The feelings before my hometown event in Liepāja are always mixed. Of course, it is great to have an event right here at home, where everything is familiar and clear. In the pre-event meeting with my coach, we talked about the fact that in the six times I have competed here, with varying approaches, I am yet to have a great event. We always seem to get the best results in events furthest from home.

What has been missing to get a great result in Liepāja?

I am not sure if we could say that something has been missing, but I have always been looking for the right feeling when going to this event. Sometimes I was extremely serious, which resulted in overdoing it in some places, while other times I have been driving too calmly. Doing that also leads to mistakes, so this year I am planning to use Rally Liepāja as key preparation for the Estonian WRC round in two weeks, as the World Championship is my priority this year.

This is your third season in the Junior WRC. What, in your opinion, is the largest benefit for you when competing in this championship?

Undoubtedly, it is the feeling that, by competing in the World Championship, we are doing the same things as the large WRC teams, and are following in their footsteps. We are next to each other in the service part, and this provides an incredible opportunity to learn and gain experience that will serve you well not only in the racing career, but life in general.

When looking at the approach of top drivers, did anything surprise you?

I would not say that anything surprised me, but there were multiple things that I could note and learn from.

You have competed in both the European and World Championship. Do you see a chance for Rally Liepāja to host a WRC event in the future?

Any time I come to this event, the RA Events team does, in my opinion, a huge and fantastic job, so everyone coming to Rally Liepāja is surprised and happy with what they see here. I believe that those are the key ingredients to one day bring WRC to Liepāja.

What result would satisfy you this weekend?

I would be satisfied with meeting the objectives we set for ourselves after the official tests on Tuesday. This does not mean a certain position in my class, but rather meeting our own goals for the event.

One of the goals is likely to learn about the Ford Fiesta on these roads?

Yes, definitely. Even though this will be my third season in the car, we learn something new every time I drive it, so getting even more used to it is important.

What elements are you still looking to work on?

We definitely need to learn a bit more about the vehicle’s behaviour and its geometry characteristics, as this knowledge is currently a bit limited due to the fact that in WRC we drive with the provided setups. We will use the setup given for the upcoming Estonia event here in Liepāja. This setup might not be perfectly suitable for the roads of this event, but, as I mentioned before, the World Championship is our main priority this season.

FIA European Rally Championship event Rally Liepāja is possible thanks to the support provided by the Latvian Government, rally city of Liepāja, as well as Talsi region. We would like to thank our sponsors Neste, Ramirent, and SC Grupa/Eurovia, as well as supporters Blue Shock Race, Canon Business Center Liepāja, Fristads, Liepāja Olympic Center, Liepaja Special Economic Zone, and Sixt. Media support is provided by news media DELFI and media partners Kurzemes Radio, Sporta Avīze, and Talsu Vēstis. The rally would also not be possible without help by Rally Liepāja friends: Flora, FN Serviss, Jānis Pūce, Kokmuiža Celmlauzis, Lofbergs, MB Grupa, Red Bull, SignTech, and Törley. Rally Liepāja is organized with the support of Aizpute, Durbe, Grobiņa, and Priekule region councils. A special thanks goes to the Latvian Automobile Federation.

More news about Rally Liepāja available online at www.lvrally.com, as well as on social media Twitter @LVRally, Facebook /LVRally, draugiem.lv /lvrally, YouTube /RallyLiepāja, and Instagram /lvrally.