PODIUM, MUSA RACELAND
Latvian-Lithuanian Championship at Bauska, Latvia.
Roberts Purmalis, 🇱🇻, #17
“Bauska was one of the hardest weekends I've ever had—not because of the racing, but because of what was happening off the track.
Practice started well, and I was feeling fast, but during the day I started feeling unwell. At first, I thought it was nothing, but after taking a short rest I woke up with a 40°C fever, a massive headache, and serious stomach problems. It was a really tough night, fighting the fever and wondering if I'd even be able to race. I knew I had to try because missing the event would have cost me valuable championship points.
On race day, I still had a fever, a bad headache, and my stomach problems hadn't gone away. The whole day I wasn't just fighting with the car—I was fighting with myself. I felt weak, and at times my vision was spinning like I was drunk.
Despite all of that, I managed to set the fastest time in practice and qualified P3 overall. Before the final I took some painkillers, gave it everything I had, and crossed the finish line in P2. Considering everything that happened, that podium felt like a victory and gave me the valuable championship points I needed.
The biggest thank you goes to my team, especially Agris and Tatjana, who took incredible care of me and made it possible for me to race. I truly can't thank you enough.
Now it's time to rest, recover, and make sure I'm 100% healthy before the next race in Raassilla, Estonia. See you there!”
Adrians Apsitis, 🇱🇻, #21
“ Coming into this race, I didn’t have high expectations, but it turned out to be better than I expected. I had good pace in Q1 and even set the fastest lap. However, after the three qualifying sessions, I was fifth, just one point behind third place, which put me on the second row for the final.
Unfortunately, I had the worst start I’ve ever had in the final and came out of the first corner in sixth place. Despite having really good pace, I couldn’t fight my way onto the podium and finished fourth, the wooden medal.
It was still an interesting race, especially as it was my first time racing crosscars on a gravel track. Overall, the result was better than I expected.
Congratulations to my teammate Roberts on finishing second, and a huge thanks to the whole team for all their hard work.
See you all in Rassilla, where I’m hoping for an better result.”
Matas Zavarskis, 🇱🇹, #55
“Bauska race was a very difficult one. Had lots of downs and ups all day. Also a challenge to comeback from an injury which stopped me from training.
Time qualifying went horribly for me. Because of my mistakes I did a very bad lap and spun around in one lap and that caused me to drive 3 laps instead of 4.
Q1 was the cleanest one out of all of the qualifications almost without any contacts and a clean finish.
Q2 was the first unclean heat. In the first corner I went from P5 to P9 because of another opponent hitting me to the outside. After some aggressive overtakes managed to comeback to 4th place.
Q3 once again after the first corner from P5 I got hit by another driver and got spun around which caused me to fall down to 9th place. And again after some good pace and clean overtakes I cameback to P5.
After all of this unluck in qualifications I needed to do the LCQ. It was easy and I won it by 8.8s gap behind me.
The final lead with bad luck again. My radio system broke just before the start while standing in the pre grid. That caused me to drive without a spotter. Despite that the final was not bad finishing in a solid 5th place.
Hard weekend, but because of all the things that happened in heats I learned to drive and overtake more aggressively which im very happy about. The result is also good after a 1 month break of not driving with my buggy or simulator.
Now my focus is on Raassilla which is happening this weekend in Estonia.”
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