A total of 78 crews will contest Rally Talsi, representing eight countries – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Russia, Great Britain, Poland and Finland. Four of these crews will battle for the prestigious Champions Cup – the aforementioned Vorobjovs, as well as Kaspar Koitla / Andres Ots (starting number 4), Ramunas Čapkauskas / Tomas Šipkauskas (#5) and Sergey Viazovich / Yury Sploshnoy (#23).

With the fifteenth start number, for the first time in a few years, we will also see Ivars Vasaraudzis tackling the stages, co-driven by the Latvian ice-hockey player Oskars Bārtulis. Haralds Šlēgelmilhs will be twenty sixth on the road, with his car’s livery dedicated to the Latvian 1836 fund, promoting travel within Latvia.

The front wheel drive LRC3 group is extremely well represented this year, with 29 entries. Estonians Karl Martin Volver / Margus Jõerand are the highest starting LRC3 crew (#17), followed by Latvians Ralfs Sirmacis / Artūrs Šimins (#18) and Finns Jari Huttunen / Antti Linnaketo (#19). Interestingly, each of these crews will be driving a different car. Estonians will be driving a Peugeot 208 R2, while the Latvians will compete in a Ford Fiesta R2 and the Finns in a Citroën C2R2.

More information about Rally Talsi: www.rallytalsi.lv.

We would also like to remind that Rally Talsi is the fourth round of the Latvian Rally Championship and will take place on May 16 and 17. As mentioned previously, Rally Talsi will be an international event this year, also hosting the Lithuanian Rally Championship, Northern European Zone (NEZ) Rally Championship and NEZ Junior Rally Championship events. On May 16, about two hours before the rally cars, the historic Youngtimer cars will also tackle the rally stages, competing in a regularity rally.

Rally Talsi would not be possible without the support of our partners. We would like to thank the rally city of Talsi, companion Latvijas Dzelzceļš, sponsors Neste Oil and Talce / SC Grupa, as well as the official car from Nissan Norde. A large thank you also goes out to our supporters – Canon, Krauzers, Lakalme, Latauto.lv, Ramirent, Rudus and SweCon. Media support is possible thanks to Delfi, Talsu Vēstis, Star FM, Top Gear Latvija, Go4Speed, Kurzemes Radio and Ātruma Cilts. Support from our rally friends at Dardedze Hologrāfija, ecoRent, FN Serviss and Torley was also important, as is the support from the Latvian Automobile Federation.

Jānis Unbedahts, RA EVENTS. PhFoto: Go4Speed.lv