Baumanis betting on Latvian ‘dream team’ for Euro RX bid

Jānis Baumanis – runner-up to Anton Marklund in last year’s Euro RX1 title fight – will return to the FIA European Rallycross Championship this season with what he calls a Latvian ‘dream team’.

Twice a podium-finisher at World Championship level, Baumanis has been a consistent front-runner on the Euro RX scene since rejoining the fray in 2021, placing third overall in an ESmotorsport-run Škoda Fabia that year before improving to second last season behind the wheel of a Peugeot 208 fielded by the Hansen Motorsport-affiliated #YellowSquad.

Along the way in 2022, the 30-year-old Mārupe native reached the rostrum in Norway, Portugal and Belgium, although he was denied a similar top three result in Hungary by a loss of power in the final, and was on-course to win his semi-final on home soil in Latvia when turbo issues scuppered his charge.

The Peugeot will be back in business this year, and while continuing to receive support from #YellowSquad, there will be a different name above the awning, as the ‘RX Team Latvia’ moniker returns to the paddock for the first time since 2016. Baumanis is palpably aiming to do his country proud.

“Everything has come together quite late, but we have managed to build up the team by ourselves based in Rīga,” revealed the former Super1600 (Euro RX3) champion. “It is a Latvian team with Latvian mechanics, a Latvian team manager and a Latvian driver. I hope I can say at the end of the season that we have a dream team – it looks like it is.

“There’s a great atmosphere and everybody is working flat-out to build the car as well as possible. I’m very happy with the people I have around me – they bring with them a lot of experience from both rallycross and rallying. We still have some support from #YellowSquad and Eric Färén, too, so it should be a fun season.

“The tracks where we are racing this year are iconic, and I have very good memories from most of them. It will be great to start the season at such a spectacular circuit as Nyirád. I’m looking forward to getting out there.”

The 2023 European Championship campaign will begin with Euro RX of Hungary on 29-30 April.