The Rally Talsi for the fifth year already is known as the Rally of Champions and as usual gathers the champions of the previous rally season from nearer and farther countries in order to establish during one rally event and in equal weather and competition conditions the fastest of all. The winner of this competition for one year will hold the Champions’ Challenge Cup on whose base the names of the previous Cup holders are engraved.

This year we will not see the Latvian rally representatives in the Rally of Champions as the season of 2012 turned out not so successful for them and none of the Latvians won the champion’s title, however Talsi will not do without the competition between the champions. So honor of the Estonian rally will be defended by the Estonian Rally Champion of 2012 in the N4 group Rainer Aus — he started in the Rally of Champions also last year and finished as the 9th overall.

The Lithuanian rally school will be represented by one of the most experienced participants in means of participation in the Rally Talsi. For the N4 group Lithuanian Rally Champion of 2012 Domynikas Butvilas this will be already the 4th start along the challenging gravel roads and he certainly will strive to improve the last year’s result, when his crew took the 11th place in the total valuation.

The Rally Talsi will be debut for two champions’ crews. The honor of Russia will be defended by one of the fastest Russian crews with the pilot Grigoriy Tregubov. In the participants’ list of the Rally of Champions it will be possible to see also Tomáš Ondrej, whose crew — the champions of the Slovakian Rally in the N4 group — will cover 1000km till Talsi in order to bring fresh winds to the Talsi Rally and regale spectators with highly enjoyable driving.

„This year in the Rally of Champions we will not see any Latvian rally representatives, but each medal has two sides, and the good news is that the information about the Rally Talsi and the Latvian rally traditions will be brought far beyond the Latvian borders,” comments the organizer of the Rally Talsi Raimonds Strokšs. „In my opinion the competition will be fierce and I think that it will be even more exciting due to participation of other N4 group crews willing to prove that not always it suffices with the champion’s title to win the Rally Talsi.”

We would like to remind that the Rally Talsi will be held on 18th and 19th May, and it will be the fourth round of the Latvian Rally Championship (LRC) and the rally marking the beginning of summer. The organizers promise that for spectators Saturday, the 18th May, will be especially interesting, as it will be possible to see all six stages, including the special city stage — the participants will have to cover it twice. At the end of the first rally day an evening concert is envisaged in the Talsi City centre, where it will be possible to see Normunds Jakušonoks and the Band “Tipa orķestris” with their new concert programme. The second rally day — Sunday — will start at 10.00, when the start of the first stage will be given, and the Rally will be concluded with the Awarding Ceremony by the Talsi Culture Centre at 17.30

Jānis Unbedahts, Press Secretary RA Motosport. Foto: Aigars Tīdmanis