Latvian rallycross driver Roberts Vītols received an offer to compete in the Finnish RX Academy before the Riga RallyX Nordic stage. Firstly, this is an assessment of Vītols as a “young and promising” in the eyes of rallycross specialists, and secondly, for Roberts it is another learning opportunity in an already busy stage of his career. What did he and his team learn by starting to participate in the Riga race? While the pilot was training and learning the nuances of what was happening on Saturday morning, his father Uģis Vītols gave the first comment: “The level at which everything happened from the first day is very high and professional. In addition, they really work with the drivers in a school mode, and not just let them start and finish the race. It is exciting that at the beginning of the stage days, a draw is made as to which engineer will be for which driver, and the coaches are also drawn as to who will work with whom. In turn, the spotters change from race to race, depending on which starting point the driver is at. It seems that not only the drivers are trained and taught in this way, but also the engineers and other personnel. And I really like it, this diversity. The fact that the driver is not tied to one engineer and vice versa is very valuable, because the driver gets a variety in his approach to things and work. An excellent school. Also, the fact that on Thursday there was an opportunity to do a lot of training laps – 40 of his own, which seems insanely many. Robis was exhausted in the evening. If everything can be counted in monetary terms, then I have the feeling that the payment made for this race has paid off completely, in different ways. The RX Academy’s goal is to create drivers who can later confidently walk in world rallycross, already knowing what and how to do. And I see that this is happening. In any case, we have ended up in a collective that a year ago we would have called a dream kingdom, but now we are working together. ” During the day, Roberts Vītols started the fight in the RX Academy race, immediately concluding a certain time loss against the Academy leader Rasmus Tuominen. In practice, there was 0.7 seconds between the two, but in the first qualification, although Vītols was in high second place, the Finn was still ahead by three seconds, actually maintaining the same 0.7 second/lap ratio. Uģis Vītols comments on Saturday evening: “We couldn’t understand why our times were so different from the leader. When talking to the Academy’s specialists, we noticed an important nuance – this Renault is quite different compared to everything we have driven so far – a cross-kart, Peugeot, Suzuki… The behavior of our previous cars is more or less similar – entering a turn, braking, accelerating, steering, all of this is, one might say, traditional and usual. This car is very different in its behavior.” Roberts on Saturday evening about the specifics of the car: “You can start with a simplified explanation of the basics of karting to understand what we mean by “traditional” car behavior: approach the corner, brake without turning the steering wheel, enter the corner, exit it. This car requires you to turn into the corner while braking, gently holding the brakes. Then, at the exit of the corner, the car must be placed practically straight,and only then should you start accelerating. The car has an electric throttle, not a cable, so the first touch of the gas pedal immediately creates a jerk. The Biķernieki track is all about great grip, but I lost the most time as a Finnish rider in two asphalt bends. In the first run, I also overdid it a bit, looking for a way to seemingly go through the turns faster. As a result, minimal, nuanced time losses, which together already create a considerable loss for the leader. After the first qualifying, I went through everything with my teacher, where, whatever I have done, there will be tasks to solve on the track on Sunday. In general, there are so many lessons this weekend! Starting with psychological preparation, continuing with the onboard analysis of each ride, studying telemetry, press matters, press conference… The team and mechanics are very responsive, the mechanics and trainers were drawn in front of everyone in the morning. Also, the group of riders, which we are, are all very friendly and communicative. I didn’t expect such good impressions and emotions before this weekend.” Uģis adds: “Tuominen’s mechanic on this day was our own Andris Kaļķis, who knew how to say that the Finn is very fast, comes from highway racing, and his skill cannot be denied. Consequently, starting with this car, precise controllability of the car has been found from the beginning of the season. In general, I can add to what Roberts said – I also see from the sidelines that the atmosphere here is great, the mechanics joke around with each other, creating a relaxed and nice atmosphere. We parents have been assigned a separate tent where we can sit, sip coffee, and eat pastries, but we cannot influence anything in other matters. When Roberts completes his ride, he makes his own decisions and conclusions, and only then do we get to congratulate him, hug him, and meet him. There is perfect order in the process, the cars are as identical as possible. When athletes go out on the track, all cars have identical tire pressures, for example. And it is very important that the equipment is the same, so that the results and the performance of the drivers can be assessed as objectively as possible.”“Tuominen’s mechanic on that day was our own Andris Kaļķis, who knew how to say that the Finn is very fast, comes from road racing, and his skill cannot be denied. Consequently, starting with this car, precise controllability of the car has been found from the beginning of the season. In general, I can add to what Roberts said – I can also see from the sidelines that the atmosphere here is great, the mechanics joke around with each other, creating a relaxed and nice atmosphere. We parents have been assigned a separate tent where we can sit, sip coffee, and eat pastries, but we cannot influence anything else. When Roberts completes his ride, he makes his own decisions and conclusions, and only then do we get to congratulate him, hug him, and meet him. There is perfect order in the process, the cars are as identical as possible. When the athletes go on the track, all the cars have identical tire pressures, for example. And it is very important that the equipment is the same, “so that the results and the performance of the drivers can be evaluated as objectively as possible.”“Tuominen’s mechanic on that day was our own Andris Kaļķis, who knew how to say that the Finn is very fast, comes from road racing, and his skill cannot be denied. Consequently, starting with this car, precise controllability of the car has been found from the beginning of the season. In general, I can add to what Roberts said – I can also see from the sidelines that the atmosphere here is great, the mechanics joke around with each other, creating a relaxed and nice atmosphere. We parents have been assigned a separate tent where we can sit, sip coffee, and eat pastries, but we cannot influence anything else. When Roberts completes his ride, he makes his own decisions and conclusions, and only then do we get to congratulate him, hug him, and meet him. There is perfect order in the process, the cars are as identical as possible. When the athletes go on the track, all the cars have identical tire pressures, for example. And it is very important that the equipment is the same, “so that the results and the performance of the drivers can be evaluated as objectively as possible.”
