Clearly frustrated after the second race of the weekend at the Riga circuit, Joni Turpeinen didn’t hide his disappointment. Despite relentless efforts, nothing seemed to click, with the young Finn bowing out at the semi-final stage.

This came as a stark contrast to Race 1, where Turpeinen had put in a strong performance, securing a spot on the second step of the podium, right behind Janis Baumanis. However, the youngest champion in the history of RallyX and the Open 4WD category found the going much tougher the following day.

Fourth in the intermediate classification with three fifth-place finishes to his name in Race 1, the Finnish driver was unable to replicate that form in the weekend’s second contest, finishing ninth in the qualifying stages—a result that fell far short of his expectations.

“Today, we really struggled. We’re wrapping up this first weekend of the season with mixed feelings, that’s for sure. Despite the podium finish in Race 1, we threw everything we had at Race 2, but nothing worked. Now we need to roll up our sleeves and find some answers. Clearly, there’s still a lot of work ahead of us,” admitted the Finnish driver.

Although Turpeinen managed to post the fifth-best points tally of the weekend with 33 points earned at Riga, he acknowledged that he was still some way off where he wanted to be behind the wheel of his Ford Fiesta.

“We really struggled with traction, which made life difficult. It wasn’t a disastrous weekend overall, but it certainly wasn’t the result we had hoped for. Still, we’re leaving with a few lessons learned and some ideas to try out in our next testing sessions,” he explained.

“The goal is clearly to return for the next RallyX round at Kymiring with a car in peak condition.’ Having said that, I must admit that these two races in Riga were very educational. The competition was fierce throughout the weekend, and these are exactly the kind of rivals who are never easy to beat.”