This year’s motorsport season is a rapid step in the career growth of young Latvian rallycross driver Roberts Vītols. New victories are piling up on previous successes, and the driver is already being talked about internationally. In the background of his achievements is his father, the extravagant car expert Uģis Vītols. Yes, Roberts is that Vītols boy!
UĢIS VĪTOLS — MOTOR RACER
For many years, there was almost a tradition in the Latvian media environment — if something is wrong with road traffic, everyone calls Pauls Timrot. If there are fluctuations in the car trade, everyone calls Uģis Vītols. Uģis became a connoisseur of the car trade with the establishment of his own company. His attractive personality and positive lack of Latvian shyness brought Vītols to television, where he and his colleagues had a long-running program about used cars, their pros and cons, prices, and problems. Dismantling an old Audi turned out so attractive for Vītols that he could not help but remain in people’s memories. He is still like that today — attractive, expressive in language, emotional, which can be both a plus and a minus, especially in such a tense and sensitive environment as motorsports. Vītols is also a motor sportsman in the minds of many because he has always been that way. The brightest times (subjective opinion) were the nineties, when autocross demonstrated a rapid breakthrough in Latvia. The reason for the breakthrough was the start of Latvian athletes in the European autocross, and the creation of the Division 1 class also in the national championship. Vītols was there, together with the famous Gintas Bujāns, Aldis Zēbergs, Aigars Nitis (Reinis’ father), Vladislavs Šlēgelmilhs (Haralds’ father), and Andris Dambis… For the cross-country of that time, he had a fairly modern Lancia Delta HF Integrale, with which Uģis raced alongside his compatriots competing at the European level. By the way, the legendary Lancia was finally sold only a couple of years ago. At a certain point, Uģis’s racing career came to a halt; his name can still be found in the autocross results in 2001, and later, a few trips in the Latvian rally raid competition with a Mitsubishi Pajero. This coincides with the fact that Roberts was born in September 2002.
ROBERTS VĪTOLS — A STIFF PATH TO SUCCESS
Another six years, and little Roberts Vītols is already making his debut in the Latvian children’s autocross championship in the Mini Buggy class. The second race, and the first victory in hand. A long and very interesting path begins, in which the next step should now be a big leap at the international level. In 2009, the junior becomes the Latvian Mini Buggy Champion. When Roberts grows out of the buggy like out of old pants, the Vītols family moves from autocross to karting, which is undoubtedly a perfect school for every young motorcyclist. Success in karting is also a success – Latvian and Baltic champion, winner of leading positions in the prestigious Estonian championship. After asphalt experience, the team returns to cross-country competitions. In 2015, Vītols makes his debut in cross-kart competitions, which is the first step towards rallycross – the tracks are made of both dirt and asphalt. Successes both in the Baltics and in the NEZ Northern European Championship. At the end of 2016, in parallel with the kart racing, he also made his debut behind the wheel of a car, competing in the rear-wheel drive Lada car class. After years of running in, 2017 can be considered the first full-fledged season, when he spent a full season in the NEZ kart championship, as well as almost the entire season in the Latvian Rallycross Cup Super 1600 class. In Northern Europe, he achieved fifth place in the competition of 50 participants, but in Latvia, he climbed the podium four times in six stages of the rallycross series, and won a bronze medal in the overall standings. However, his most brilliant success was achieved in the NEZ rallycross championship. At only 14 years old, Vītols became the champion of the Northern European Rallycross Championship Super 1600 class. With the championship being liquidated in the last couple of years, Roberts will remain the youngest winner of all time.
LET YOURSELF CHOOSE
The success of 2017 came after a period of reflection for Roberts. Previously, during his rapidly progressing career, the driver had been contemplating whether motorsport was what he really wanted to do. Uģis Vītols said at the time: “Robis is very passionate about basketball and other activities, while motorsport — karting, cross-karting — takes up a lot of resources, both in terms of time and emotions. At some point, I felt that his desire for this sport was cooling down, and he liked to do other things. It was clear that I had to let my son understand — he wanted motorsport or something else. If he didn’t feel happy in what he was doing, there would be no point in pressuring him, nor investing work and resources.” Perhaps this father’s step back soon became two steps forward. Time passed, and Roberts returned to motorsport — more mature, more grown-up, and even hungrier for success. Moreover, it is clear that the driver is fast not only on a local scale, but one should set one’s sights on broader horizons. This does mean huge financial resources, when it comes to, for example, the Super 1600 class of the European Rallycross Championship. Realizing this, Vītoli does not rush into crazy adventures, but gradually makes his name known with successes wherever the opportunity arises. The patience of Uģis and Roberts is striking – after the aforementioned successes, one should feel – we deserve it, we deserve it now, and immediately, we already know and understand everything. Instead, there is a search for growth and interesting ways to gain additional knowledge. In 2018, Roberts received a Super 1600 class Peugeot car, which, unlike the previously rented equipment, was owned by the team. The parameters promised a lot and also provided a lot, including painful moments related to the durability of the car – he did not manage to finish in all races, nor did he manage to win all the points of the Latvian Rallycross Championship. Vītols took second place in the overall standings of the series. However, in parallel, contacts were established with representatives of the British Rallycross Championship, which ended with a test race on the famous Lydden Hill track with Suzuki Swift cars of the British Junior Championship class. In the race, he managed to demonstrate his best results — on a foreign track, in a foreign car, and with the steering wheel on the right side. In his first race here, Vītols managed to win two qualifying races, set the fastest lap time in the history of this class on the Lydden Hill track, start from the front row in the final, and fight for at least a podium, until the car suffered a technical defect. It was decided that in 2019, the entire British championship would participate in this event. In the class, all drivers start with the same Suzuki Swift cars, which are technically maintained by the same company. In this way, those drivers who are really faster, more precise, and more talented win. From the outside, this seems like a serious risk to the young driver’s prestige and previous successes.
WITHOUT FEAR IN FOREIGN TERRITORIES
Imagine a guy who has achieved dizzying success in his region at his age, going to the farthest edge of Europe and getting a beating from his peers who are competing with the same cars? That would put an end to everything he has achieved in the minds of many. But Vītoli was not afraid of this opportunity, even more so — in the first race, Roberts fought for victory and is currently one of the leaders of the series after several rounds, despite retiring in one of the stages due to technical problems, being in the leading position in the final. Everything is fine with both Roberts and the nation’s prestige. The start of the 2019 season has been difficult, but with success, victories in the Latvian Rallycross Championship, and victories in the British Championship. On the weekend of the second half of July, the regular RallyX Nordic series competition took place in Riga, under the auspices of which the RX Academy program also operates – a rallycross school for young drivers, in which, once again, everyone starts with the same cars, and there is again a risk of ending up in foreign territory and experiencing defeat. However, Vītoli was not afraid again, accepting the offer to start at the Academy stage in Biķernieki. Roberts also performed this task convincingly, in second place, sitting for the first time behind the wheel of a Renault Clio turbo car.
FAMILY MATTER
Although motorsport is still largely considered a man’s business and the decisions mentioned in the story also seem to be made between Uģis and Roberts, in reality, the whole family is involved in them. Racing — not in Mini buggy and karting then, nor now in rallycross — is unthinkable without mom Alice, but sister Laura has been behaving quite restlessly for the last couple of years, and she also wants to start her own career in motorsport. This team hides both Roberts’ good emotions and bad moods on race mornings, both the joys of victory and the tears of defeat — yes, they are. Foreign rallycross specialists, in addition to Roberts’ talent, also appreciate his politeness in relations with everyone who addresses him, including anyone who fights against him on the track. When entering the starting line, Vītols is a correct driver, but he will not be afraid of contact caused by others on the track, and will also know how to defend himself harshly if necessary. Vītols’s career in motorsport is rich, atypical for Latvian conditions, and built from the right building blocks. It’s intriguing to know how far it will take Roberts.
