Rovanperä and Solberg stars of South-Estonian Rally 2017

The Estonian and the Latvian rally championships continue from the 25th to the 26th of August with the 15th edition of the South-Estonian Rally. What makes this years’ South-Estonian rally even more special is the fact that for the first time ever in the history of the rally, it will be a part of two major championships.

With that said, both championships are looking fairly promising right now,as they are being led by some really fast drivers. The current overall leader of the Estonian Rally Championship is Georg Gross, who will be showcasing his Ford Fiesta WRC ’16, and the Latvian Rally Championship is currently led by Kalle Rovanperä, who will be out there to give a proper fight for the overall victory in his TGS serviced Škoda Fabia R5. Siim Plangi will also be the one to watch. Both prototype rally cars from Kaur Motorsport with Egon Kaur and Priit Koik driving will also be starting the rally.

Raul Jeets, winner of the rally in 2011, who also last did a round of the Estonian Rally Championship back in 2014, is now back and looking forward to getting more kilometers under his belt in the Škoda Fabia R5.

Fierce competition ahead in the front-wheel drive class aswell: Martins Sesks and Ken Torn have already had their fair share of fights along the season, with the Latvian staying ahead by 15 points after Tartu Rally. Oliver Solberg will do his first start in Estonia but that doesn’t rule him out from having a victory here: his first starts in Latvia showed that he has the speed it takes to win. Mārtiņš Sesks is going on a defensive mission this rally because he leads the junior championships of both countries.

One surprising entry is the head of TGS Worldwide and ex-WRC driver Toni Gardemeister, who will also face some great competition in the rear-wheel drive class.

It’s looking to be a spectacular rally this year with the Võru city stage being re-introduced since 2009. A total of 11 stages will be run throughout two days, totaling at 127kms.

For more information, check out my preview of South-Estonian Rally 2017: https://karlip1.wordpress.com/2017/07/24/title-fights-continue-at-south-estonian-rally-2017/

Title fights continue at South-Estonian Rally 2017

SUMMARY

Lõuna-Eesti Ralli, or in english South-Estonian Rally, is a legendary rally in Estonia. The rally goes back to the year 1991, when the rallies in Baltics were still dominated by rear-wheel drive cars. Eight different winners across 14 rallies, with the list including such names as Ott Tänak, Urmo Aava and Markko Märtin, with Markko just recently taking his second victory. So if you manage to win this rally then you should compare yourself to the best drivers in the world.

Great roads, great pace, lots of action – these are the words that charactarize South-Estonian Rally. This year is no different: the 2017 edition, run from the 25th to the 26th of August, will stay on roads around Haanja, providing everyone, both drivers and spectators, with enjoyment.

Kalle Rovanperä, leader of the Latvian Rally Championship, will be the one to watch. (kaasujalka.fi photo)

Many crews are expected to attend to the rally, mainly because this years’ edition is part of both the Estonian and the Latvian Rally Championship. With both of them still having their titles undecided, the South-Estonian roads and spectators will see some thrilling fights.

South-Estonian Rally 2017 will be a two-day rally, consisting of a total of 11 stages, of which 4 will repeat. The ninth stage of the rally will also be the Power Stage.

The start and finish podium will be located in central Võru city, address Vabaduse tänav 10a.

SPECTATORS

Rally passes, 7 EUR pc., will be sold in Olerex gas stations from the 21st of August and the official rally programme can be found in Autoleht magazine sold in stores around Estonia from the 23rd of August. The official rally radio is Ring FM, which is transferred on radio frequency 101,7 MHz in South Estonia.

Another driver to watch is Georg Gross, who will also try to extend his lead in the Estonian Rally Championship. (Raivo Remmelgas photo)

Supplementary regulations: http://autosport.ee/rallyreg/public/calendar_file/L-Eesti%20Rally%202017.pdf

Rally guide: http://autosport.ee/rallyreg/public/calendar_file/Ralli%20Juhis_%20Rally%20Guide.pdf

IMPORTANT LOCATIONS TO REMEMBER

• HQ: Pikk tn 2a, Võru
  • GPS: N 57.84204 E 027.02273
  • Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/MK1WtRv1CK32

• Scrutiny:  Roopa 6. OÜ VAIEST
  • GPS: N 57.83021 E 027.02804
  • Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/XAeCMx5trFN2

• Service: Pikk tn 2a, Võru
  • GPS: N 57.84204 E 027.02273
  • Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/MK1WtRv1CK32

• Trailer park: Räpina maantee 11, Võru. Võru Betoon OÜ.
  • GPS: N 57.84402 E 027.01869
  • Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/cAGhrbegQ3F2

• Start/Finish podium: Vabaduse 10a, Võru
  • GPS: N 57.84634 E 026.99920
  • Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/NmFNxAz1G9w

Kaur Motorsport launches 2017 attack

It’s looking to be a great season ahead for the Estonian Rally Championship. Looking back at last year, we got the announcement of Georg Gross and Raigo Mõlder coming back together for a programme in 2017 with a 2016-spec Ford Fiesta WRC, which sounded so refreshing for every Estonian rally fan.

Gross/Mõlder took third at Rally Sarma 2017. Photo: Rando Aav

Now that we’re done with the winter season, which concluded with Rally Alūksne 2017 in January, we’re headed straight towards the loose stuff. The first proper introduction to the gravel season will be Harju Rally, which promises to be one very exciting rally!

We have one team, though, which has lots of tough work ahead – and that’s Kaur Motorsport. To be precise, they are building Proto cars, based on a Ford Fiesta, for both Egon Kaur and Priit Koik. But it’s not been an easy ride at all – slight delays have hampered progress and there are worries whether the team will be ready with the Proto cars for Harju Rally 2017.

Egon Kaur & Priit Koik will do their first 2017 rallies in these Fiesta Proto rally cars.

The full name of these cars will be ‘Ford Fiesta Proto’ and they’ll be visually looking like M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta R5 – but the difference comes in what’s under the hood. Since Kaur Motorsport has the parts of their previous Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions, they will put them to good use in their custom built Protos. The suspension, however, will be very similar to the R5 / WRC-class cars. When comparing speeds, Egon said that these Prototype Fiestas could make out to be even faster than the R5 cars.

Also, as a separate announcement, Egon and Priit have announced a small co-driver switch: Egon will now be co-driven by Annika Arnek, whom with he last drove together in 2015 and Priit Koik will be co-driven by the fresh Estonian Rally Champion, Silver Simm!

The popular opinion nowadays is that R5 cars are more ‘budget-friendly’, but really, for quite a big margin of rally teams, they are still very expensive. To make something fast, but at the same time at a significantly smaller budget, Egon and his colleagues thought that they’d make something right in the middle – a Prototype rally car.

Kaur MS received their first body in early April. First rally should be in late May.

When will we first see these Prototype Fiestas in action? Hopefully by the end of May, at Harju Rally 2017. The team is working hard around the clock to ensure that the cars will be ready, but not everything is up to them.

There are also rumours of other teams also working on some Prototype rally cars for the Estonian Rally Championship – but who could they be? We’ll see, stay tuned!

Karli.

Lots of action ahead for Saaremaa Rally 2016

The Estonian Rally Championship season is coming to an end. Before Saaremaa Rally, we had Tartu Rally, which was a decider for many championship categories.

Egon Kaur and Silver Simm, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, took their first victory at Tartu and along with that, they clinched the Group-N Title in the Estonian Rally Championship.

Miko Niinemäe and Martin Valter won 2WD 1600 class at Tartu, which secured them the title in that category.

Gustav Kruuda took his first ever trophy victory after winning the Estonian Drive DMACk Trophy.

This year’s Saaremaa Rally is no different from previous years – exciting stages, fast drivers and lots to watch for the spectators at the stages and online. Run from the 7th to the 8th of October, Saaremaa Rally consists of a total of 10 stages, totaling at 120 kilometers of great stages.

Note: before making plans of visiting Saaremaa, book a Ferry ticket between Kuivastu and Virtsu here: http://www.praamid.ee

The Entry list for Saaremaa is already looking very interesting: Miko Niinemäe will debut a Škoda Fabia R5 at the rally – this would be the first ever rally for Niinemäe and Valter in a 4WD car.

Miko Niinemäe said:

“We’re feeling calm, there’s lots of preparations needed before Saaremaa. I haven’t done a rally in a 4WD car before. This was made possible by a couple of good supporters, who made us a nice surprise.”

Niinemäe/Valter – JERC winners, Rally Estonia 2016

“This rally will be a look into the future, so we hope that you can see us in the R5 again, but we can’t promise anything right now.”

After a year in a RWD Lada 2105, Timmu Kõrge will be making a return driving a Ford Fiesta R5. Last drive in a 4WD car for Kõrge was at Rally Estonia 2015. For Kaido Kaubi, Kõrge’s co-driver, it’ll be the first time co-driving in an R5 car.

Kõrge/Pints – Rally Estonia 2014

Another driver to debut in an R5 car is Kaspar Koitla. After losing out to Rainer Aus in the last stage of Tartu, Koitla will be looking to take back what’s his, or even more.

After a great result at ERC Rally Liepaja 2016, Siim Plangi and Marek Sarapuu will be looking for their first victory at Saaremaa.

Get more information from the Saaremaa Rally website: http://saaremaarally.eu/site/index.php/en/index.html

Tartu Rally to offer something new for everyone

The 6th round of the Estonian Rally Championship, Tartu Rally, will be run on the roads of Tartumaa and Põlvamaa from the 23rd to the 24th of September 2016. This year, the organizers promise the rally stages to be about 40% newer in comparison to previous years. 

The rally will kick off on the 23rd of September at Raekoja plats, located in central Tartu. The opening ceremony starts at 4:15 PM with singer Merka and some cheerleaders. At 5 PM, the opening ceremony continues with the first rally crews driving over the podium and head towards the first stage, which has a start time of 5:43 PM. The first stage is closely followed by SS2, starting at 6:03 PM and then the day ends with the Tartu city stage , starting at 19:23.

Saturday will be a full day of rallying, beginning with a 2.65 km long city stage in Põlva.

The rally will conclude with podium celebrations taking place at central Tartu, Raekoja plats, at 06:30 PM.

For the drivers, it will be a drive for the prize, as the winners will be given special prizes from the sponsors.

Information about the rally will be broadcasted over radio Ring FM (www.ringfm.ee) and it can also be listened to at specific spectator points and at the Service Park.

Rally passes will cost 10 EUR and are sold at Tartu Favora gas station. Tickets to the stages are 5 EUR. Kids measuring under 1 meter get free access to the stages.

Full guide for the spectators will appear in the magazine Autoleht, for sale in stores all over Estonia from the 21st of September. Maps will also be available on the website of Tartu Rally from the morning hours of the 23rd of September.

Service Park will be located on the grounds of Tartu Näitused,

Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwaldi 60.

Tartu Rally’s official webpage: www.tarturally.eu

Tartu Rally on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TartuRally

Märtin triumphs in South Estonia

The 14th edition of the South Estonian Rally hosted the 4th round of the Estonian Rally Championship. A total of 54 crews took on the technical and spectacular roads of Võrumaa. 

First day of the rally consisted of four special stages, totaling at 19,62 kilometers. It was a dominating day for Egon Kaur and Silver Simm (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), who won all four stages to grab an early lead of the rally. Markko Märtin and Kristo Kraag (Ford Focus RS WRC ’03) were left trailing by just 6 seconds with Rainer Aus and Simo Koskinen (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) being third, a further 12 seconds behind Kaur.

Raivo Remmelgas Photo

After the first day, Kaur said: “It’s a pleasure to see that we can compete against Markko, but once he gets up to speed, there’ll be no stopping him,  because it’s a lot of work to keep our Group-N car on the road here.”

First stage of the second day went just as Kaur had predicted: Märtin took the matters into his own hands and won the first stage by 6.6 seconds, also making him the new leader of the rally by 0.6 seconds.

Whilst Märtin and Kraag took off in the lead, it was still a fight for Egon Kaur and Silver Simm: Rainer Aus and Simo Koskinen were trailing them in 3rd, 18 seconds down.

But that fight was cut short, as the seventh stage of the rally was the end of the road for Rainer Aus and Simo Koskinen after rolling their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.

Rainer Aus retires in SS7.

 

“It was an OK day because we had a better tyre choice and that made us feel better in the car. The feeling and the grip wasn’t there yesterday for us and if you don’t have one of them you won’t have the other one too,” Markko told rally.ee. “Most of the roads here are pretty known to me and some places I remembered, but one stage was totally new for me. What was surprising about this rally was that I didn’t remember the roads being so technical, there were basically no straights at all.  Driving here was pretty hard work, the feel for driving a WRC car won’t come by itself and we had to work for the victory.”

Märtin and Kraag went on to win the rally by over a minute over Kaur and Simm, with Aiko Aigro and Kermo Kärtmann (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI) in third.

Full results of the rally can be found here: http://autosport.ee/rallyreg/?page=47&race_id=346&lang_id=2&

The Estonian rally championship continues at the end of August(26.08.2016-27.08.2016) with Tallinna Ralli.

Hat-trick for Kruuda in West-Estonia

The 2016 Estonian Rally Championship season continued with the West-Estonian Rally, or Lääne-Eesti Ralli in Estonian, from the 10th to 11th of June. It was the third rally of the championship, just after Neste Harju Rally and also the 3rd round of the Alexela DMACK Trophy Estonia.

First off, about the overall rally. It was a spectacular fight for the absolute lead throughout the event, you could even measure the lead with a measuring tape at times. But through all of it, the winners were Egon Kaur and Silver Simm, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.

Back in the order, it was the third victory in a row for Gustav Kruuda and Ken Järveoja, driving a Ford Fiesta R2 serviced by CRC, in the Alexela DMACk Trophy Estonia. It was a tough battle throughout the event, with the crew swapping leads a total of 3 times with Ken Torn, also driving a Ford Fiesta R2. After a fierce battle, the crew on top were Kruuda and Järveoja, staying ahead of Torn and Mesila by just 1.6 seconds.

 

Gustav Kruuda said:

“It was a difficult rally, it went just as we thought with Ken, the gaps were very small. ”

“Every little mistake could cost you big time. Like for instance, on one stage we had an overshoot on a junction and we lost more than 5 seconds there. It was a fun fight with Mr. Torn, the gaps were always so small and stages were simple enough to get the time back.”

“In the end, we won the rally and increased our lead in the DMACK Trophy Estonia series.”

 

Ken Järveoja, co-driver of Gustav, said: 

“It wasn’t one of my favourite rallies, for sure.”, said Ken.

“The event organisation for a first time was good. Service was ok, but most stages were boring, only SS7/9 stood out.  The timetable was too stretched for the drivers, maybe it was okay for the spectators. Overall I think that rallies like these should be done in one day if possible.”

Ken also praises Gustav on his development “Gustav has developed quite well,” he says.

“You can see that in the times we set and in the driving style. He’s quite sturdy and he knows that you need to work hard. As we can see, all the hard work has paid off so far.”

 

 

After 3 rounds of the DMACK Trophy, the points standings are as follows (click to enlarge):

 

 

Võrumaa Winterrally promises excitement

Run for the 9th time, Võrumaa Winterrally was first run in 2008 as a rally for the youth and has since become a great, exciting rally – great for spectators in the forests and at home!

This years’ rally will be quite a spectacle, as for the first time Võrumaa Winterrally will be hosting the Lithuanian Rally Championship and its great drivers. The rally will be the 2nd rally in the Lithuanian Rally Championship, or LARC, in short.

There’s also quite some action to follow in the Estonian Rally Championship.

A LOOK BACK

Last year, there was much discussion about the weather and if the Winterrally can be held at all and, luckily, the weather changed in the week before the rally and we got a lot more than we asked for. The roads were covered with snow and the rally had the green light.

It was Estonia’s own Sander Pärn, who took the victory last year, with Siim Plangi 2nd and Timmu Kõrge 3rd. Pärn led from start to the finish.

Pärn/Morgan on their way to winning Võrumaa Winterally 2015. Foto: Rauno Paltser

2016 PROGRAMME

The documentation side of the rally will begin on the 18th of February, where the crews will be given the necessary documents to start the rally. Also on the 18th, the crews will start recceing the stages. From 10:00  to 14:00, the crews will recce SS 4/6 and SS 7/9. From 14:30 to 19:00 they will recce SS1/2 and SS8/10.

On the morning of 19th, the crews will do the final recce of the rally with SS 3/5 from 9:00 to 12:00.  The first day of the rally begins at 18:00 at the Freedom Square in Võru.

20th Feburary, the second day of the rally, will begin at 9:00, when the first car leaves service. It all concludes with the Podium at 19:00 in the evening taking place at the Freedom Squre in Võru.

A more detailed programme and maps of the event will be published in the magazine Autoleht on 17th February.

If the competition is cancelled or postponed due to Force Majeure, the Organiser must communicate this at 12:00 on 15.02.2016 at the latest.

The Afterparty of the rally can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1677538155859774/

The Rally Pass will cost 7 EUR and they’ll be sold at the week preceding the rally at Võru Olerex.

STATISTICS

Overall length of the rally: 421,61 km

Total amount of stages: 10

Total length of Special Stages: 114,04 km

Surface: Snow, ice

No. of stages run twice: 5

Total recce km: 57,02 km

Powerstage: SS10 – 10,87km

DOCUMENTS/LINKS

Supplementary Regulations: http://autosport.ee/rallyreg/public/calendar_file/TALVERALLI%20JUHEND%20ver%2002%20(2).pdf

List of registered crews: http://autosport.ee/rallyreg/?page=27&race_id=342&

Registration form: http://autosport.ee/rallyreg/?page=28&race_id=342&lang_id=2&

See you at the rally!

All about training for Gustav Kruuda

Rally championships of Estonia and Latvia were opened by Rally Sarma 2016 in Latvia, and one of the winners of the rally was Estonia’s Gustav Kruuda, Karl Kruuda’s little brother.

Gustav’s class, R2, had big competition, from the quite experienced Nikolay Gryazin to fresh Estonian Dmack Trophy champion Miko Niinemäe, but he kept them all behind him from day 1. Gustav had a chat with rally.ee and told them next:

“Actually, our time from the very first stage came as a surprise for us,” said Gustav Kruuda, who managed to up themselves to 8th position overall by the end of day 1: “I saw some mistakes in my driving, that’s why it was so surprising.”

Gustav Kruuda / Ken Järveoja. Foto: Indrek Allik

Gustav said that the secret to his success may be the extensive training pre-rally:

“Before Sarma I did a lot of training, it developed me and I gained confidence. I got 150 kilometers of training in the rally car and I did lots of driving on ice with a road car.”

He adds that getting used to the car is very important and, in comparison, he highlighted Ken Torn, who was competing in the Fiesta R2 for the first time:

“The Fiesta is a stranger for Ken, he had just 5 kilometers of testing for the rally. It’s tough getting used to the car from the first ignition. No doubt Ken is fast, but the car is different.”

The second day of Sarma was tougher for Gustav and Ken as they had to start from the front, which meant more loose surface:

“Today we had to start from the very front of the list and, because of all the loose snow, it was tough to make good times. Then later on we tried to increase the lead and on the last two stages we managed to control the situation and take a smooth victory!”

All in all, it was a controlled rally for Gustav: “We only did some smaller mistakes. There were no moments of panic. Surprisingly good start to the season!”

–

Gustav and Ken made it to the finish in overall 9th position, winning in 3 classes: LRC3, EMV3 and R2.

Round 2 for Pärn in 2016

After winning Drive DMACk Trophy in 2014, Sander Pärn was awarded with 7 rallies in WRC-2 2015 season, but after just 3 rallies with DMACk, the season came to a halt, as the driver and the team decided to not continue the season. Pärn has decided to restart his prize season of 7 rallies and he will do them again in 2016.

Sander Pärn gave Estonias Public Broadcasting (ERR) an interview, in which the driver talked about his next years’ plans. Here’s what he had to say:

“This year had only done 3 rallies out of 7, when we, together with my mentor Markko Märtin, DMACk and M-Sport, decided to not continue this season and continue it next year.”

“It will be a lot better to continue next year. The tyres, DMACks, will get better, and the Fiesta R5 will get upgraded. And I will also be more experienced and more ready for it.”

Pärn will have to pay for the three rallies they did in 2015 and then the prized three rallies will carry on to next year, adding to the 4 unused rallies, making a total of 7 rallies under DMACk in 2016.

To add to the challenge, Pärn also has a new co-driver for 2016: scotsman Stuart Loudon.

Pärn on his new co-driver:

“We’ve already done lots of recce practice. We were at Rally RACC Spain and at Rally GB to practice co-operation in making notes.”