RBR.LV Virtual rally season 2024 is officially open!

The new season has begun with “Rally Alūksne 2024”! The first rally of the season saw 120 drivers at the starting line, but only a fraction of them managed to finish all of the 10 stages. All of the stages were challenging and required high focus, especially the first two - running in the night time. Nevertheless, the spirits were high all through the rally and the competitors forced their way through the snow banks. And the results showed that there will be a lot of fighting for positions in all classes throughout the season. This time overall fastest was Estonian driver Gevin Peet driving his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 R4. Now let’s see how the 4 classes squared up.

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LRČ1 Class favourite Raivo Dabiņš had an unfortunate electronics issue with his Škoda Fabia R5 EVO, retiring him early in the first stage. After fixing the issue, he continued on the next day using Superrally system and was definitely fastest man on the remaining stages, gaining 5 Power Stage points.
On the first day we saw great battle between Ralfs Igaveņš and (to his words) “rusty” Rihards Maspāns. Also Gatis Gross and Kristaps Ušvils tried to compare their gear lengths and did spectacularly.
On day two Ralfs turned out to be fastest of their battle, leaving Rihards 9 seconds behind. Gross had a few minor accidents and had to retire the car early. Kristaps now had to compete with Lithuanian driver Vytautas Gricius, but pushed too hard on stage 9 and crashed. Needless to say, he was furious.
TOP3 in LRC1 class:
Ralfs Igaveņš (VW POLO GTI R5);
Rihards Maspans (VW POLO GTI R5) + 9.3 sec.;
Gricius Vytautas (Škoda Fabia R5 Evo) + 37.1 sec.

LRČ2 class was dominated by Estonian driver Gevin Peet and won both days of the rally. P2 was contested by four drivers - Elmārs Tikums (crash), Gevin Milpak (had to stop and check the safety of some media personnel that stood too close to the road), Oskars Bergmanis and Edmunds Grostiņš. Edmunds was faster at the end, leaving the third step on the podium for Oskars.
TOP3 in LRC2 class:
Gevin Peet (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 R4);
Edmunds Grostiņš (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X R4) + 2:03.3;
Oskars Bergmanis (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X R4) + 2:19.1

LRC3 or FWD class also saw close battle for the win between Toms Roberts, Ģirts Valdmanis, Kristaps Ābele, Kristians Jakovlevs and our legendary veteran driver Toms Ķinēns. After a few stages T. Roberts lost his tempo, K. Ābele crashed into a tree and had to extinguish the car (crew OK). So it was up to the remaining guys to split the podium.
TOP3 in LRC3 class:
Ģirts Valdmanis (Peugeot 208 Rally4);
Toms Ķinēns (Renault Clio III R3) + 34.5 sec.;
Kristians Jakovlevs (Peugeot 208 Rally4) + 53.8 sec.

LRC4 was the crowd favorite because of the power slides, speed and precision needed to be fast with the RWD cars. Most notable with their BMW’s - Atis Gromovs, Reinis Vilkaitis and Lauris Ermansons. Not far after them with a proper “family sedan” - Kristaps Pucens with Volvo 240 Turbo. This quartet happily reached the finish line, but sadly there’s only three places on the podium.
TOP3 in LRC4 class:
Atis Gromovs (BMW M3 E36 GrpA);
Reinis Vilkaitis (BMW M3 E36 GrpA) + 31.4 sec.;
Lauris Ermansons (BMW M3 E36 GrpA) + 2:11.6.

RBR.LV and Virtual rally “Alūksne 2024” organisers want to thank all of the competitors for the exciting opening of this season! We wish you the best in the rest of the season, may the engines run, snowbanks are soft and the racing is close! See you all very soon 15.02. – 20.02.2024. - in the RBR.LV Virtual rally “Sarma 2024”.