Baumanis beats Turpeinen in Friday thriller at Riga

Janis Baumanis was tackling this one-off program in RallyX North as a celebratory occasion, and the Latvian didn’t disappoint in front of the home crowd, winning with a confident performance the first of the two legs at the Biķernieku trasē in his Peugeot 208 WRX, as if he never took a time off from full time racing.
 
There was no domination in the Qualifying Heats, basically because some of the expected frontrunners had some sort of problem to deal with, all while the competition was closer than the Valkenswaard round. In the end, Maiko Tamm was the top qualifier as he had more consistency, but had Janis Baumanis and Viktor Vranckx not run into punctures on Q2, they would be closer if not ahead of Tamm.
 
Last year’s champion Joni Turpeinen was incredibly competitive, appearing in fifth on the table, and Filip Martinsson showed top 5 performance on track, which reflected in the standings. Ulrik Linnemann in sixth, Mikko Ikonen in eighth and Fraser McConnell in eleventh, advancing to the Semifinals but needing to catch up with the competition.
 
In the first Semifinal, Vranckx gets overzealous in the first chicane and drops to fourth, all while Tamm takes the lead and Martinsson goes to second and Elias Svensson jumps to third. Vranckx had so much pace that he quickly reached the drivers with no Joker Lap done, but he got stuck behind McConnell with a left rear puncture while dealing with Martinsson, In the Final Lap, Vranckx spins at the chicane and gets stuck behind Svensson, which sets Tamm as the winner, but the Belgian barely saved himself as he beats McConnell at the Joker merge, but the Peugeot 208 WRX broke right after the line, which could put a doubt in his participation in the Final.
 
The second Semifinal had Ikonen facing the wall while Baumanis was leading Turpeinen and the rest of the field, but with Linnemann and Blumbergs jumping to an early Joker and Turpeinen going a lap later, Baumanis was on his own. Casper Jansson almost spun in the final lap, which opened the way for Turpeinen and Linnemann, but they were too far back to reach Baumanis.
 
In the Final, Vranckx’ Peugeot was deemed unfit to take part, so McConnell’s FC2 got in. Tamm traded paint with Baumanis, Baumanis was sandwiched by Tamm and Turpeinen and got the lead, and Linnemann and Svensson spun after contact. Turpeinen got second place after the Joker and Baumanis replied, keeping the order as it was but with a close gap.
 
Tamm lost contact and Baumanis had advantage on tire durability, and with the occasion being ideal, the Latvian finally drove his Peugeot 208 WRX at the limit of aggressiveness, cementing his victory by 0.324 seconds over Turpeinen, while Tamm completed the podium.
 
RallyX North - Riga I event results
 
Baumanis has 29 points after the first RallyX North round, but he will not take part of the full season. Behind him, Tamm has 26 points and Turpeinen has 23.
 
PHOTO: Janis Baumanis