Aluksne’s confidence for a winter rally
The new season of the Latvian Rally Championship will start on 19-20. in January, when the eleventh “Alūksne” demonstration is scheduled. The weather conditions of the last winters before the competition were not such that the organizers of the competition could say for sure: this year a real winter rally is expected – with an ice-covered track and huge snowdrifts. So this year the organizers of “Rally Alūksne” are satisfied and confident about the upcoming weather and road conditions: the roads around Alūksne will have suitable conditions for the winter rally. A real winter rally is planned for the weekend in all 10 speed stages.
“Athletes must pay attention to the slopes, which are not soft compared to last year. It may seem to the eye that, compared to last year, the snow is now a little less, but this time the difference is that the piles of snow than being on the side of the road, they are not the same soft banks as last year. If you made a mistake last year and ended up in a meadow, you could push on and continue, but this year that probably won’t be the case. Those snowbanks are well frozen, so cyclists will have to change their minds, because if someone has an extra bumper at home, you should definitely take it with you, because if you have to press hard against the wall, there may be nothing good there”, he said Renārs Salaks, one of the organizers of the “Alūksne Rally”.
Considering that the “Alūksne Rally” will also be the first stage of the Estonian Rally Championship, several Estonian crews have also applied for the race. Among the participants there will also be several Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Polish pilots, as well as, obviously, strong Latvian crews.
The winner of the previous Alūksne rally, the 2023 European vice-champion Mārtiņš Sesks, is not among the participants, but last year’s runners-up Emīls Blums/Didzis Eglītis have entered the competition and will start with the “Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX ” .
The Emil Blum/Dija Egliš crew at the 2023 Alūksne Rally.
Photo: Janis Asaris
Also taking part in the start will be Edijs Bergmanis/Ivo Pūkis (“Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX”), Miks Ķenavs/Gundars Berķis (“Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI”), Kalvis Blums/Ralfs Lipstock (“Mitsubishi Lancer Evo”), Mārtiņš Lochmelis. /Harijs Vējins (“Subaru Impreza STI”), as well as Lithuanians Ramūnas Čapkauskas (“Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX”) and Rokas Stepanavičus (“Škoda Fabia R5”).
Also this season Latvian rally veteran Jānis Vorobyovs will be on the starting line together with driver Guntars Zicāns, who will drive a “Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII” vehicle in Alūksne. The experienced Vorobyov won the “Alūksne Rally” three times. In the “Morning Panorama” program on Latvian television, Vorobyov said that the race in Alūksne is very demanding, it is a difficult rally.
“This is not a simple rally. Through hills, jumps, on wide roads, on narrow roads. A very fast stage,” Vorobyov said.
Interview with “Rally Aluksne” organizer Juri Ozola and racing driver Jānis Vorobyova 8 min.
The champions will be determined in a total of 6 stages
After the Alūksne race on February 10, the second stage of the LRČ is scheduled – another winter test and one of the most traditional rallies in Latvia – “Sarma”. Taking into account the changing weather conditions, alternative dates are also planned for the “Sarma” rally in February.
After a short break, the LRC will resume already in the hottest time of the year, 14-15. in June, during the first exchange stage in Estonia: the “Voru Rally”. Subsequently the crews will return to Latvia for days 9-10. will participate in the national rally “Cēsis” in August, after which the crews will cross the northern border of Latvia again, so that on 23-24 in August will participate in the “Paide Rally”.
The crew of Norwegian Carl Peder Nordstrand at the Cēsis Rally.
Photo: Raimonds Volonts
The end of the 2024 season of LRČ is expected with another exchange stage – in Lithuania, where 26-28 In September the rally “Samsonas Rally Utena” will take place.
Meanwhile, in the Latvia Rally Sprint Cup and Latvia Historic Cars Cup, a total of four races are scheduled next year. Three races will take place at the same time as the aforementioned LRC stages: “Alūksne”, “Sarma” and “Cēsis”, to which will also be added the “Latvija” sprint rally, which will take place in Riga, on the Biķernieku track, on the 19th-20th. in October.
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2024-01-15 09:11:21
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