On Saturday, August 27, the third stage of the “ERST Finance” mini rally cup will take place in the Ropaž district. 110 crews will take to the start in the “Ropaži 2022” mini-rally, among which will be several foreign participants from Estonia and Finland, as well as well-known motor sportsmen in Latvia such as Ralfs Sirmacis, Kristaps Laipnieks and Edmunds Ērglis.
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The ceremonial start of the mini rally “Ropaži 2022” will be given on Saturday at 12.20 in Ropaži (Skolas iela 5 k-2), after which the participants will go on the first three speed stages “Ropaži 1”, “ERST Finance 1” and “Blast.lv 1”. Next, there will be a service park, this time located in the very center of Ropaži, on Stadion Street, where spectators will have the opportunity to get to know both the mini rally vehicles and the participants of the competition. After the service park, the athletes will repeat the speed stages performed in the first lap, trying to improve their performance. In the competition mode, the crews will cover 23 kilometers, while the total distance covered during the day will be over 100 kilometers.
The maps of the speed stages will be published on Saturday, at 8 o’clock in the morning, both in the documents section of Minirallijs.lv and on the social networks of the mini rally, thus the spectators will have the opportunity to quickly choose the best viewpoints.
In recent years, the athletes in the “Ropaži” mini rally had to fight with rain and very slippery conditions, however, this week’s weather forecast shows warm and dry weather. Therefore, beautiful and fast battles are expected in all 11 competitions on the roads of Ropaž district on Saturday.
Especially exciting and attractive battles promise to be in the 2WD competition this time, as it is expected that Ralfs Sirmacis, Guido Rozenblooms, Kristaps Laipnieks and Kristaps Lāms will compete for the victory.
Sirmacis won the first stage in Gulbene, but an accident and retirement followed in Vecpiebalga. Rosenblum has had a solid performance this season and two podiums to take the lead in the 2WD class, but he is definitely motivated to finally get his first win of the season.
Laipnieks still has open accounts with the mini-rally in Ropaži – in 2020, he experienced an accident, while last year he was deprived of the title of the fastest single drive by a 20-second penalty. Lāms took care of a surprising victory in Vecpiebalga, beating the above-mentioned Laipnieks and Rozenblūms, therefore he is also definitely one of the favorites in Ropaži.
In the fastest street test – 4WD+ – the winner of the first two stages, Mārtiņš Ločmelis, who after several successful seasons in the mini rally, has taken the next step and switched to the big rally, will not start this time. Thus, we will definitely see a new winner in the 4WD+ class in Ropaži – season leaders Elmārs Aukšmuksts, Māris Erts and Raivis Balodis are among the favorites to win. The buggy class will also ensure an attractive performance, where five crews will take to the start this time.
As mentioned above, the start of the competition will be given at 12.20, while the finish for the first crew is expected around 16.45. The award ceremony and the end of the competition are planned around 19.50. If the start in Ropaži is given at Skolas iela 5 k-2, then the awarding of the competition will take place at Sporta iela 2.
