Latvian crews take podium places in their classes at Rally Saaremaa

The 59th Rally Saaremaa, a car rally held in Estonia, finished on Saturday, 10 October. Estonian crew Karl Martin Volver and Annika Sonn won overall, while several Latvian crews secured podium places in their own classes.

The fight for victory

Volver and Sonn drove a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 and were fastest on six of the nine stages. Although the road surface was wet and it rained, the winners' average speed was 124.8 km/h.

Second place went to last year's winner, Joosep Ralf Nõgene, in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, who finished just 5.9 seconds behind the leader. Patrik Enok, also in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, was third, 41.3 seconds off the winners' pace. His crew had received a 30-second penalty for using more tyres than allowed.

Latvian results

The highest-placed Latvians were Emīls Blūms and Didzis Eglītis in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, who took ninth place overall. In the EMV5 class a Latvian crew finished second, nine seconds behind class leader Tävi Niinemets (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX). Edgars Balodis, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII with an Estonian co-driver, was eighth in that class.

In the EMV7 class, which had 31 competitors, Kristers Cimdiņš and Renārs Šķenders took a strong second place in a Lada VAZ 2107. Zigurds Kalniņš and Renārs Salaks, in a BMW E46 Compact, finished eighth.