Written by Katie Gregory, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
A series with rich heritage, the World Rally Championship is filled with classic events that are certain to be crowd pleasers. However, also at the core of the WRC is innovation, proven by the Rally Latvia’s addition to the calendar.
Action-packed upon its debut, the event will consist of 300 km of competitive action, which will be contested in 20 stages.
Rally Latvia replaces Estonia on the calendar, and has fast gravel roads similar to its neighbouring nation. Throughout its appearances in the European Rally Championship, the rally has garnered a reputation for being extremely challenging.
The fast roads demand perfect pacenotes, meaning the upcoming reconnaissance will be immensely important and fundamental in shaping this weekend’s results.
The demands certainly do not stop there for our crews, and more can be found within the event’s schedule. Unlike most rallies, there will be hardly any repeat passes of stages.
This means this weekend’s contenders have more stages to prepare for, and it will be harded for them to apply learnings from one try to the next.
After conceding three points of his championship lead in Poland, Thierry Neuville’s title bid hangs in the balance once again. However, neither Neuville nor any of his championship rivals have any experience around Liepāja, leveling the playing field and putting all points on the table.
Hoping to snap some more of these up will be Elfyn Evans, who currently sits in second place of the championship.
Despite battling a powerstage puncture, Evans seemed extremely confident on the roads around Poland - and the similarities between here and there put him in a perfect position to put together a successful weekend.
A favourite for this evenet will be World Champion Kalle Rovanperä, who stormed to victory in Poland after making a last minute substitution for Sébastian Ogier. Rovanperä spent his formative years honing his craft in this very area, and could very well be spend his rally showing his older rivals the ropes.
The rally will begin on Thursday evening in the capital city of Riga, andan opening super special stage will taje place at the nearby Biķernieki circuit complex.
Friday will be the longest day of the rally, with 120.92 competitive km to be completed. As the crews head north-west from Riga, there will be no mid-day service, only morning and afternoon tyre-fitting zones.
On Saturday the action will run in Liepāja, with a mid-day service. A similar distance to Saturday, Sunday will see 64 km of competitive action, with two stages run twice. The rally-ending powerstage will take place in Mazilmāja, and will finish on the Vecpils dirt track.
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