2024 Tet Rally Latvia – Saturday report
Kalle Rovanperä’s rivals had been left trailing in his mud after the Finn prolonged his Tet Rally Latvia lead with a elegant second-leg drive on Saturday.
The 23-year-old, who made his competitors debut within the Baltic nation greater than 10 years in the past, distanced the chasing pack via eight super-fast gravel checks close to Liepāja to develop his benefit from 15.7sec to 42.5sec with simply someday remaining of this eighth spherical.
It was a milestone morning for Rovanperä as he notched up the two hundredth stage win of his WRC profession on the sun-kissed Snepele check. His benefit climbed to 34.8sec by mid-leg service and that dominance continued into the afternoon, with the Finn topping the timesheets on all however one event. His Toyota team-mate Sébastien Ogier made it a GR Yaris 1-2 with native ace Mārtiņš Sesks an in depth third.
Ogier started the day 5.9sec behind Sesks however surpassed the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 teenager within the remaining stage of the morning. Luck was on the Frenchman’s facet when he ran extensive right into a ditch on SS11, ploughing via the undergrowth earlier than popping again onto the highway unscathed.
Sesks, who ended the day simply 4.7sec additional again, sits on the cusp of a sensational podium on solely his second outing at rallying’s highest stage. The 2 drivers forward of him, plus Ott Tänak behind, are all earlier world title winners.
Tänak climbed from sixth to fourth in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1, successful SS11 and shutting to inside 6.3sec of Sesks. Nevertheless, a transmission fault within the day-ending Liepāja Metropolis Stage value him round 15sec and he reached the in a single day halt 20.8sec in arrears.
The Estonian was profitable in accumulating extra Saturday classification factors than fellow title challengers Elfyn Evans and Thierry Neuville, who had been sixth and eighth respectively, however he should end the rally on Sunday as a way to financial institution them.
Fifth went the best way of Puma star Adrien Fourmaux, who ended 8.4sec down on Tänak however with 17.9sec in hand over Toyota man Evans. Takamoto Katsuta fell to seventh, having run as excessive as fourth earlier than an impression broke his GR Yaris automobile’s energy steering on SS11.
Championship chief Neuville, nonetheless battling low traction working second on the highway, positioned eighth in his Hyundai whereas Esapekka Lappi and Grégoire Munster accomplished the highest 10.
Solberg edges nearer to Latvia WRC2 triumph
Oliver Solberg is on the right track to say his second WRC2 victory of the 2024 season after safely consolidating his lead on Saturday.
After a dominant Friday, throughout which the Swede gained six out of seven levels to assemble a 31.1sec benefit, Solberg’s focus switched to steer preservation on Saturday’s equally quick gravel roads east of the rally’s Liepāja base.
Being the primary Rally2 competitor onto the levels offered a problem in itself, with Solberg compelled to comb a contemporary line after the broader, extra highly effective Rally1 automobiles had been via. Regardless of that, he and co-driver Elliott Edmondson had been inside the highest three on every stage and picked up two quickest occasions alongside the best way.
The Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 pair headed Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 rival Mikko Heikkilä by 26.6sec in a single day, with Sami Pajari’s comparable automobile 5.0sec additional again. Heikkilä additionally led the WRC2 Challenger class.
Emil Lindholm’s podium bid went awry when he crashed his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 on SS14. Škoda man Fau Zaldivar was promoted to fourth consequently, though he trailed Pajari by greater than two minutes, whereas Roberto Daprà took fifth forward of Ford Fiesta Rally2 hotshot William Creighton.
Additionally in bother had been Toyota males Brandon Semenuk and Gregor Jeets, each of whom rolled. Jeets managed to proceed and ended the day seventh however Semenuk, a world-famous mountain bike racer, was compelled to retire.
Armin Kremer’s WRC Masters Cup lead stood at greater than 20 minutes after Mauro Miele, his nearest challenger up till SS12, rolled out of competition. The German driver held eighth within the total WRC2 standings whereas Joosep Nõgene continued to dominate WRC3.
Sunday’s deciding leg boasts two levels, every used twice, totalling 64.08km. Up first is Krogzemji at 08:55 native time.
