Rallycross: Vītols explains victory, receives Super 1600 award, begins second stage

Latvian driver Roberts Vītols’ victory in the Supercar class of the British Rallycross Championship on Saturday has caused quite a stir in the British and European rallycross media. While the dust is still settling, the driver has received the trophy for last year’s Super 1600 championship, and on Monday, he will start the second round of the series.

We remind you that Vītols started the first race of the British championship at Lydden Hill on Saturday, using the prize he earned for winning the Super 1600 championship last year – a start in the Supercar class. The debutant’s fight ended with a sensation, as the young Latvian won the competition of 11 strong participants. On Monday, he will start the second round at Lydden Hill, on the basis of an additional agreement.

However, Robert’s rest on Sunday was conditional, as he had to attend the official awards ceremony of the 2020 British Rallycross Championship. The British, just like in Latvia, were also unable to hold a ball to celebrate the winners due to the pandemic, so the cups were awarded during the first race.

With this, Vītols has officially received everything he earned for last year’s title in the front-wheel drive class – both the cup and the more than magnificent “ride” in the Supercar.

By the way, in this offseason, the Provento Racing team had not yet defined this season’s sporting plans, explaining that they would monitor the situation and be aware of the possibilities of how to progress Robert’s career. Perhaps Saturday’s result may bring some thoughts about what to do next. However, this question seems to need to be updated after the second stage. It is also interesting that Laura Vītola – Robert’s younger sister, who has always been by her brother’s side in his battles, has also appeared on the lists of LAF licensed drivers. There are more and more questions in Vītola’s direction!

Meanwhile, it is clear that the team spent Sunday in a certain euphoria about what they had achieved. Roberts did not give his post-race comments until Sunday afternoon, admitting that the fatigue after Saturday’s fight was unprecedented.

Interestingly, the anti-lag was disabled for the first part of the race in Vītolas’ car, so that the driver could feel the car’s behavior and power flow more clearly. This did not allow him to fully compete with the other drivers, which was not the original intention – the main thing was to learn and understand the all-wheel drive car. True, there were also disadvantages – in an attempt to compensate for the lack of anti-lag, the driver had to wear out his tires more, which meant starting the final with already very worn tires. In addition, in the semi-final, where he started with new tires, problems with the turbine appeared again – as was discovered before the final, there was a small leak. As a result, the car stalled at the start of the semi-final, and the task became even more difficult – to chase his competitors at full speed in order to secure a place in the final, while at the same time maintaining the tires in such a condition that they would have some chance of starting the final.

“I was very unhappy about this situation,” explains Roberts. “I had a bad start in the semi-final, lost power due to a leak, and new tires, with which I had to compensate for the lack of power, chasing everyone. Already on the second, third lap, I realized that I was hurting the tires and destroying what I should have kept in the best possible condition for the final. But there was no other option, I had to keep up with the others and make it to the final.”

“Before the final, the guys prepared the car again, made adjustments on the computer, and we drove to the final. Before the final, I did a test run, and the car stalled again, which made me think that everything was bad. But I left the start well, and I also correctly predicted that O’Donovan, who was in front, would make a good start and, despite the outside starting position, would go into the base lap, which would leave me a free track on the way to the Joker’s lap. I guessed it. And then, after the first half-lap, I felt that the car was the way I wanted it, that it handled the way I wanted it to, and I could drive it!”

“After a few laps, the spotter reported that I was closing in on the drivers in front who hadn’t been to the Joker yet, so I kept going at that pace. And then the thought came to my head that I could do something special. One click – I felt the car and realized that I could go as fast as I wanted. I was driving the car, not the car driving me.”

“Interestingly, when I watched the onboard recording, I saw so many mistakes that at times I even wondered how I got this far in that trip! I think that part of the mistakes should be attributed to the fact that during the first trips, technical problems prevented me from fully understanding the car, getting to know it. Situations changed all day long, I had to constantly take into account that I couldn’t just learn the car, but had to try to live with some problem. But the final put everything in its place.”

“It is clear that none of this would have been possible without my family, and the team also worked perfectly! Only after the race did we realize that most of the mechanics and engineers were the same ones who work with Liem Doran and Andreas Bakkerud in the world championship. When I tell them after the race what I felt and how I felt, they can immediately tell what causes such feelings. The engineer with whom we analyze the data after the races is the same one who works in the world championship. I have ended up in the hands of great specialists!”

“And the Latvian fans! They were there, and they felt for me; they cheered, and they gave me energy. Since the Junior class, they have always been with me in British competitions! Thank you to them for that!”

“About the Supercar class in general – it is very, very difficult to drive! I trained physically properly, regularly, with my trainer, so that I would be maximally prepared to get into any car and I would have no problems driving. But the Supercar car completely exhausted me. The acceleration is wild, the braking is sharp, the loads in the corners… Twice, three times harder than with the Super 1600.”

“Honestly, for the first time in my life, I’ve been riding all day, breathing through my mouth, trying to catch my breath, because the effort is great. I even had the feeling that the other competitors who were ahead were losing strength towards the end of the final. I felt really tired in the fourth and fifth laps, but I gathered all my strength to finish the last laps quickly.”

“On Monday, everything will start from scratch. The others will have understood what happened and will have moved on after the long break; the fight will be much, much harder. But let’s fight!”