Yates promise shines through in ERC after massive moment

The Briton was making his debut on the high-speed gravel event in the Kresta Racing ŠKODA Fabia R5 he shares with co-driver Elliott Edmondson.

Afterwards ex-motocross rider Yates spoke about his near miss: “The stages are so fast and so committed and it was a shame about [stage seven on Sunday morning] because it knocked our confidence. We had a massive, massive moment when we went up the banking on the left hand side and missed the biggest tree I’ve seen in Latvia and bounced back on. Maybe the line was off and we just got caught out but we were lucky to get away with it, it was fifth gear, flat out.”

Having landed a debut ERC Junior Under 28 podium in the Azores back in March, Yates was hoping to finish the season as he’d started it, albeit to no avail.

“The stages were much faster than I was expecting, and you really didn’t get the impression of the speed on the recce at all,” he said. “That showed in the early stage times I think and meant we were trying to make up time for the second half of the event. Overall, I’m happy and the great thing is I know there is still more to come. I was looking for a Junior podium this weekend and I wasn’t quite fast enough, but I know why and that’s the important thing. It’s when you have no idea that it becomes a struggle.”

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