Rallycross: Vītolus’ technique lets him down in the second stage, but he earns recognition

Latvian rallycross driver Roberts Vītols continued to show promising speed in the Supercar class at the second round of the British Rallycross Championship at Leadenhill, but the race was ruined by a turbine failure in his car.

Vītols started the day confidently, finishing the first qualifying session in first position after the second result in free practice. This once again confirmed that Saturday’s victory in the first stage was not a coincidence. Despite the excellent result, the driver was not completely satisfied with the car’s setup, complaining about problems in the corners, and Roberts also blamed himself for starting too fast.

The second race was unsuccessful, as the Latvian got stuck behind slower competitors during the fight and lost time, thus only finishing seventh in the second series. However, starting from the third qualifying session, significant problems with the car began: after the fight, Vītols felt a loss of power, as a result of which he became powerless on the straight sections of the track – the competitors had moved away. The team began searching for power, once again coming to the topic of the turbo system.

Despite the problems after three qualifying sessions, Vītols was in third place, and although the technical problems were not completely resolved, Roberts finished the semi-final in second position, confidently moving towards the final. After the semi-final, the team discovered a fault in the intercooler, which seemed to have been fixed before the decisive race.

However, at the start of the final, everything ended without really starting – a turbine defect destroyed the race at the very start. After skidding a short lap, Vītols left the track due to a technical problem.

“As nice as Saturday was, Monday ended so badly,” Roberts admits with disappointment. “I stayed at the start in the final, I dropped out. In the final, I was on the first starting row on the outside – an ideal position to go after the start in the Joker and, possibly, arrange the race scenario in my favor. However, the whole day turned out to be messy and inadequate due to technical problems. I was constantly losing power, and there was always a new reason for this. Already in the first run, I felt a lack of power; I managed to fix it in the second run, but in that I got stuck behind my competitors and did not realize my opportunity. In the third qualifying session, I again felt that the car was not working, but there was not enough time for the semi-final to fix the problems. Before the final, the team did everything possible, and it also happened that the second team car also needed repairs – it was tense!”

“Before the final, the car stalled in the tire cleaning area. I started it, but I felt that the car wanted to stall. At the start, everything became clear – the final was over. After the race, I felt that the whole team was upset about this day, because I guess we all knew that we could achieve another great result. What was painful for me was that I saw a lot of opportunities that the course of the race offered, and I could have used them, but the car didn’t let me. I felt that I could have done something big and significant in the final today, but it wasn’t destined to be.”

Father and manager Uģis Vītols understands the disappointment of Roberts and the team, but at the same time finds several positive nuances in the visit to Leadenhill: “Those who had to see Robert’s speed, I think, saw and understood. Pat Doran noted in his farewell that the driver’s performance was “very impressive”, while his son, world championship driver Liam Doran, significantly changed his communication over the weekend. If on Saturday he limited himself to polite praise, then on Monday the conversations with Robert were long, specific, and informative. We have left a very good impression, we really enjoyed the positive attitude and respect towards Robert and us in general. In this respect, we are very satisfied; maybe that was even the main goal of this event. We also said goodbye to the team in a very pleasant atmosphere, dear, everything is fine in this respect too! Let’s look forward to the next times, if there are any, there is food for thought!”