2024 Tet Rally Latvia – Closing report
Kalle Rovanperä sealed a dominant start-to-finish victory at Tet Rally Latvia on Sunday afternoon, wrapping up his second triumph in as many high-speed gravel occasions.
Having began his first-ever rally on Latvia’s roads greater than 10 years in the past aged 12, the Finnish driver rolled again the clocks to win the Baltic nation’s first FIA World Rally Championship spherical.
Rovanperä was by no means severely challenged in the course of the four-day fixture, which began within the capital metropolis Rīga on Thursday night earlier than journeying west to Liepāja. He constructed a snug lead in the course of the first two legs in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 and eased by way of the finale to win the season’s eighth spherical by 39.2sec.
Sébastien Ogier accomplished a 1-2 for the Japanese marque whereas Ott Tänak stole the ultimate podium spot from Mārtiņš Sesks after the native hero was stricken by transmission fault within the Wolf Energy Stage.
Sesks was cruelly disadvantaged of what might have been a maiden podium on solely his second outing at rallying’s high degree. The 24-year-old received two levels on Friday and entered the ultimate take a look at with 4.6sec in hand over Tänak regardless of two overshoots earlier within the morning, however his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 developed a transmission downside only one nook into the stage.
The drivers’ championship battle closed up as Tänak extracted most factors from Tremendous Sunday and climbed to second within the drivers’ championship standings.
He now trails Hyundai i20 N Rally1 team-mate Thierry Neuville by simply eight factors with 5 rounds remaining with Elfyn Evans, who slipped to 3rd within the standings, simply 5 factors additional again. Neuville and Evans completed eighth and fifth respectively and each struggled to get well from the time loss they confronted by opening the highway in free situations on Friday.
M-Sport Ford man Adrien Fourmaux ended 27.0sec behind Tänak in fourth regardless of encountering a small engine downside on the final two levels, with Toyota star Evans ending an additional 11.2sec in arrears.
Takamoto Katsuta introduced his GR Yaris house sixth forward of Sesks and Neuville. Grégoire Munster was ninth, gaining a place when the engine on Esapekka Lappi’s Hyundai cried sufficient after the ultimate stage.
Solberg leads WRC2 after Latvian triumph
Finishing the leaderboard, Oliver Solberg stormed into the lead of the WRC2 championship after securing the category victory on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Swede led from begin to end on the high-speed gravel fixture, taking out most factors in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 to overhaul Sami Pajari and Yohan Rossel, who was not competing, within the race for the championship title.
After successful seven out of eight levels to open a commanding lead of greater than half a minute on Friday, Solberg managed his pace accordingly over the closing two legs to make sure he saved Mikko Heikkilä – who took house the WRC2 Challenger honours in his Toyota GR Yaris – at bay.
He now leads the sequence by three factors from Pajari after ending the four-day fixture with a 37.4sec successful margin.
Pajari was annoyed to complete 7.4sec behind Heikkilä in his comparable Toyota, with the Finnish hotshot feeling as if his efficiency contained in the automotive wasn’t mirrored on the stage occasions. Pajari will step as much as the big-league subsequent month when he debuts a Rally1-specification GR Yaris on his house spherical from 1 – 4 August.
Fau Zaldivar equalled his finest results of the season up to now, ending greater than two minutes again from the rostrum with fourth in his Škoda. The Paraguayan was comfortably away from fifth-placed Ford Fiesta man William Creighton on the end, whereas Italy’s Roberto Daprà accomplished the highest six.
Armin Kremer bagged his fourth WRC Masters Cup victory in a row and now leads the sequence by 37 factors. In the meantime, Estonian driver Joosep Nõgene was by no means headed in his pursuit for WRC3 glory after his foremost rival Kerem Kazaz suffered damaged suspension on the rally’s opening stage.
WRC stays in northern Europe for an additional quick gravel highway fixture at Secto Rally Finland subsequent month. Spherical 9 of the season relies in Jyväskylä from 1 – 4 August.
