The all new for 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship team UNKORRUPTED made their debut at the season-opener at Höljes today. The team that runs as part of the GCK squad are fielding two new evolution Renault Clio R.S RX supercars for the team owner Guerlain Chicherit from France and Rokas Baciuska from Lithuania.
The opening-round of the 2020 World RX season got underway with mixed weather condition during the day, in the first qualifyingof the season after the eight month long wait it was quite wet. Chicherit recieved a warning for hitting one of the track markers in his first heat of the year, seeing him also ending up in last place in the heat and taking the slowest time out of them all.
The bad luck continued in the second qualifying, where the track also dried up enough to be able to get in faster times, once again it was a last place in the heat race for Chicherit and another slowest time.
Last qualifying of today, it went a bit smoother for Chicherit as he came across the finish line in second place as other opponents struggeled with their pace but that wasn’t enough to make the semi-final cut so the day ended earlier than expected.
“It’s been a tough race day for me. We made some mistakes with the initial set up and were struggling with grip as a result.” Chicherit said.
“Certainly not what I wanted for the first round of the Championship but at least we have a double header here in Sweden and will turn up tomorrow ready for another fight. It’s time to focus, review all the data and push hard tomorrow.”,
The team mate Baciuska in other hands had more cleaner races during the three qualifying sessions. In the first qualifier he proved he has the pace in the new car but he was far away from the top due to the track evolved during the session so he had to settle for a twelfth fastest time.
In the two other qualifying sessions, Baciusla had similar pace but he struggeled to keep it constently, he claimed a well-deserved tenth fastest time in the second qualifying. The car catched fire as the turbo blown for him when he crossed the line in the last qualifying session but despite that he managed to hold on his semi-final spot.
During the break the team turned around the car to get it ready in time for the semi-final, where once again he had similar turbo issues which forcing him to retire from the day.
“We fought hard today to race our way into the semi-final despite quite a few challenges along the way and a lot of adaptations to the changing conditions.” Baciuska said
“We still need to work through some changes and fix things so we can really charge ahead and get consistently good pace, so I’m ready to take on the field tomorrow.”,
The second round of the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship continues tomorrow at Höljes, where the team can have a new chance to improve from today’s misfortune.
