Portuguese rally driver Armindo Araújo came into the TitansRX weekend at Montalegre with a stellar rally record, but he’d never competed in a rallycross event or even raced before.
He left the track on Sunday night eager for more after a strong weekend which saw him not only getting on the pace instantly, but winning heat races in Q2 on both Saturday and Sunday as well.
„I’m very happy about the weekend,“ said the five-time Portuguese rally champion. „The speed was okay and the atmosphere in TitansRX is fantastic.“
„I’ve never driven these kinds of cars, I’ve never driven in rallycross, [and] it’s my first time here. On Saturday morning I started testing the car in free practice and it was okay, the feeling was good,“ he added. „I tried to improve and tried to learn about the car, about the races, and about the other competitors, and the times and the races got better and better, so I’m really happy.“
Even a water belt failure at the semi-final stage in round six didn’t dampen Araújo’s spirits, and he’s now eager to have more rallycross outings in the future.
„Unfortunately the water belt broke in the end and I had to stop the car, but I won some heats during the weekend, I’m really happy with that,“ he said. „The speed is good and I like the fight with the other drivers, I’m really happy with this series.“
„Maybe in the future I will do some more races,“ Araújo continued. „When you have more experience with the car and when you know the team, when you know everything it’s more easy for you for the next race.“
„[But] for the first experience it was fantastic for me, I’m really happy and I want to say thank you to Max Pucher.“
