Rallycross: Vītoli’s previous battles in Great Britain (PHOTOS)

Some time ago, two rounds of the British Championship were held at the Knockhill circuit in Great Britain, with Roberts Vītols competing in the Supercar class, and his sister Laura in the Junior class. Both performed respectably, with Roberts taking one win and one second place in the rounds.

On Saturday, in the eight-car Supercar class, Roberts Vītols won the first qualifying race but finished fourth in the second. The day’s format did not include any more heats, with the semi-finals immediately following. Roberts won his race, securing a front-row start in the final. A good position for the podium.

Ollie O’Donovan, who was the overall leader before this weekend, finished behind Vītolas, one point ahead of Robert.

On Saturday, Laura Vītola also competed in the Junior class. In terms of positions, the qualification turned out to be difficult, but for Vītola, who had only spent her second weekend in rallycross, the task was more to find driving speed and lap times. Her performance in this regard was progressive, which was rewarded in the final. The decisive race started quite dramatically, as the fight was stopped twice due to somersaults by her competitors. As a result, Laura took fourth place in the stage among nine competitors!

The next day, the fifth stage

Robert had a rough start in the Supercar class, but in the final, he achieved another podium – second place.

Vītols was forced to retire in the first two qualifying sessions, but the day took a positive turn starting with the third qualifying session, in which he won. The driver notes that the weekend can be assessed as good, because despite many events and conditions, the results are good, but what is most pleasing is the overall convincingly fastest lap times in the races.

“In the first qualifying session of the second day, I started in the same race as O’Donovan,” Roberts Vītols explains the day’s adventures. “On the first lap, I went to Joker; on the second, he went. At the place where the Joker exit meets the main track… Well, it’s a debatable situation. I drove the track along the edge of the cones, but his car at the exit looked more towards the middle of the track than its straight line, which should be maintained when leaving Joker. The moment I saw his car next to me, I realized that there would be contact. I expected that we would collide, but we would continue driving and fight for position until the next turn. However, the blow turned out to be sharp and unsuccessful. At that moment, I was still in fifth gear, and at that moment, at a speed of 140 km/h, the back of the car was completely torn off the road, because the rear wheel had broken. I had to work hard to save the situation, the nose of the car twice touched the concrete of the track edge… Many later said that they were shocked that in such a situation, they managed to collect the car at all. Accordingly, on the second run, “We didn’t have time to fully prepare the car, so in that qualifying, I just crossed the starting line to formally start. So it was clear that in the third qualifying, we had to show the best possible result. We did that, I achieved victory, and it was also nice that the lap times were basically a second faster than the others. Overall, this gave us a fourth starting position in the final.”

“It was my mistake at the start of the decisive race – I chose one start mode too low in the settings, which resulted in the car revving too low at the start, so I went into the fight much harder than I wanted. It’s a risky game. I hoped that lower revs would allow me to get a better start, but this time, this risk didn’t pay off. After the first corner, I was sixth out of seven drivers. I knew that I would be driving the Joker at the last moment; everything seemed to be in order with the strategy. However, a couple of laps before the finish, something happened again in one of the corners, and the car almost skidded and almost went into the tires. After that, the handling was chaotic on the gravel section too, and, most likely, after the morning bump, something either broke or came loose again. So it’s good that I managed to reach the finish. It seems that if the race had been better organized, I would have had a chance to fight with Derek Tohill for the win. As experts told us, Tohill had the European Championship at this stage: “A new engine has been specially developed, so it’s good to know that we can compete on equal terms with very powerful machines.”

“After this stage, the overall standings situation has become very exciting, because now it seems that four drivers are really claiming the championship title – O’Donovan, myself, Tohill, Godfrey… The remaining stages of the season will be very, very interesting!”

Sister Laura finished sixth in the finals on the second day. Vītola says about his second rallycross weekend in his life: “A great experience! Even the other drivers said that this is one of the most difficult tracks, so it’s good that I’m at the finish line, although there were enough mistakes. I’m happy with myself that I was finally able to engage all the gears, which was a problem in the previous stage in Pembrokeshire, when I couldn’t get into third gear, and from third into second. So it was much easier, I had to “get along with the gearbox”, as my dad says, which I finally managed to do. But there were a lot of adventures! On the first day, in one of the qualifications, I skidded off the track and hit a pile of tires, after which the car’s suspension broke, and I couldn’t continue the race. Up until then, the race had been very good; up until then, I was safely in second place out of nine drivers. Also, on the second day, in one of the races, I was in the wrong place, and also a race that had started well ended on the side of the track. However, I realize that I’m only at the very beginning, and I still have a lot to learn. On the first day in the final, I The other girl did a somersault right in front of me. I stopped the ride, but I was really nervous about what I saw. It was quite shocking to watch the accident so close. I had to calm down until the next start. At the restart, in the second corner, one of the cars in front was slow, and to avoid it, I turned the steering wheel to the left. At that moment, it turned out that another competitor had seen the narrow space next to me, which resulted in a collision, and he did three somersaults. I didn’t even realize that there was someone next to me. You can also see on the onboard camera that when I turn the steering wheel, she is not there yet, and I couldn’t see her. I got season penalty points, but I didn’t worry about them; it was more a terrible feeling than the accident itself that it happened… I also hit my tires afterwards. Red flags again, where I had to explain myself to the judges, excitement, and my hands were really down. Our final was postponed until the very end of the day, and at that moment, it really started. “It was raining. I have practically no experience in the rain, so I went to the start really scared. At the beginning of the race, it was really slippery, as a result of which two competitors in front slipped and went their separate ways. At that moment, I gave myself a task – to reach the finish line in this race. I didn’t want to stay on the wall or the grass so much. I rode very cautiously, getting used to the track. Towards the end of the race, I picked up the pace and even got a little closer to the drivers in front, finishing fourth, which is a good result that day.”

“The first day was useful for the experience. By the end, I was already completely exhausted because I had to constantly go to the judges! If something happened on the track, I was always somewhere nearby. I felt like the bad girl in the group.”

“The second day was a little less adventurous. I tried to pick up the pace and find speed. By the end of the day, I was able to do the dirt part at full throttle, which didn’t seem realistic at the beginning of the weekend. I finished sixth in the final, and again with a scare: on the last lap, a medical car drove out in front of me on the track. Quite surprising! After this incident, the judges decided to count the results after six laps instead of seven. It didn’t change anything for me – sixth out of nine who started the fight.”

“I think the speed will be higher in the next stages. We need to gain more confidence in ourselves and trust the car more; everything will be fine!”

This time, due to various coincidences, the role of Roberts Vītols’ spotter was taken by the father of both drivers, Uģis. He admits that in the Supercar class mode, the pace is incomparable for this position, despite having many years of experience dictating to Roberts in Super 1600 and other classes: “It’s a different pace, a different level, a different speed at which information has to be processed, and the situation understood. However, I felt that we were succeeding; there were no major mistakes in this regard. I must admit that the team’s praise for our cooperation with Roberts of this type also warmed my heart,” says Uģis. “Overall, that weekend was so eventful and full of adventures! I think that the results achieved and Laura’s progress are a good outcome of everything we experienced. Special thanks to those local Latvians who came in large numbers to support us! There were two, even, it seems, three Latvian flags on the track. And those were the only national flags in the fan ranks! That is important to us and very, very pleasant!”

The next British Championship double rounds are scheduled for Leadenhill in early November and Spa in Belgium in early December. Of course, hoping that the current situation will not spoil the end of the season.