13.09.2013

For Jouni Ampuja, the chief instructor of the Juha Kankunen driving academy, the „Latvian Baja 2013“ will be the third in a row. He as a representative of the „Re Autoclub“ has had a successful start in the first stage of Russian championship that took place in the area of St.Petersburg. Jouni has also participated in the second stage of the championship in Astrakhan. This year in the rally-raid he has teamed up with Reinis Trups, latvian sportsmen and the winner of the last years „Riga Baja“.

In an express interview we asked Jouni what kind of strategy will he use for this years race.

This year you have participated in two stages of Russian championship already..

Yes, I have participated in two races. That will help me a lot, because rally-raid is more or less a new sport for me. After two races, altough we didn‘t get to finish the second one, I got really good feelings from it. I know what to expect now. I’m eager to see how will we manage this next race.

What do you think of the route of „Latvian Baja 2013“ and roads of Latvia?

They are challenging. From one side, roads are more twisted. I don’t know the conditions of the roads, too. I have background in rallying, and we don’t  need to navigate so much. Therefore I don’t have so much experience in navigation, but I think we will be ok.

What will you focus on during the race?

It is a long race, there are many difficult places and corners. I have done few rallies before, where I haven‘t been as fast as possible. On those sections where I know what’s going on I will go as fast as possible, I will be quick as possible. You don’t need to go with maximum speed, it’s better to know when to go with such a speed to achieve the best time.

How about your competitors?

Of course, I’m very pleased that I can participate in this race with these teams. They are high level professionals. I hope our performance will be good enough to stand against them. It’s great that there will be fast drivers, they will be good competition.