Baumanis wins the first round of the European Rallycross Championship

The driver of “RX Team Latvia”, who competes with the “Peugeot 208 Supercar” car, won his race in the first qualifying round on Saturday, setting the third fastest time in the overall qualifying time. In the second qualification, Baumanis finished in seventh place, losing only 2.718 seconds to the best result, while a perfectly executed drive in the third round brought the pilot the victory in the third qualification overall, ahead of the closest follower, Mati Benjo from Hungary, by more than three seconds.

Before the final qualifying run, transmission oil had spilled on the track, so the track was thoroughly covered with absorbent, which made it very slippery. Despite this, Bauman got another victory in the cautious run, which, like in the first round, gave him the third fastest result in the fourth qualification overall.

In the total of points after four qualifications, the stability of the Latvian allowed him to take a convincing first place, securing the first starting position for the semi-final race.

In the semi-finals, Baumanis started in the first race and won. In the final race, Enco Ide was next to Bauman on the first row at the start, however, the Belgian was unable to show lasting resistance at the start and the Latvian pilot took the leading position, which he managed to hold throughout the race, finishing 0.901 seconds ahead of his main competitor and European champion Anton Marklund.

In the previous season, Baumanis became the European vice-champion in the RX1 class.