Round five of the 2020 FIA World Rallycross championship was one to forget for UNKORRUPTED who finished the day fifteenth and sixteenth in the qualifying standings and out of contention for the semi-finals.
After a challenging start to this season, the team did some pre-event testing to try and iron out the issues with the Renault Clio. While they did manage to find the issues in the set-up that needed to be changed, there was still more work that needed to be done which wasn’t done in time for the race. This meant that round five would essentially be a data gathering event for the team.
Qualifying one saw Guerlain Chicherit finish thirteenth and Rokas Baciuska fifteenth after the Lithuanian spun his Clio on the kerbs. Baciuska was given a five second penalty for contact with Jani Paasonen in turn one, dropping him to sixteenth in the standings. A poor run for both drivers saw them not qualify for the semis.
“We knew it was going to be a tough race day here in Riga because we still have significant changes to make, which we didn’t have time to implement ahead of this round” remarked Chicherit. However, I’m not one to give up and we continue to turn up for the fight and to gather the data needed to further develop the car. The team works so hard and continues to push forward and while we don’t have the pace on the track that we need to fight for the top spots right now, this is all part of motorsport“
Baciuska was also disappointed with the day’s performance. “Of course we are disappointed with the result, especially after having had such a great race here in Riga last year – I really love the track and the opportunity to race in front of fans again. We knew today’s racing was going to be difficult and it’s been tough to try to fight back.”
UNKORRUPTED will be hoping that the data they gathered in round five will help them get a little further up the order in round six which takes place tomorrow.
