Rīga celebrates 'Best Organiser' success

Ferratum World RX of Rīga won the FIA World Rallycross Championship’s ‘Best Organiser’ award for the fourth time at the annual FIA Off-Road Prize-Giving Ceremony in Zurich last weekend (19 February), as event director Raimonds Strokšs praised the ‘true heroes’ behind-the-scenes of a remarkable against-the-odds success.

The Latvian capital’s historic Biķernieki circuit has been a fixture on the World RX calendar every year since 2016, but was not initially slated to welcome the dual-surface series in 2021. That changed when Rallycross Promoter was appointed to take over the reins, with the track going on to stage the season’s first double-header in September – yielding a hugely popular Euro RX1 victory for fans’ favourite Jānis Baumanis.

“We have been fortunate enough to have a few successful Latvian drivers in World RX, who have raised the popularity of the sport in our country,” acknowledged Strokšs, who manages RA Events, the organising body behind Ferratum World RX of Rīga.

“To be honest, I’m just the pick-up delivery guy today – the true heroes are at home, and I will be really honoured to deliver them this trophy because on the first draft of the 2021 World RX calendar, Latvia was not included.

“The new promoter then stepped in and approached us around the end of March. It was what I would call a ‘next-level’ challenge because city funding, government funding and partner budgets were all closed. I sat down my team and said, ‘Guys, the new promoter called me – we have zero Euros and just a few months to deliver a World Championship event’, and everyone jumped on it. I have a great team behind me. Like I say, they are the true heroes.”

Latvia will play host to rounds five and six on the 2022 World RX schedule on 3/4 September, with the FIA RX2e Championship and Euro RX1 starring on the support package.