Vytatutas Švedas vowed to stay calm on last week’s Rally Liepāja-Ventspils and his strategy paid off handsomely when he took top honours in the FIA European Rally Championship Production Car Cup.
The multiple Baltic and Lithuanian champion, who was co-driven by Žilvinas Sakalauskas in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, was adjusting to competing on international-level rallies again after focusing on his domestic championship in recent years, where competitive lengths rarely exceed 150 kilometres.
As a result, he said before the start of the 243-kilometre ERC qualifier that he would remain composed during the three-day winter contest in Latvia and his strategy paid off when he snatched the lead on the penultimate stage following Alexey Lukyanuk’s premature exit.
“This is very good, very nice and quite unexpected of course,” said Švedas following his comfortable class victory ahead of the Latvian Aivis Egle. “I was stable all the way through without any technical problems and without many mistakes. We are at the finish so what could be better? But it was pretty hard to cruise to the finish without a good pace because going through slowly is always the hardest thing.”
Other drivers to impress in the ERC Production Car Cup in Latvia included Estonian’s Raul Jeets, Czech Jaroslav Orsák - the new championship leader - and Ukraine’s Vitaly Pushkar, who took fifth in class following the onset of technical problems on the final day.
In the ERC Production Car Cup for Teams, finishes for Subaru Impreza-driving father-and-son duo Marco and Simone Tempestini ensured maximum points for the Romania-based Napoca Rally Academy.