‘Starstruck’ Juga refusing to let Latvia disappointment deflate him

Martin Juga dominated the FIA European Rallycross Championship’s inaugural Euro RX5 event in Rīga earlier this month (9-10 May) and looked nailed-on for victory until a puncture in the final cruelly dashed his charge – but the rising star has unquestionably marked himself out as a title contender in the fiercely-disputed new grassroots category.

Fifteen high-calibre young hopefuls lined up for battle around the historic Biķernieku trase in the Latvian capital, and Juga was on the money from the outset, setting the pace in the opening free practice session prior to taking a clean sweep of fastest times throughout qualifying.

Having been drawn on pole position for Q1, he proceeded to lead from lights-to-flag in all four of his heat races, notwithstanding earnest challenges from Tim Braumüller and countryman, Armin Raag.

That secured the Pace Motorsport driver – one of three Estonians in the Euro RX5 field and a national champion in both rallycross and Crosskart Rallysprint – Top Qualifier honours. It also put him on pole once more for the first semi-final, in which he narrowly pipped Braumüller to the top spot after soaking up race-long pressure from his Volland Racing rival and getting the better of a crowd-pleasing wheel-to-wheel duel.

Ahead of the final, the outcome looked inevitable – but fate had other ideas. After again leading into Turn One, a handful of corners later, Juga’s LifeLive TN11 Cross Car picked up a slow puncture, and despite his best efforts, he was powerless to prevent Braumüller and Raag from overhauling him as the joker laps played out.

The talented 20-year-old had to draw upon all of his skill and experience to keep local specialist Roberts Purmalis at bay, which he successfully did all the way to the chequered flag to ascend the bottom step of the rostrum in third. He was subsequently presented with a special €1,000 award by Johan Kristoffersson for his courageous performance, with the eight-time world champion describing it as ‘very well-deserved’.

“It was a real pleasure to compete in this new class, and it’s great to have such strong competition,” enthused Juga, a member of the current Team Estonia Autosport intake. “The Euro RX5 cars are extremely similar to each other in terms of power, so it really comes down to the driver and set-up – they are the only real areas in which you can gain an advantage. 

“The Saturday went really well – the driving, the launches, everything was on-point. We were really good at the starts – which are so important in rallycross – and had strong pace in the races. We managed the tyres really well, too, always with a little bit of margin, and I was constantly keeping an eye on what was happening around me.

“Likewise on the Sunday, everything seemed perfect – until the first lap of the final! The puncture made things really difficult and I was like, ‘how is this possible after such a great weekend?!’ I did everything I could to hang onto a podium position – I don’t think I’ve ever pushed so hard – and fortunately, we managed to finish third. To then receive an award from Johan blew my mind! I was really happy – and a little bit starstruck!”