After waiting until the Riga round in early May to kick off his 2025 RallyX campaign, former FIA Euro RX3 vice-champion Espen Isaksætre walks away from his Latvian outing with a rather positive assessment of his performance.

Despite being eliminated twice at the semi-final stage, the Norwegian still managed to make his mark, securing a Top 5 finish in the qualifying heats and taking seventh place in the intermediate standings during Race 1. All this on a heavily tarmac-based circuit — a surface far from his usual comfort zone.

“Of course, the goal is always to reach the final, but the competition was extremely tough. My opponents found a very strong rhythm, and their chassis were clearly better suited to the Riga track, where there’s virtually no loose gravel,” Isaksætre explained.

“Still, I’m satisfied with the weekend. There are a lot of positives we can build on to keep improving for the next round. Overall, we showed we can have the pace to fight at the front. Now it’s about becoming more consistent and making better use of our potential. In Race 1, our starts were strong, and the adjustments we made between the two days of competition helped us progress even further, both off the line and in terms of outright speed.”

During the off-season, the Norwegian squad also made several technical upgrades to the Speedcar chassis, which are already showing promise.

“We made some significant changes to the machine this year, and the early results are very encouraging. It’s a major upgrade — but I can’t give away too much, it’s top secret!” Espen said with a smile.

“I really hope these developments will pay off in the upcoming rounds, especially on tracks with more gravel sections. In any case, this was only my second time racing in Riga, and I reached the semi-finals twice this year, something I hadn’t managed before. For now, we’ll keep working hard.”