With the cancellation of the January rounds, the British Rallycross Championship will conclude after three of the six scheduled rounds. This means that Latvian driver Roberts Vītols has become the national champion in the Super 1600 class, having won all three races.
Covid-19 has also wreaked havoc on the British Rallycross Championship calendar. Although organisers had pushed the series into winter, with the final rounds scheduled for January, increased restrictions in the Kent region have meant the season finale at Leadenhill has had to be cancelled. Motorsport UK has already confirmed that the championship is now over, meaning the championship leaders can now celebrate their titles.
Vītols competed in all three stages. He won the first stage of the race, as well as third place in the double stage in December. However, since the Volland Racing drivers who competed in the second and third stages did not qualify for the British championship, Robert has been awarded the maximum championship result – three stages, three wins. The remaining medals will be received by home team members Darren Scott and Craig Lomax. Vītols has won the big prize for this success – a paid start in one of the stages of the British Championship Supercar class next year.
It is clear that the season was overshadowed not only by the cancellation of stages and changes to the calendar, but also by the fact that many participants, both local and from other countries, did not come to the fight due to Covid. However, in this situation, there are several positive elements that the Latvian team has gained even in such a season situation.
Roberts Vītols is the first Latvian motorcyclist to become a British champion. Latvian rallycross drivers have won several championship medals in other countries in recent years – Roberts was a bronze medalist in the British Junior class last year, Jānis Ikers achieved the title of vice-champion of Poland, and Kristaps Grunte was the Estonian champion.
Roberts Vītols after the news that he had become the British champion: “Last year I really wanted to win the British Championship in the Junior class, but it didn’t work out. It gave me a very serious motivation and desire to achieve success this year, in the Super 1600 class. It was a must! And we dedicated the whole summer to it, a lot of hard work, to be able to get to the start of the first stage. Many thanks to the family for their determination to throw themselves into this idea and their involvement! It’s a pity that the other athletes we were waiting for and who were supposed to start couldn’t come. At the same time, we overtook the fastest British Super 1600 driver, so to some extent we fulfilled our task. And a lot of valuable experience – about how starting in a foreign country with your own car works, how everything works in such a stressful year as the world is having this year. How to do Covid tests before the competition to even get on the track, inside, how this topic is addressed so that the competition can take place. It was interesting!”
“My main goal was the big prize, the opportunity to compete in a Supercar. We have achieved it! I really hope that the way we showed ourselves this year and, hopefully, the upcoming race with the big car will allow us to continue to progress and take another step higher. Thanks to my competitor Daren for looking after the car and his kind attitude. It is not common for competitors to act like this, certainly not in Latvia. Thanks to my mother’s brother Jānis, who drove to look after our car during the long break between stages and helped during the competition on site.”
“British champions… That doesn’t sound bad! It’s not a huge celebration, but it’s nice to have a real, visible result for the work you’ve done.”
“And yes, it’s important to me that this year we succeeded in what slipped out of hand last year. Let’s see how it all continues!” says Roberts.
Roberts’ father, manager and chief technician Uģis Vītols explains the main achievements of the past season: “When we went to the British Championship, we went to fight in a competition of ten, twelve cars, which was what the championship organizers themselves were hoping for. We were ready for it, this challenge did not scare us, and we knew that these would not be the slowest drivers by a long shot. We drove to stake our claim to success in this competition. We had the determination, willpower and desire to learn and gain experience. The competitors came as they did, and it is not really our fault that there were so few of them. But we were also ready for a much bigger fight.”
“When we asked championship patron Pat Doran what the meaning was, the significance of our three victories in three rounds with this lineup, he said: ‘But you came, you weren’t afraid, these are your victories!’”
“It was the work of our family and assistants over several months that we had to do to be at the start with a car that had no defects and finished all the races. With that, we gained attention and recognition. In Great Britain, we are appreciated and we enjoy the respect of those around us, which perhaps we don’t even really know how to appreciate right now. I would definitely like to say a big thank you to Robert’s mother Alice’s brother Jānis Lībietis, who has been living in Great Britain for ten years and was ready to come to our aid. Without him, the last double stage would not have been nearly as easy. He selflessly threw himself into the fight and did everything, catching every thought and hint, so that our result would be as good as possible. And maybe Robert and I are more visible in our work and comments, but we both know that without mother Alice and sister Laura, everything would be much, much more complicated! We each have our own tasks in the team, everyone takes care that their sphere is in the best possible order.”
“In general, victories in such competition did not come easily, the drivers we had to fight with still made us progress as a team and as our driver. The fight in the last stages with Volland Racing Audi initially caused too much awe and conviction that they were invincible. But now I would even say that I would gladly do another race with them, because it is such a huge and valuable school! Connoisseurs will understand what it means to compete with a car that cannot be used in the European Championship, while at the same time fighting with the leading team in this class quite similarly to Leadenhill. It gave us the opportunity to understand how far we are, where we are in relation to a team that has a large car manufacturer, resources and business behind it.”
“The grand prize – a ride in a Supercar – was a great motivation, especially when we realized that the number of participants would not be the largest. It is clear that we wanted to show off and win, but this prize will be another unique opportunity to learn,” concludes Uģis Vītols.
