The rally in Alūksne region started on Friday evening, with motorists performing two speed stages in the dark of the day. With the first kilometers covered, Cesk (“SRT Proto 02”) took the lead in the race, while Blum (“Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX”) and Ralfs Sirmacis (“Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII”) ranked behind him – Blum was faster in the duel once, and Blum the second time – Sirmacim.
In Sirmac, a premature start was recorded in the first stage, for which the crew received a ten-second penalty.
During the second day of the “Alūksne” rally, the crews had to perform six more stages. Sesks/Francis didn’t leave any hope for his competitors – continuing a successful race, the finish of which was victory in all speed stages of the rally, beating the closest follower by more than two minutes.
Meanwhile, a close fight turned into the second place in the overall rally standings and the victory in the Latvian Rally Championship, which is fought for by the crews that use “Pirelli” rally tires for the start of the competition. If at the beginning of the day Blum’s advantage over his nearest competitor Sirmacis was 9.44 seconds, then during the following five stages, Sirmacis slowly but gradually reduced the deficit – overtaking his rival five times and causing the advantage to shrink to 3.26 seconds.
The closing stage of the rally, 10.03 kilometers long “Alūksne”, proved to be decisive, in which the 2024 Latvian rally champion Blums demonstrated his skills, beating Sirmac by 2.39 seconds. At the finish of the “Alūksne” rally, the two crews were separated by 5.65 seconds.
Kalvis Blūms (“Mitsubishi Lancer Evo”) won the opportunity to climb the third step of the podium in the Latvian Rally Championship, who competed with the experienced pilot Jānis Vorobyovs throughout the rally.
The next stage of the Latvian rally championship is scheduled for February 7-8 in Gulbene district, with crews competing in the “Sarma” rally.