DOUBLE PODIUM / MAJOR CRASH , VILKYCIAI
Adrians Apsitis, 🇱🇻, #21
“ Vilkyčiai was a good race. I started with P2 in timed practice, then finished P3 in the first qualifying. In the second qualifying, I messed up the joker exit, which led to a P4 finish.
Everything was going well for our team until the third qualifying session, when my teammate Roberts had a huge crash. I was driving right behind him, and seeing the crash was terrifying. Thankfully, he was completely fine, but he couldn’t continue the race.
After the restart, I finished P2 in the third qualifying, which put me on the front row for the final. The final was great i showed strong pace and finished P1 with the fastest lap. Such a rollercoaster of a race.
Now we’re heading to Biķernieki with just a 5 point gap between the top three in the championship standings. It’s going to be a gladiator fight.
A huge thanks to the whole team for the race! ❤️
See you all at Biķernieki, where everything will be decided. 🏁“
Roberts Purmalis, 🇱🇻, #17
“Lithuania was one of the toughest and most painful weekends of my career.
The weekend started with a training day where I showed solid pace and was setting some of the fastest laps. Race day started well too. I set the fastest time in timed practice and went into qualifying starting from pole position.
The first two qualifying sessions went well, finishing P2 in both. Then came the third qualifying.
The start was okay and I came out of the first corner in P3. A few corners later, in the fastest corner of the track, my throttle got stuck. From that moment, there was nothing I could do. I was heading straight into the wall at almost 130 km/h, and I already knew it wasn't going to end well.
The impact was massive. For a moment, I almost lost consciousness. The car was thrown into the air, spun, and landed on its side in the middle of the track. Several cars were coming towards me and came very close to hitting me. At that moment, I knew my race was over, and I was hoping my season wasn't over too.
Thankfully, thanks to the strong frame of the Hornet R1, I was able to climb out of the car with only some bruising and a strained neck from the impact and the huge G-forces. That was the end of the weekend for me. The car was completely destroyed and no longer driveable.
I'm incredibly lucky that nothing worse happened, and I want to personally thank Agris Smelteris for building such strong CrossCars, and my whole Hornet Factory Racing team for all their hard work throughout the weekend.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who sent me messages and came to check if I was okay. It really meant a lot to me.❤️
What also made me happy was seeing my teammates doing so well in the final. Congratulations to Matas for taking P3 in his home race and to Adrians for snatching P1. I'm really proud of you guys!
The season isn't over yet. Even though I lost a lot of valuable points, I'm still in the fight for the championship.
For now, I'm focusing on recovering and getting back to 100%. Then I'll start getting back in the car and putting in the laps. I'm not letting this championship slip away.
I'll be in my best shape for the final round at Biķernieki on September 19th.
See you there! 🏁”
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