Takale finishes 6th in Rally of Champions in Latvia

Former APRC Production Cup champion Sanjay Takale overcame challenging terrains in the Latvian outback to finish sixth in the international class in Rally Talsi, also known as the Rally of Champions.

The Rally Talsi, third round of the Latvian Rally Championship, traversed through Mordanga, Pastende, Mundigciems, and Strazde regions where the 10 special stages were marked.

Driving Ford Fiesta R2 rally spec car prepared by Baltic Motorsprots Promotion, Pune-based Takale clocked one hour five minutes and 09.12 seconds to complete the 10 special stages adding up to 98.94 kilometres.

Amritrajit Ghosh finished 39th overall in the 88-car competition.

Ukrainian Valerii Gorban won the title in the Mini John Cooper Works car after clocking 49 minutes 12.86 seconds.

"We drove in the international class where all the top young drivers of Europe come to drive as the Rally of Champions is one of the high speed rally in Latvia," said Takale after traversing 301.59-km overall to complete the challenging rally.

"Latvia is considered as a learning place for rally drivers and that was the reason I chose to drive in Talsi where top young drivers from Spain, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Portugal and Norway took part.

"In our class there was son of former World Rally Championship winner, Petter Solberg," Takale said of Oliver Solberg, who was in Talsi under a training programme.

Latvia is the only place in the world where one can take part in the open class rallying from the age of 15.