Latvia’s Janis Baumanis is the only driver to have qualified for the final in the three FIA World Rallycross Championship events so far this season. Fourth in the World RX Drivers’ Standings, Baumanis is hoping to continue that run of form in round four at the Speedmachine Festival at Silverstone this weekend.

“I’m ready to fight as it’s in my hands more and more. We will build the race this weekend step by step and try to achieve a good position for semi-finals. We have some updates on the car and will need to adapt for that. I hope to show my best, there will be a lot of Latvian fans cheering for me that will help a lot,” said Baumanis.

Team STARD has developed a brand-new Ford Fiesta Supercar for 2019 and for the first time will have two identical cars at Silverstone this weekend. “Fighting in the final all three races definitely feels good, but we are missing some speed to be on podium, so it’s mixed feelings in this case. It takes some time to adapt my driving with new car and each race we try something new and different. It’s not an easy job, but so far I’m pleased with the results. The car is not too far away from last year’s car, it’s still a Ford, but it’s different. This has been developed from STARD’s experience from previous years.”

With a number of highlights in the current season for Baumanis already, including passing EKS Sport’s Krisztian Szabo in the semi-finals at Catalunya RX, Baumanis says Spa two weeks ago was his best performance sso far. “I enjoyed the semi-final in Belgium a lot and beat Timmy Hansen by just tiny margin, that was really cool. Belgium was my highlight of the season so far, we managed to put all together in Q2, with drying conditions and slippery track we were P2. For sure we were a bit lucky with draw, but after jump start in Q1, we were back in race.”

Finland’s Jani Paasonen will start his second round of the season with STARD this weekend. Having two drivers in the team is helping progress the performance of both cars, according to Baumanis. “Of course, having two drivers helps us. My teammates have different driving styles and is interesting to compare and it always helps when have more data from same track conditions.”