Following a tough race day on Saturday where some technical issues and a lack of podium pace saw Abbring finish round 4 of the Championship in 8th overall, the UNKORRUPTED squad readied itself for Round 5 of the FIA World Rallycross Championship on Sunday as the first double header event of the season brought plenty of excitement to thousands of Latvian fans at the race circuit in Riga.
On pole for the first qualifier, Abbring put down the best reaction time off the start line to race into p2 out of the 1st corner behind Grönholm. He chased down the Finnish driver over the following laps and managed to overtake him in lap 4 to take the chequered flag, posting the 5th fastest time of the first qualifier.
Another pole start for Abbring had him line up alongside Grönholm, Rytkönen and Ide for Q2. Following a battle through the first couple of corners, Abbring raced his way back from p4 to finish the race in p2, putting him in p8 overall following the 2nd qualifier of the day.
Sandwiched between Rytkönen, Ide, Szabo, and Scheider on pole, the final qualifier of round 5 of the Championship saw Abbring joker in lap 1 to finish the race in p5, moving up the standings to p7 overall ahead of the semi finals.
Starting from the second row of semi-final 1, Abbring jokered in lap 2. A battle between Ide and the Dutchman ensued over the following laps with Kevin crossing the finish line in 5th, finishing round 5 in 8th overall.
Following round 4 and 5 of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Latvia, Kevin Abbring is p6 in the Championship standings.
“It’s been a tough couple of days for us here in Latvia. It’s a track I really enjoy and have done plenty of testing here back in 2017, although never raced here competitively here. I enjoyed every racing battle and go home with plenty of race craft experience to take with me for many more battles to come. It’s a pity we couldn’t fight for a long awaited victory and we will work hard to find the performance for Spa, one of the most important races of the season for me with my home crowd attending to cheer me on. ”, Kevin Abbring commented.
