Based in Latvia’s third-largest city on the shores of the Baltic Sea, Rally Liepāja has been a round of the ERC since it was first run in 2013 – and its fast gravel stages are set to appear in the FIA World Rally Championship next year as part of the first Rally Latvia.
With a route formed of 10 stages totalling 183.89 competitive kilometres, it gave the Challenge Program-supported trio the chance to build upon their strong performances on the previous ERC round in Poland over similar terrain. As in Poland, they would face tough competition, driving Renault Clio Rally4 cars among 22 entries in the ERC4 class.
The three drivers could hardly have made a better start to the rally on Saturday morning, dominating the top three times in their class on SS1 with Yamamoto quickest to take the early lead just ahead of Otake and Kogure.
Heavy dust following prolonged dry weather caused the subsequent repeat of the rally’s longest stage (27.56 kilometres) to be cancelled – only for rain to then fall for the rest of the day. Despite the slippery conditions, the three Japanese drivers continued to be consistent and avoid major mistakes.
Yamamoto, co-driven by Miika Teiskonen, remained in a close fight for the lead before his closest rival was excluded for an underweight car. He therefore led at the end of the day by 26.1 seconds ahead of Otake and his co-driver Marko Salminen, who went fastest in the Liepāja city stage that closed out the day. Kogure and co-driver Topi Luhtinen were just 1.3s off a podium position in fourth, despite a 10s penalty for a late check-in time.
Unfortunately, all three drivers would come into difficulty when they were close to strong results on Sunday. Kogure had to retire early in the second stage of the day due to a broken driveshaft, while Otake’s hopes of a podium effectively ended when his engine would not fire up after mid-day service. An unscheduled alternator change led to a 90-second time penalty, before he ultimately retired after sustaining radiator damage on landing from a jump in SS9. Similar circumstances would also force Yamamoto to stop when he was just one stage away from ERC4 victory.
