Although the second day of 5 Nations British Rallycross Championship double header weekend at Lydden Hill was again difficult one for Roberts Vitols due to technical problems, the young Latvian driver managed to secure another podium finish this weekend in the pinnacle Supercar category, this time in 3rd place. Roberts’s younger sister Laura Vitola finished the Lydden Hill race weekend in eighth place in the Junior Rallycross category with lot of positive learning and improvements during her weekend.
Roberts Vitols experienced a disaster in both qualifying races in the Round 7 of the 5 Nations British Rallycross Championship in the Supercar class. A fourth-place finish in the first race was followed by a retirement in the second due to turbine problems. Accordingly, by the semi-final, the car had received both a new gearbox and a turbine. After standing 7th overall after qualifications, Roberts achieved a respectable 2nd place in his semi-final, confidently advancing to the main race – Final.
In the Final, the leaders had an exciting battle, with the first three – Jack Thorne, Derek Tohill and Roberts Vitols – finishing within two seconds.
Although the overall leader Ollie O’Donovan also got a relatively weak result on Sunday – fifth place – Robert’s chances for the championship title have actually disappeared. Just like on Saturday and also in the previous event, a lot of points were lost, which are counted from qualifying races in the championship. At the moment, we have to wait for the publication of the overall rating.
In the Junior class represented by Laura Vitola, yesterday’s stage was continued today – the fourth qualification was held and the semi-final and Final were raced.
In the remaining qualification, the young Latvian reached 7th place, but overall after all four races, she reached 8th place.
Vitola finished in 4th place in her semi-final, which allowed her to secure one of the top eight positions for the Final race. In the Final this time Laura couldn’t get any higher taking 8th position in the decisive race.
After the race, both PROVENTO Racing Team drivers are clearly dissatisfied with the result, as both expected much more from Sunday’s battles. The father of both, Ugis Vitols, also referring to what both team specialists said, sees more positives in this battle: “After everything that our Citroen experienced again today, we should be satisfied with this podium and the results of both days in general. Technical problems are a part of this sport and it is felt that we have entered a blacker lane of success. But there are two respectable results in the finals. Today the track was dry and, speaking with the engineers of Robert’s team, we must admit that our car reached the limits of its capabilities today in the Final. The winning Peugeot is a de facto World level car, but Tohill receives regular updates from the Olsbergs factory. And if we are the next with more aged car in a bumper to bumper race we should be satisfied. As for Laura, it seems that today she had already lost a bit of warrior in her, before the Final I did not see the spark in her eyes she had yesterday. However, it must be understood – she is just 14 years old, the youngest of all drivers in the class, a girl surrounded by all the British boys and nothing can be blamed. On the positives, Laura’s coach Petter Gwynne explains that the direction is more than correct and young Laura just has to keep working and building up her strength. Thereofore yes – in general we had another successful and good weekend at Lydden Hill!”
There is one round left in the British Championship, the only away stage – in Belgium at the beginning of December, at the Spa track.
Information prepared by autocross.lv
