After a disappointing performance marked by multiple collisions on the Valkenswaard track at the end of April, Slawomir Woloch bounced back in style in Riga this past May, claiming victory in both races over the weekend in the Open 2WD category — a result that’s already sparking new ideas for Automax Motorsport boss Krzysztof Skorupski.
Following a grueling weekend in the Netherlands, where Woloch was forced to retire from three of the six qualifying heats he entered, the Polish driver wasted no time in setting the record straight during his RallyX outing in Latvia.
By scoring 52 out of a possible 60 points along the Baltic coast and clocking the fastest lap in two races, Woloch left little room for doubt. A performance that brought a broad smile to the face of former FIA European Super1600 star Krzysztof Skorupski.
“Honestly, it’s still hard to believe what we’ve achieved,” said the engineer from Trzylatków Duży.
“Sometimes you have a really good race weekend, but this was even beyond that. Of course, Valkenswaard was much more complicated — ‘Slav’ seemed to have a knack for finding the sand traps, which obviously isn’t the best way to perform,” Skorupski joked.
“It actually reminded me of his early days in the Central European Championship, where conditions were somewhat similar to what we experienced at Valkenswaard. Back then, I told Slav to stay focused and trust the process, because hard work always pays off in the end.”
While Woloch’s regained confidence in Riga bodes well for the rest of the season, Skorupski already has a few ideas to help his Automax Motorsport driver keep the momentum going.
“We know there’s still work to do to be fully competitive with the best in Open 2WD. We can’t say we were the fastest over the entire weekend — in terms of pure pace, we were missing just a little something, especially off the line. That’s definitely an area we need to improve. On the other hand, the strategy and everything around the race worked perfectly, and that allowed us to secure these excellent results.”
“Clearly, we need more power. But it’s not just about horsepower, because this class is quite unique. Here, you see a very diverse range of cars. We have Super1600s, Gabrielsson’s lightweight and compact Toyota with a lot of weight transfer, and then there are the high-powered machines of Tiger and Johansson, both putting out over 500 horsepower. It’s a highly diverse grid where every car, despite very different technical approaches, is capable of fighting for the lead.”
“I can see there’s still untapped potential that Slav hasn’t fully unlocked yet. He just needs a bit more time to reach that level. Our car is fairly heavy, and against some of the competitors, you quickly feel that power deficit. We’re running 400 horsepower, but we’re naturally behind over the first few meters compared to the most powerful cars.”
While Woloch is not expected to return to RallyX competition before the Nysum round in August, Automax Motorsport plans to make the most of this break to introduce a few updates to their impressive BMW E92 M3.
“We’re considering installing a supercharger for the upcoming races. We’ll run some tests first to see how it performs and how Slav adapts to it. The goal is to maintain an engine with the widest usable powerband possible while keeping the car enjoyable to drive.”
“Off the line, we sometimes managed to beat Viktor Johansson in Riga. In first gear, we were in the fight, but as soon as Viktor could unleash his full engine power, we started struggling. We clearly need more torque on the rear axle to gain top speed on the straights.”