all the way down it is possible to see where we stand compared to others. We will try to keep this in mind for the next rally and go flat out from the first stage. The ending was a bit tough, but the result was good and we had no issues, apart from sliding into the grass a few times on day one. I would like to commend Jānis Krastiņš for an exciting last stage and an intriguing pairing of drivers,” adds Jānis Berķis.

Despite not doing so well on the gravel stages, LRČ2 class was won by Jēkabpils native Reinis Nitišs (Mitsubishi Evo IX), who was co-driven by Māris Neikšāns and showed great pace on asphalt. Alexander Mikhaylov (Mitsubishi Evo X, co-driven by Normunds Kokins, +1 minute and 16.67 seconds) was second, and Alexander Gorelov (Mitsubishi Evo X, co-driven by Igor Skuridin, +1 minute and 30.33 seconds) finished third.

“We did well in Tukums. In the first run through, the roads were quite dirty and we had to sweep them from rocks. On the second pass, the road was much cleaner and the speeds increased a lot. The driving was more precise, but I still have some work to do on this front. There was one scary moment, but I managed to keep the car on the road. If everything had gone smoothly without any moments, it would have meant that I was not going fast enough. Overall, I learned a lot in Rally Latvija, but there is still a ton of things to improve on, especially on gravel. I tried to battle drivers from other classes as well, and am always interested in how the overall classification plays out!” Reinis Nitišs is happy with his victory in LRČ2 class.

In LRČ3, last year’s champion Mārtiņš Sesks (Peugeot 208 R2, co-driven by Andris Mālnieks) managed to regain the lead and come away with a victory, beating the overnight leader, Oliver Solberg (Peugeot 208 R2, co-driven by Veronica Gulbaek Engan), despite the Norwegian winning the last two stages. Battle for third place went down to the wire, with Daņila Belokoņs (Ford Fiesta R2T, co-driven by Toms Freibergs) and Jonas Pipiras (Ford Fiesta R2T, co-driven by Aisvydas Paliukenas) being separated by just 1.81 second before the last stage. Unfortunately, the Lithuanians had to retire due to a technical issue.

“At first, we had some issues with dust getting into the car. We had a much better run through the gravel stage on the second pass. For some reason, we did not have the necessary confidence in the morning. When we got out to a lead, there was more to lose than to gain, so we drove cautiously. There was no point in going all out, even though seeing a competitor right next to you at the parallel stage sure gives an additional adrenaline rush. Oliver ran into the tires twice, so our cautious driving paid off, if not in the results, then in the way the car looked after the finish. There were things that I did not do as well as I should have, and there are a few technical things that we can still work on. Lots of things can be taken from this rally to learn and further improve my knowledge,” admits Liepāja native Mārtiņš Sesks.

In RK1, the overnight leader Ričards Vīksna (Honda Civic Type-R, co-driven by Dzintars Ermansons) retired due to a radiator problem, which paved the way to victory for Arvis Vecvagars / Gints Gaiķis (Renault Clio). RK2 was won by Edgars Balodis / Inese Akmentiņa (Mitsubishi Evo VIII).

In the team classification, Rally Latvija was won by Vorobjovs Racing (37 points), followed by Neiksans Rally Sport (27), and TGS Worldwide (25).

Kalle Rovanperä won not only the Latvian Rally Championship round, but was also fastest in the third round of the FIA Baltic Rally Trophy, which was contested by most of the top drivers in the overall classification, including Jānis Vorobjovs and Jānis Berķis. Last two rounds of the FIA Baltic Rally Trophy will take place in Lithuania – Lakes Rally Rokiškis from August 3 to 5, and DHL Rally Elektrenai from September 8 to 9.

The leading Historic Rally Latvija crews demonstrated a consistent pace throughout the day. Ivars Velme (Audi Quattro A2, co-driven by Andris Velme) won all stages on day two, increasing his lead to 4 minutes and 34.50 seconds. “Best of the rest” right until the last stage was Karl Martin Volver (Fiat 124 B, co-driven by Ralfs Igaveņš), but he lost a lot of time due to a technical issue, which promoted last year’s winner, Alari Sillaste (AZLK 2140, co-driven by Arvo Liimann), to second place, with Gintars Ozoliņš (Toyota Corolla, co-driven by Kārlis Roziņš) finishing third.

“Our largest issue of the day was having to do the Jūrmala stages with the car out of alignment, after going slightly off track in the Tukums stages, but it was nothing serious. We continued to fight and successfully reached the finish,” Ivars Velme is happy after finishing Historic Rally Latvija.

Minirally Latvija also took place today, with 50 crews taking part. They had to tackle four stages in Biķernieki, followed by the Jūrmala city stage, to determine the winners in six classes. Valts Zvaigzne / Mārtiņš Ozoliņš (Subaru Impreza) were the fastest in overall classification.

All event results are available on the official website of the Latvian Rally Championship at http://autorally.lv, but Minirally Latvija results are on http://4rati.lv.

Rally Latvija would like to thank its partner, Jūrmala City Council, for their support in organizing a Latvian Rally Championship event, and would also like to thank sponsor Conti STL. Gratitude also goes out to Autobrava, Drift, Hydroscand, and Prodex, as well as supporters Biķernieki track, Canon, Maestri, Prodex, and Ramirent. Informative support is provided by TVNET, Tavs Auto, and RA Events.

More information and the results can be found on the official website of the Latvian Rally Championship at http://autorally.lv/, as well as on social media - Twitter, facebook, and YouTube.

Jānis Unbedahts, RA EVENTS. Photo: Raimonds Volonts.