Day 1 Highlights | Euro RX of latvia 2026

Day one of the 2026 FIA European Rallycross Championship from Riga in Latvia. Absolutely packed house, grandstands full of fans, supporting all the nations involved. 30 cars on the supercar RX1 grid. This was Johan Christophsen getting a brilliant start inside Olli O'Donoghue and Patrick O'Donoghue as well. Hal, it looked pretty ominous because he was so fast in free practice in Q1, he did an absolutely brilliant job. Absolutely delivered, didn't he? Three days of testing at Hulius just before this weekend. Christophsen went quickest, but it was the home fans who absolutely loved seeing this man back in the European Rallycross Championship and back at the front of the order. Yeah, Janis Boumanis, when he got the whole shot, they went mad when he took the chequered flag. We got absolute goosebumps here, the whole crowd went off. This, though, was the moment where we thought, OK, this might be an exciting season. The three cars from set promotion, Topainen, Baccarat and Rukkinen, all got in the mix here. And Johan Christophsen ended up here, P5. Look at this pass he makes on his teammate, OC Baby. Lunged OC, didn't he, into Turn 3. And then it was all about trying to catch up as best he could. Passed Juha Rukkinen into Turn 3. Later in the race, Rukkinen actually looked back at him into 4. But Thor better of it. Christophsen having to fight hard for this. Followed Topainen through the Joker section. But you can see Andreas Baccarat on the outside. He's going to get so close. That was the moment, wasn't it, for me? So they'd gone defensive on the inside line and Baccarat just took advantage and managed to nick a position back. Boumanis on the inside again here. Look, Patrick O'Donoghue trying to find a way through. Boumanis had to get on the bar here. And look at this, how he unleashes 600 horsepower one way, the other way. And then here comes the contact. Wasn't so bad as he thought, was it? I think he drove out of it in the end. But, yeah, the crowd went nuts for that as well. So did we. Three-wide into Turn 3. And then a super-tight finish with Raphos O'Donoghue and Janssen and Boumanis in the background. Yeah, Raphos has been so impressive today. 18 years old, making his debut. Lots of young, impressive drivers. Bad start for both of the KMS machines again. Rukkinen with a tap, then got on the bar. Got it back round the other way. Tepainen came through. Looked like he was going to go Tepainen's way as well. But, unfortunately, later on in the race, Tepainen would have a technical issue. This was the run, though, up towards this next corner. Look at this, Christophsson inside. Hallam, watch Baccarat here. Oh, he didn't see. So Baccarat went round the outside of the two of them. That's when Tepainen had the issue. Baccarat and Baby passed him. Really close between these top drivers, wasn't it? It was a dramatic race. Baccarat into the Joker for the final time, followed by OC. There is Juha Rukkinen and Christophsson. Who did another Christophsson-style salvage job out of that race. Baccarat, though, right at the front of the order again after that solid job in testing here a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, absolutely brilliant stuff from Christophsson. To recover, as Hal said, after losing the start in Q2 and Q3, he still ends up in the top qualifier spot having won Q1. Baccarat with great consistency and speed in P2. Baby, Rukkinen, Bacchuska with a session win and Tepainen. We've got some brilliant young drivers coming through. Join us tomorrow for all the action from Q4 through to the finals. See you then.