After returning to the rallycross scene last season in the Supercar Lites category, Roberts Vitols quickly demonstrated his raw speed in the RallyX championship. With three victories and a third-place finish overall, behind Julien Meunier and Lukas Andersson, the talented Latvian driver is now preparing for his next campaign.

“I still have mixed feelings about my first season in Supercar Lites,” said the Team Färén driver.

“At times, I managed to deliver promising performances, but at other moments, that wasn’t the case. In any event, given the strength of the Supercar Lites field last year, it was never easy to arrive at each race weekend expecting immediate wins. It required a tremendous amount of effort and precision behind the wheel.”

A statement that highlights the high standards Vitols sets for himself.

“I’m very critical of myself because I always aim for perfection, and until I reach it, it’s difficult for me to feel fully satisfied.”

Beyond the results on paper, it is the finer details and missed opportunities that shape his reflections.

“Yes, we achieved strong results with three wins, but I also know there were situations throughout the season where I didn’t fully maximize my potential or show my best. That’s hard to accept, because I see every race as a unique opportunity to demonstrate what I can achieve with my team. Still, I take full responsibility when I don’t meet my own standards.”

This personal discipline naturally leads him to take an uncompromising look at his performances last year.

“The title was clearly within reach, but I didn’t manage to secure it. I know I could have done a much better job in the second half of the season. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the opportunity to test the car last year, so we approached each race one at a time, and I had to learn the specifics of Supercar Lites under those conditions.”

A lack of preparation that leaves little margin for error in such a competitive environment.

“Against such strong competitors, and with only three laps of free practice before qualifying, it’s very difficult to try new things, explore different driving styles, or test approaches in race conditions. That inevitably makes it harder to build confidence and understand how the car behaves through different corners and across varying surfaces. I think that also played a role on certain tracks or in specific sections where I didn’t have complete confidence in the car. At this level, everything comes down to the smallest details, and Supercar Lites represents a significant change for me, as I was previously used to front-engine cars. The positive aspect is that I learned a great deal from this experience, especially in races I didn’t win but probably should have.”

All of this has motivated Vitols to refine his preparation in every detail ahead of the 2026 campaign.

“I’m convinced there are still many areas where I can improve. Over the winter, I focused on getting back into peak physical condition and worked on endurance, concentration, and other aspects. I felt these factors sometimes limited me last year, as I was returning to competition after a short break from motorsport. There is also a lot to improve in my driving and in the car setup.”

A progression he now intends to structure with greater rigor.

“We didn’t really work extensively on setup last season. We mostly made small adjustments from one track to another. Overall, I want to focus on every lap, every run, and deliver my absolute best. That means working on analysis, the technical side, and all those small details that ultimately make the difference.”

It now remains to be seen how the Latvian will structure the next phase of his short-term program.

“The initial plan was to compete in the first three rounds in France, the Netherlands, and Sweden, but with the cancellation of the French round, that leaves us with just two weekends. Beyond that, things are more uncertain, as I’ll be unavailable this summer due to professional commitments and my studies. That makes the chances of completing a full season extremely limited. We’ll then assess how best to organize things for 2027. The FC2 concept is interesting, and we already have a Supercar Lites car that we could convert, but that will also depend on the budget and how rallycross evolves in the coming years.”