Rally Talsi (Latvia) - 15-16 May 10

Vasaraudzis dominates on Rally Talsi in MML Sports' Lancer WRCar

Posted: May 23, 2010 11:10 PM

Ivars Vasaraudzis dominated last weekend's Rally Talsi, the third round of the Latvian Rally Championship, at the wheel of his MML Sports Mitsubishi Lancer World Rally Car. He took the win on all but one of the event's eight stages to claim the outright honours, while team-mate Raimonds Kisiels finished the event in fifth place, the same as on last year's rally.

Vasaraudzis was the clear favourite for the event win, having taken victory last year and on every round since. He set his stall out early, taking the scratch time on each and every one of the eight stages that were run, with the exception on the first superspecial stage.

On that occasion, he was head-to-head with Kisiels, who stalled on the start line. When Vasaraudzis completed his first lap, Kisiels' car was still in the way and this delayed him, though only to second-fastest.

He eventually reached the finish ramp of the event as winner, with a margin of almost two minutes over his nearest rival.

The event followed a familiar pattern for Kisiels also, who started well and by the penultimate stage, was in fourth place, less than three seconds off a podium result.

However, the final stage of the event, a huge 36.6Km test, proved too much of a challenge for the driver, who struggled to maintain his performance for the full duration and dropped to fifth overall as a result. This mirrors almost exactly his result on last year's event and is what he described as; "like tradition".

The trio of fledgling Russian drivers, all piloting MML Sports prepared and run Mitsubishi Lancer EvolutionX Group N cars, eventually ran as VIPs ahead of the field and as such, were not classified in the final results. However, despite their complete lack of experience in competition, they acquitted themselves well, driving a rally car for the first time on gravel.

All three enjoyed the experience enormously and will now undertake a more concentrated development program, before their actual competition debut on the Kerzume Rally, later on this season.

Commenting on the weekend, MML Sports Managing Director John Easton said; "Once again, we enjoyed a superb weekend in Latvia. Ivars was the class of the field, as we expected and I'm delighted that he could take another convincing win.

"Raimonds also put in an excellent performance and it's only the length of the final stage that prevented him from claiming a podium position.

"I'm also delighted that Vladimir, Mikhail and Alexander enjoyed their outing. I think that with their lack of experience, running as VIP 1, 2 and 3 was the right decision and they all enjoyed their experience enormously. We will now arrange some intensive training for all three, perhaps at Chateau Lastours in France, in June and July so that they can develop their techniques ready for their genuine competition debuts on Rally Kerzume in August.

"I must say that the sight of six tents in the Talsi service park, five for the cars and one for tyres, along with our hospitality unit, was fantastic. I apologise to the other competitors and the organisers for the amount of space we took up but we couldn't avoid it!"

Event Website: Rally Talsi (Latvia)

MML Sports prepares to run 5% of Rally Talsi entry

Posted: May 7, 2010 12:34 PM

Next weekend will see a full turn-out for MML Sports Ltd, the company formed from the former works Mitsubishi rally team. The company will be running two Mitsubishi Lancer World Rally Cars and three Lancer EvolutionX Group N cars on Rally Talsi, the third round of this year's Latvian Rally Championship.  

Rally Talsi is the first of this season's spring/summer events. The first two rounds of this year's series took place in the winter months and were full snow rallies, whereas Talsi marks the return of the series to gravel, longer days and hopefully, drier weather.  

This year, MML Sports will be running a pair of Lancer WRCars, for regular drivers Ivars Vasaraudzis and Raimonds Kisiels. Vasaraudzis won the event last year and will this year again be partnered by regular co-driver, Peteris Spredzis. On the basis of their performances both on this event and the series generally last year and this; they are firm favourites for the overall spoils next weekend.  

Kisiels, co-driven by Gatis Lanavas, finished fifth last year, despite looking like a podium position was theirs for the taking before a last-minute spin demoted them. However, like Vasaraudzis, they will be looking to put in a strong performance as the series moves onto gravel.  

The company will also be fielding three Group N Lancer EvoX rally cars, for a trio of fledgling Russian drivers, all of whom make their competition debut on the event. Neither Vladimir Sokolov, Mikhail Orkin nor Alexander Novoselov have driven a rally car in competition before, although all three took part in MML Sports' recent Arctic Star event, which saw them get a taste of the Lancer WRCar on a frozen lake.  

Former co-driver to Ivars Vasaraudzis and brother of current co-driver, Valdis Spredzis will be co-driving for Sokolov and all three drivers will get their first taste of the MML Sports EvoX the weekend before Talsi, as the company arranges a pre-event test and familiarisation event for the drivers.  

This will allow them to begin to learn the car, as well as develop their pace notes and a base set-up for the forthcoming event, which will see them feel their way into the sport of rallying gradually.  

Commenting on the upcoming event, MML Sports Managing Director John Easton said;
"I'm very excited about this year's Rally Talsi. It will be the biggest single event for us since MML Sports was formed and the fact that we will be running all five cars from the same service area means that we will have a huge presence in the service park. We will also be using our hospitality unit, as well as virtually every support vehicle we have available.  

"In fact, I looks as if our cars will form 5% of the entire entry - an amazing achievement and testament to the competitiveness of both the Lancer WRCar and the Gp N EvoX.  

"I certainly hope that Ivars and Peteris are able to repeat last year's performance, which was a faultless drive throughout the event. I also hope that Raimonds and Gatis are able to claim the result that they should have taken away last year.  

"I think the Russian drivers have a fairly big challenge ahead of them but at the same time, all three are approaching the event in exactly the right way. They will each be undergoing pre-event training and testing and know that the best way to gain the maximum experience is not to try to set fast times to begin with but learn the car and the nature of the event and get as many miles as possible under their belts."  

This year's Rally Talsi features four stages on the afternoon of Saturday 15 May, followed by a further five stages on Sunday 16 May, with the rally base situated on the outskirts of the national capitol, Riga.

Entry List Available

Posted: May 2, 2010 6:58 PM

Under "DOCUMENTATION" on the event website:

Rally Talsi (Latvia)

2010 sees second BTA Rally Talsi 'Rally of Champions'

Posted: April 13, 2010 2:13 PM

For the second year in a row, BTA Rally Talsi, the third round of the Latvian Rally Championship, can legitimately be considered the 'Rally of Champions'. Once again, the organisers are promising exceptional competition between Group N champions from across the region. So for 2010 the question remains; will a Latvian driver claim victory against the visiting champions?

Perhaps the strongest driver in the field is reining Norwegian Group N champion Andreas Mikkelsen, a protégée of Marcus Grönholm and widely considered to be one of the most talented up-and-coming drivers in Europe. The 20-year old Norwegian has already participated in 17 rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship in a World Rally Car and remains the youngest driver to have claimed driver points in the WRC. On BTA Rally Talsi, he will be driving a 2010 Group N Subaru Impreza.

The event has also attracted an entry from Swedish driver Jocke Nyman, who, like the Norwegian champion, is young, fast and clearly talented. Nymen has been involved in various forms of motorsport since childhood; he became interested in rallying at the age of 19 and soon achieved considerable success, before taking the Swedish Rally Championship title last year.

On last year's event, Lithuania was represented by a driver well-known in Latvia, Vytautas Svedas. However after a season of fierce competition in the local championship, he narrowly missed out on the title. So he will start the 2010 BTA Rally Talsi Rally of Champions behind Ramunas Capkauskas, co-driven by Tomas Sipkauskas. Capkauskas is another well-known competitor, not only to rally fans but motorsport fans in general, as he has enjoyed considerable success in the Baltic Formula circuit racing series for several years.

The Latvian honours this year will be upheld by five-times national champion Aivis Egle and co-driver Martis Jerums, who in 2009, held off the visiting title-holders to take the Rally of Champions spoils.

Hopefully returning to this year's BTA Rally Talsi is Estonian Group N champion and 2010 WRC Pirelli Star Driver, Ott Tanak. A protégé of former WRC driver and rally winner Marko Martin, Tanak finished last year's event just 3.83 seconds behind winner, Aivis Egle. Although the most important objective for Latvian drivers in May is to collect points for the Latvian Rally Championship, competing against visiting champions will create a unique event, both for the drivers and the legions of passionate Latvian rally fans.

"We can promise spectators that the competition on the roads of the Talsi region will be incredibly exciting this year'" said the President of the Organising committee, Raimonds Strokss. "However we will continue to work towards attracting as many more world-class drivers as possible. All drivers are keen to compare themselves against the fastest drivers from other countries, on one of the most interesting events in Latvia."

BTA Rally Talsi will be held on 15th and 16th May in Talsi and the surrounding region. BTA Rally Talsi is the third round of the Latvian Rally Championship and the first round of the newly established Baltic Rally Championship.

The title sponsor of the rally is the Insurance Company, BTA. Other sponsors include Lakalme, Swecon and Dardedzes holografija. The event is supported by Talsi County Council, Petrol Stations 'Talsu autotransports' and 'Sumata'. Media partners for the event are TV6, Neatkariga Rita Avize, StarFM, sportacentrs.com, 4rati, draugiem.lv, Talsu Vestis, www.whatcar.lv and FHM.

More information about the event can be found on the official rally website

Rally Talsi (Latvia)

Rally Guide / Regulations

Posted: April 2, 2010 12:44 PM

Rally Talsi (Latvia)

Event Website / Details

Posted: March 23, 2010 11:13 AM

Rally Talsi (Latvia)