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Latvian racers star in Euro RX & Super1600 opener

As defending champion Johan Kristoffersson claimed first blood in the opening round of the 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship over the weekend, it was a pair of Latvian drivers that would prevail in the support categories in Catalunya-Barcelona with Reinis Nitiss triumphing in Euro RX Supercar and Artis Baumanis clinching Super1600 success.

A former race-winner in World RX, this season Nitiss has signed for the Set Promotion team to race a Ford Fiesta RX in the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercar.

Showing strong pace all weekend, Nitiss bounced back from being spun out at the first bend in Q1 - which left him down in 11th overall initially - to show fine pace in the following three Qualifying Races and emerge as TQ (top qualifier) at the Intermediate Classification stage.

From here, Nitiss would go on to winsemi-final one before storming onto victory in the final to draw first blood in what is shaping up to be an exciting title battle.

Defending Euro RX champion Anton Marklund was the winner in semi-final two and was the only driver to pose a consistent threat to Nitiss in the final, but couldn't get close to his rival as settled for second. Like Nitiss, Triple Andros Trophy Champion and World RX podium finisher Jean-Baptiste Dubourg was spun at the first corner of his first race of the season, but battled back to claim a podium finish in the final.

Moving up from the Super1600 category for 2018, Denmark's Ulrik Linnemann finished the final fourth in an ex-Marklund Motorsport Volkswagen Polo, but was given a five-second penalty and was classified fifth behind former Euro RX TouringCar driver Philip Gehrman, making his third Supercar start.

Multiple Swedish Champion Peter Hedstrom qualified for the final but was ruled out by first-lap contact. His team mate, "CSUCSU" had a difficult first event of the season and finished 22nd. 2017 Euro RX runner-up Thomas Bryntesson also failed to make it into the semi-finals, his Ford Fiesta slowed by a broken subframe in Q3 and Q4.

In the front-wheel drive FIA European Rallycross Championship for Super1600 category, Volland Racing's Baumanis took maximum points from the event by being TQ in the Intermediate Classification, winning semi-final one and the final in his Skoda Fabia.

Embarking on a full season in Euro RX this year, French Rallycross Championship front runner Jimmy Terpereau finished second in a Citroen C2. Hungary's Gergely Marton opened his 2018 account with a podium finish in third, as in only his third Super1600 start, Lithuania's Rokas Baciuska was fourth.

Long-time Super1600 competitor Ondrej Smetena was fifth in the final with his Ford Fiesta, benefitting when Maximilien Eveno's Citroen C2 broke down on the final lap of semi-final one when set for a place in the final.

Peugeot 208 driver Espen Isaksaetre, from Norway, set the quickest time in difficult conditions in Q2 on Saturday and finished the final sixth. On his rallycross debut, Russia's Aydar Nuriev was quickest in Q1 but a DNF in Q3 then retirement form the semi-finals ended his chances.

Czech Republic driver Josef Susta also set a quickest time in Q4 and made the semi-finals as first reserve when Janno Ligur was unable to take the start.

Zdroj: fiaworldrallycross.com