Rallycross: Roberts Vītols second in Pembry, sister Laura making rapid progress

The British Rallycross Championship round in Pembroke concluded on Monday. Roberts Vītols achieved second place in the Supercar class, while his sister Laura Vītols, who made her debut in rallycross, demonstrated rapid progress in the Junior class, which was also the main task of the debut battle.

In Pembry, the third round of the Supercar class took place over two days, while the Junior and other classes held two rounds at once – the third on Sunday, the fourth on Monday.

Roberts Vītols finished third in all three qualifying races on Saturday, finishing fourth in the eight-man field in qualifying totals at the end of the day. There was a fourth qualifying race left for Sunday, and the day started promisingly – a series win, which gave him second place at the end of qualifying.

Roberts was convincing in his semi-final – a convincing victory, five seconds ahead of his closest competitor.

The final race turned out to be beautiful and exciting, and despite occasional technical difficulties, Vītols reached the second podium in three stages of the championship, taking second place. The victory was achieved by the winner of the qualifications and the second semi-final, Julian Godfrey, for whom Pembry is a home track. The performance of both leaders was convincing; they broke away from the followers, sharing the victory with less than two seconds between them. Third position was achieved by Ollie O`Donovan.

Laura Vītola experienced her long-awaited debut race in motorsport in an atypical way for Latvians – in Great Britain, competing in the Suzuki Swift monoclass Junior classification. It is clear that the first steps should be taken cautiously and gradually, which was also achieved. Moreover, Vītola was not last in either of the two stages: in the competition of nine participants on Sunday, Laura took seventh place, and on Monday, sixth position.

On Sunday, two eighth-place finishes and one elimination were achieved in the qualifying races; the first contact races were also enjoyed. All nine competitors met in a joint final, where Laura took seventh place.

On Monday, everything started from the beginning; the next stage of this class was held. In the first qualification, they started in eighth place, but in the second race, they achieved seventh position. In the third race, the result was spoiled by a five-second penalty for ramming the track’s boundary posts, for which penalties were suddenly distributed to several drivers at once in a campaign-like manner. They ended the qualification in seventh place, but in the final, they achieved sixth position.

However, the main thing is that Vītola significantly improved her lap times over the course of two days, and while on the first day most of the riders were still trailing behind the Latvian, on the second day, Laura had already caught up with the rest of the group.

In addition, Vītola’s debut also caused a certain stir in the participants’ park. The fact that a girl from another country, whose brother has been getting on the nerves of the class leaders for a couple of seasons, is making her debut in the race has a strong effect on both the other athletes and the British rallycross community as a whole.