Are you excited for coming back to racing in Europe after a 3 years break?

Yes, a lot. It’s been a long time, it’s nice to come back to Europe with our own team, and start in some nice rallies.

Your current calendar includes 3 WRC rounds in a Rally2 car. How do you rate your preparedness after a few years of absence from the world championship?

We still have been doing a lot of driving in New Zealand, and in terms of the level that I am driving, it’s as good as ever if not better. The one thing we miss by not competing in Europe, is obviously the European competition experience. So, for the pacenotes, and the knowledge of the stages. That’s what we miss, but other than that I’m still driving in good level.

What are your expectations for Tet Rally Liepāja?

We will only be getting the brand new Rally2 car the night before shakedown, the first time we sit in the car will be at the shakedown, so we will use this rally to test, try a lot of setups, try different things to prepare us for the future rallies. The first and foremost we come here and enjoy a new rally. We haven’t been to Latvia before, so we are looking forward to a new rally and a new experience and trying to learn as much about the new car as we can.

So, Tet Rally Liepāja will be a good opportunity to test the car?

Yes, exactly. The rally we did in New Zealand last week and Latvia, Estonia and Finland are four very fast gravel rallies, so we try to iron out the car, get a good rhythm, they’re all quite similar.

As you said, you haven’t been to Latvia before, but maybe you have heard something from other drivers about the country or our roads?

We heard that the roads are very nice, obviously very fast and flowing and this is what I would enjoy the most - the fast, flowing gravel stages. From what I’ve seen it’s a very nice event and I’m looking forward to the experience.

Can you describe your current role as a Hyundai ambassador?

I have a partnership with Hyundai New Zealand. We have been with Hyundai New Zealand for 8 years now and we’ve built a very strong relationship, and obviously they are a key partner for our team. We are running their own New Zealand team, in Latvia which is a little bit unique, we have our mechanics, technicians and engineers and obviously Hyundai New Zealand as a key partner. We have a very strong relationship in the team, we’re like family, so yeah, hopefully we can make them proud while we compete in Europe.

Your team has built a lot of interesting cars with the most interesting being the Kona EV electric rally car. What is your aim with this project and what competitions do you plan to attend with it?

It’s really an elevation project. It’s a project for us to show pace to the world, what our team can do, building an EV rally car. Now we are in the development stage to try and make the car work over the distance of a full-length rally. But also, to make a statement for the sport in a long term. at the top level the sport has its few problems. The automotive industry is changing so quickly and rallying or WRC needs to be in front of that. We want to make a statement with this car to show that electrification or hybrid or whatever it might be can have a place in the sport to help the sport survive long term. It’s an interesting project in that we are learning a lot. In New Zealand at the moment, we can compete against the combustion cars in the same rally, in the same terms as combustion cars which I think is quite unique, because it allows us to showcase how competitive the car is against standard cars.

Do you see a fully electric rally class being adapted in any championship in the foreseeable future?

It’s a very difficult to know what the solution is. I like picturesque cars just like everyone does, that’s why I love motorsport, but in the next 5 to 10 years the sport is heading to big problems. As the sport exists, I think at the top level it will mean they will have to be fully electric or hydrogen or it will have to be a different energy source. This is the big unknown at the moment. People in the sport have taken it upon us to try to find a solution and I think that’s what a lot of people are doing right now.

Back to WRC, what are your opinion on the new Rally1 cars?

They are certainly exciting! They look good, they sound good, they check a lot of boxes. The hardware technology is a very intermediate type. It’s not a long-term solution. The logistics of the sport doesn’t allow you to go fully electric or fully hydrogen, so the hybrid is the intermediate to make it possible. But the reality is - for the sport to go on another level, you need to have more manufacturers and more manufacturers will bring more competition, more drivers, more interest, more fans, more everything! So therefore, at the moment the big question for WRC is how do you attract more manufacturers? Is the current hybrid car going to attract more manufacturers, which I don’t know how to dot, but this is the problem which is not so easy to solve.

Is there any chance of seeing you in one of them in the future?

At the moment, no, nothing planned. It’s obviously out of our control, so we will focus at our WRC2 schedule and do the best that we can.

FIA European Rally Championship fifth round Tet Rally Liepāja is going to take place on July 1-3, with special stages organised in Talsi region and Dienvidkurzeme region. Tet Rally Liepāja tickets available on the official website of the rally www.lvrally.com.

Round of the 2022 FIA European Rally Championship event Tet Rally Liepāja is possible thanks to the support provided by the Ministry of Education and Science, rally city Liepāja, as well as our partner Talsi region. The event is run thanks to general sponsor Tet, sponsors Ramirent and SC Grupa/Eurovia and in collaboration with Magnetic Latvia. Thanks to our official car rental Sixt and our supporters Canon Biznesa Centrs Liepāja, Fristads, Liepājas Olimpiskais Centrs, and Liepājas Speciālā Ekonomiskā Zona. Informative support is provided by news media DELFI and media partners Kurzemes Radio, MVP, Sporta Avīze, and Talsu Vēstis. We also express our gratitude to our Tet Rally Liepāja friends Baltic Taxi, EL Networks, Flora, FN Serviss, Jānis Pūce, Löfbergs, MB Grupa, Red Bull, SignTech, Sportland, and Törley. Tet Rally Liepāja is organised in association with Dienvidkurzeme region and Latvian Automobile Federation.

News and other information about Tet Rally Liepāja is available at www.lvrally.com, as well as on social media Twitter @LVRally, Facebook /LVRally, and Instagram /lvrally.