Rally Sarma will celebrate its 50th anniversary in February
Foto: Autorally.lv | Autors: Gatis Smudzis | 2024.12.13
On February 7 and 8, 2025, the traditional winter Rally Sarma – one of the oldest continuously running rallies in the Baltics – will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Especially interesting speed stages have been chosen for the rally in the winter capital - Gulbene district. A special novelty will be the city super special stage!
"This rally is special to all of us! We want to celebrate it! We’re gifting Gulbene residents a city special stage, which is a completely new addition. But what to gift to the participants? We came up with a medium-long rally to keep costs per kilometre reasonable for the expensive rally cars. But what about Historic Rally and Rally Sprint Cup participants, who often feel their stages are too short? The same medium-length rally! Yes, it’s a celebration! Everyone will start and finish together. And for the spectators? We'll have a lot of participants and exciting battles, which the participants will have to take care of," says Rally Sarma director Vilhelms Sniedzāns.
All participants of Rally Sarma 2025 will have to compete cover 92 kilometres in special stages, regardless of their qualifying group. While the participants of the rally competition will receive the usual number of points in the overall season ranking, the coefficient 1.5 will be applied to the participants of the Historic Rally Cup and Rally Sprint Cup in the overall season ranking, which means that one and a half times more points will be received, which can prove to be very decisive at the end of the season.
The new city show stage will be unique - although it will take place almost in the heart of the city, it will not take place on public roads. Meanwhile, the other three speed stages will also surprise both the participants and the spectators. They will have to be done twice, and their length of around 15 kilometres corresponds to a full-fledged rally format. One stage will feature a reversed driving direction and additional elements to create a completely new format. Another will combine sections of two historic routes with a brand-new road segment, resulting in a fresh and breathtaking route. A third stage will blend roads used in rallies across different decades with previously unused segments, creating a stage that could only have been dreamed of before.
Participant registration for Rally Sarma 2025 will begin on January 7, 2025, via the Latvian Rally Championship website autorally.lv, where updates and additional details about the rally festivities will also be available.