The Rally Liepāja is an international

rally racing Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

event that travels northwards along the coastline of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...

from

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice ...

Ventspils Ventspils (; german: Windau, ; see #Other names, other names) is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. The event is a round of the

European Rally Championship The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship has b ...

and the

Latvian Rally Championship Latvian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Latvia **Latvians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to what is modern-day Latvia and the immediate geographical region **Latvian language Latvian ( ), also known as Lettish, is an Easter ...

. The rally was run for the first time in 2013 as the first international auto racing event to be held in Latvia since gaining independence from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1991 and just the second motorsport event after the motorcycle

Speedway Grand Prix of Latvia The Speedway Grand Prix of Latvia is a motorcycle speedway event that is a part of the Speedway Grand Prix series (the world championship. History From 2006 until 2017 the Grand Prix was held at the Latvijas Spīdveja Centrs. In 2023, the eve ...

. Originally the rally was designed as a snow rally and unlike its neighbour in the ERC calendar, the

Jänner Rallye The Jänner Rallye, also known as the Internationale Jänner Rallye, is an international rally racing event based in Freistadt in northern Austria. The event is the season opening round of the European Rally Championship, the Austrian Rally Cha ...

, was not a tarmac based event but a traditional snow rally similar to events like

Rally Sweden The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...

.The inaugural event was won by Finnish driver

Jari Ketomaa Jari Ketomaa (born 18 April 1979) is a Finnish former rally driver. Career A former kart racer, Ketomaa started rallying in 1995. He made his World Rally Championship debut in 2000 at Rally Finland. He won the Group N class of the Finnish Rall ...

driving a

Ford Fiesta RRC The Ford Fiesta RS WRC is the World Rally Car built for the Ford World Rally Team by Ford Europe and M-Sport for use in the World Rally Championship 2011– 2016. It is based upon the Ford Fiesta road car, and replaced the Ford Focus RS WRC ...

in a one-off appearance for the British Autotek Motorsport team in the European Rally Championship. In 2016 the rally was moved to a September date, becoming a gravel rally, before settling into October in 2017.

Winners

Sourced from:

References

External links

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European Rally Championship
Rally competitions in Latvia Liepaja {{rally-stub Motorsport in Latvia