For the second year in a row, BTA Rally Talsi, the third round of the Latvian Rally Championship, can legitimately be considered the 'Rally of Champions'. Once again, the organisers are promising exceptional competition between Group N champions from across the region. So for 2010 the question remains; will a Latvian driver claim victory against the visiting champions?
Perhaps the strongest driver in the field is reining Norwegian Group N champion Andreas Mikkelsen, a protégée of Marcus Grönholm and widely considered to be one of the most talented up-and-coming drivers in Europe. The 20-year old Norwegian has already participated in 17 rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship in a World Rally Car and remains the youngest driver to have claimed driver points in the WRC. On BTA Rally Talsi, he will be driving a 2010 Group N Subaru Impreza.
The event has also attracted an entry from Swedish driver Jocke Nyman, who, like the Norwegian champion, is young, fast and clearly talented. Nymen has been involved in various forms of motorsport since childhood; he became interested in rallying at the age of 19 and soon achieved considerable success, before taking the Swedish Rally Championship title last year.
On last year's event, Lithuania was represented by a driver well-known in Latvia, Vytautas Svedas. However after a season of fierce competition in the local championship, he narrowly missed out on the title. So he will start the 2010 BTA Rally Talsi Rally of Champions behind Ramunas Capkauskas, co-driven by Tomas Sipkauskas. Capkauskas is another well-known competitor, not only to rally fans but motorsport fans in general, as he has enjoyed considerable success in the Baltic Formula circuit racing series for several years.
The Latvian honours this year will be upheld by five-times national champion Aivis Egle and co-driver Martiņs Jerums, who in 2009, held off the visiting title-holders to take the Rally of Champions spoils.
Hopefully returning to this year's BTA Rally Talsi is Estonian Group N champion and 2010 WRC Pirelli Star Driver, Ott Tanak. A protégé of former WRC driver and rally winner Marko Martin, Tanak finished last year's event just 3.83 seconds behind winner, Aivis Egle.
Although the most important objective for Latvian drivers in May is to collect points for the Latvian Rally Championship, competing against visiting champions will create a unique event, both for the drivers and the legions of passionate Latvian rally fans.
"We can promise spectators that the competition on the roads of the Talsi region will be incredibly exciting this year'" said the President of the Organising committee, Raimonds Strokss. "However we will continue to work towards attracting as many more world-class drivers as possible. All drivers are keen to compare themselves against the fastest drivers from other countries, on one of the most interesting events in Latvia."
BTA Rally Talsi will be held on 15th and 16th May in Talsi and the surrounding region. BTA Rally Talsi is the third round of the Latvian Rally Championship and the first round of the newly established Baltic Rally Championship.
