The ASRT team has taken part in two great rallies. At the European Rally Championship event Rally Liepāja, Ralfs Sirmacis/Ralfs Igaveņš crew won the 13^th place absolutely and the first in ERC2 class, while at Rally Estonia Sirmacis/Igaveņš were the fastest, immediately behind WRC and R5 cars.

As the team leader Ainārs Igaveņš says, he is very proud of the team’s performance in these two rallies. “The feelings after Rally Estonia are very good – similar to those when Aleksejs Lukjaņuks, Siim Plangi were driving the ASRT team car. This time again, our car was driven by a fast racer – Ralfs Sirmacis, with my son Ralfs Igaveņš sitting next to him. Although he did not have much experience as a co-driver in rally, they both proved that they were a top-level crew driving fast and steadily. For Ralfs Igaveņš, these were the first two rallies of such high level, but he was able to do justice to himself”, tells Ainārs Igaveņš.

Ainārs revealed that after the great Rally Liepāja start Sirmacis/Igaveņš would definitely like to thank the ASRT team and all mechanics.

Igaveņš praised Sirmacis for his excellent performance, but also added that competition in the Baltics is currently low. “Unfortunately, the current level in the Baltics is not the highest. If a person, who has not driven serious races for two years, is able to win the 13^th place in absolute rating of Rally Liepāja and the 15^th place in Rally Estonia, being the fastest among the N and A group drivers, it shows that he is a high class master, but at the same time demonstrates that the level is not that high anymore.”

Asked about the upcoming plans, Ainārs admitted that the ASRT is scheduled to start in rallies at the Cyprus ERC and in Spain. “If all the documents related to the sportsman’s travel permits are sorted out, we plan to start with Dmitrijs Feofanovs in the Cyprus ERC rally. At the end of the season, as it has been every year, we are going to Spain to our partners, where we will start at the local rally championship events. It is worth mentioning that Dmitrijs Feofanovs’ crew made their debut at the Polish European Rally Championship event, and I am delighted that D. Feofanovs is increasingly developing himself as a rally pilot.”

“If we are talking about Ralfs Sirmacis, the situation now is that we have driven what we had planned. We have no further common plans yet. Ralfs is a professional sportsman, who needs to go further. I believe he should no longer drive at this level, and he needs to find funding to move on, because he has proven that he is a very fast and talented driver. The ASRT team will continue providing him the maximum assistance, if any needed, but financially it is important for us to develop the ASRT team, therefore we currently cannot support both the pilot and the team. We need to think on how to develop further as a team.” 

A short while ago, the ASRT announced that it plans to start in races with VW Polo GTI R5 cars in 2020, but currently, after the recent events with burning Polo R5 cars, this our project has been suspended for the time being.