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Sirmacis delight at ‘amazing’ ŠKODA R5, going for ERC glory

Ralfs Sirmacis has expressed his delight at the ŠKODA Fabia R5 he's using for the first time on the SEAJETS Acropolis Rally, and wants to compete to win despite his inexperience.

The 21-year-old Latvian, who finished second in the ERC Junior Championship in 2015, is competing in an R5 car for the first time this weekend, run by Sports Racing Technologies and backed by ŠKODA Baltic Motorsport.

After setting the third best time on today's Qualifying Stage, behind only title rivals Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Alexey Lukyanuk, Sirmacis said: "The car is very amazing. It's much better than front-wheel drive. It's got very good acceleration and I like that I can drive it into corners and slide, it's very nice. And the suspension is very nice, you can jump very big jumps."

Whilst admitting he will encounter more difficult stages on the Acropolis than the Qualifying Stage, Sirmacis is in confident mood in his new machine.

"The Qualifying Stage was something like the roads what we have in Latvia and that sort of road I can drive fast, but tomorrow is roads in hills, it's very narrow and it's very scary for me driving, but I'll try to do the best and compete for the win. If I don't want to win then I don't have a reason to be here, but if I don't win I need the best result."

Zdroj: fiaerc.com