Baumanis claims Euro RX1 podium with #YellowSquad in Hell

The sun shone on Hell for #YellowSquad driver Janis Baumanis in the third round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship in Norway, as the Latvian star found his form and claimed a first podium of the year – his first with the Swedish team.

Baumanis entered the event on the back of two difficult opening races of the campaign, in Hungary and Sweden, but following successful test sessions and assessment of areas to improve, team and driver hit the ground running at the Lankebanan circuit in Hell, Norway.

Second fastest in heat one, less than a hundredth of a second off the fastest time, Baumanis had a challenging heat two race in the Peugeot 208 RX1, but dug deep, went fourth fastest in heat three, then made it into the final thanks to second place finishes in both his progression race, and the semi-finals.

In the final, Baumanis made ground at the opening corner to run third, and despite delivering a stunning sideways joker lap entry, much to the delight of the Norwegian fans watching on the outside of the first corner, the former European Rallycross Champion just missed out on the runner-up position.

The strong points score means Baumanis remains second in the Euro RX1 standings, heading to his home round of the series in Riga, Latvia next month (September 3-4).

 

QUOTES

Janis Baumanis
#YellowSquad Euro RX1 Driver

It was a very good feeling in the car, it was like a glove on my hand.

With third place today I gained one point on Anton [Marklund, championship leader] which is better than nothing. Next time we go to my home race and I will be pushing to win there.

 

 

 

“On Saturday we started very well with good lap times in practice and a quite decent heat one. I was maybe too slow in the joker lap and I made one mistake on the last lap, but otherwise it was really good. The car felt great, heat two didn’t go well but still it was a very good feeling in the car, it was like a glove on my hand. In heat three on Sunday I didn’t feel good at all in the car, but we did some changes it improved for the semi-final and in the final we managed to finish P3. I was pushing Sondre [Evjen] for second but there was no way to pass, there are very quick drivers in the European Championship this year! I gained one point on Anton [Marklund, championship leader] which is better than nothing. Next time we go to my home race and I will be pushing to win there.”

 

Eric Färén
#YellowSquad Team Manager:

 

 

Janis showed very good pace this weekend, and it’s great to finally get onto the podium with him this year.

 

 

 

 

“Janis showed very good pace this weekend, and it’s great to finally get onto the podium with him this year. As a team we all worked hard between Holjes and Hell to find the pace we felt we were missing, and while there is still more work to do, like there always is in this game, we made a big step forward here. The level in Euro RX1 is really high at the front of the field this year, I think maybe higher than it has been for quite some years so to finish on the podium is a good achievement. Of course we want more, and we’ll do everything we can to give Janis the best opportunity to score strong results for the rest of the year.”