Rally Liepāja will take place on February 6-8, 2015, which is a week later than in the past years. This change enables the Latvian ERC event to fit into the international race calendar for the 2015 season and was done because of the changes in the FIA World rally championship (WRC) calendar. The first two events of the 2015 WRC season – Monte Carlo (January 22-25) and Sweden (February 12-15) – will also take place a week later than in 2014.

ERC will have multiple changes next season, mainly to make the championship more affordable and attractive for the competitors. The most important of these was the decision by the organizer, Eurosport Events, to limit the number of events to ten in the upcoming season, down from twelve in 2014. In order to make these events more attainable for the competitors, the maximum stage distance has also been decreased to 230 km per event. In addition to that, there are new limitations on the number of test sessions permitted and a stricter limit on the number of tires to be used in an event. Eurosport Events hope that these changes will help increase the number of participants in each event, therefore making the races more interesting for the spectators as well.

Rally Liepāja is also a part of the Latvian rally championship (LRC) and the fastest local drivers will have to put in a lot of effort to be successful in the race, as each day of the two day rally counts as a separate event in the LRC calendar.

“I am very excited for the opportunity to keep working with my team and for the third year host the event in the city of wind Liepāja and add to the long rally tradition of this beautiful city. This year, we have planned to push another step forward in making the rally more challenging for the competitors while making it even better for spectators.

Hand-in-hand with Liepāja we have a tough challenge in front of us – we are planning to finish the rally with a super special city stage taking place in the Rally City. This is a very ambitious plan and there is still a lot of work to be done, but I am confident in the knowledge and abilities of my team and, together with the city of Liepāja and their experience with hosting rallies in the past, we will make this idea a reality and have a fantastic ending to the event in February.

A little while ago I met with the organizers of ERC, Eurosport Events, who briefed me on the planned initiatives to attract even larger number of competitors to the events. While I am not allowed to share any details, one thing is for sure – potential competitors should closely follow the news in this regard so that they do not miss a fantastic opportunity!” Raimonds Strokšs, director of RA EVENTS (the organizer of Rally Liepāja).

“Liepāja has the honor of hosting an ERC event for the third straight year, and it has already become a tradition which is eagerly awaited by the local rally enthusiasts and fans from all around the country. I believe that this is no coincidence, but rather a sign of trust from FIA and Eurosport Events. Trust that we value tremendously!

As an experienced driver and the participant of many rallies, I can definitely say that the event is awaited by the competitors, because racing on such snowy rural roads with tight corners and jumps like we have in Kurzeme is not possible in any other event in Europe! Liepāja is a breathtaking and very varied place. I sincerely hope that this event will bring everyone a lot of thrills and surprises!” – an invitation to attend the race from the Liepāja city council chairman Uldis Sesks.

Rally Liepāja will again host the opening round of the FIA ERC Junior championship, as well as see a continuation of the tradition of giving a special prize for competitors who get the most points on each of the three surfaces – ice, gravel and asphalt. Rally Liepāja will be the last event in the battle for the ERC Ice Master title, which will consist of the races in Austria and Latvia.

The organizer of Rally Liepāja, RA EVENTS, invite the local businesses to make use of the opportunity offered by hosting an ERC event and offer their services to a wide range of rally fans. If your company would like to provide any kind of service during the rally, please get in touch with us in advance by e-mail at info@raevents.lv.

More information about Rally Liepāja is available at http://www.lvrally.com. You can also follow the news on social media – Twitter @LVRally, Facebook /RallyLiepaja, and YouTube /LatviaRally.

You can learn more about the FIA European rally championship at http://www.fiaerc.com, and additional information about the Latvian rally championship can be found at http://www.autorally.lv.

Jānis Unbedahts, RA EVENTS, SIA.