SS15: Černý wins stage, Ketomaa wins rally

Jari Ketomaa has won Rally Liepāja-Ventspils, round two of the FIA European Rally Championship.

Driving a Ford Fiesta RRC, Ketomaa and co-driver Kaj Lindström completed Sunday’s final stage with a winning margin of 31.0s over Craig Breen and David Moynihan in a Peugeot 207 Super 2000, who settled for second after they lost precious seconds with an minor electrical issue on Sunday morning.

French pair François Delecour and Dominique Savignoni completed the podium following a close battle with Alexey Lukyanuk and Alexey Arnautov, which ended when the Russians retired with a suspected mechanical issue on stage 14.

Their exit handed the ERC Production Car Cup honours to Lithuanians Vytautas Švedas and Žilvinas Sakalauskas in a Mitsubishi Lancer. They finished sixth overall.

Jan Černý and Pavel Kohout took fourth place in a privately-run ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 by winning the final stage. “I really wanted to win this stage but I made a lot of mistakes,” said young Czech driver Černý.

Delecour also reported a minor scare on the 3.40-kilometre Ventspils kalns spectator stage, which brought the ERC action in Latvia to an exciting climax. “I don’t know about the jump and I jumped too much,” said Delecour. “I think I touched something because the car feels strange.”

Raimonds Kisiels was the top local runner home in fifth overall following a spectacular jump on the final stage in his MINI John Cooper Works RRC. He was second fastest, 2.7s down on Černý.

Risto Immonen was leading the ERC 2WD Championship heading to the final stage.