Reinis Nitišs

Reinis Nitišs (born 16 December 1995) is a rallycross driver from Jēkabpils, Latvia. He is the winner of the Super1600 division in the European Rallycross Championship in 2013 and is the youngest event winner in FIA World Rallycross Championship history.

Reinis Nitišs
Nitišs at the 2017 World RX of Barcelona
Nationality	Latvian
Born	(1995-12-16) 16 December 1995 (age 29) Jēkabpils, Latvia
FIA ERX Supercar Championship career
Debut season	2018
Current team	Set Promotion
Starts	5
Championships	1 (2018)
Wins	3
Podiums	4
FIA World Rallycross Championship
Years active	2014–2017, 2019-2020
Former teams	Olsbergs MSE Münnich Motorsport EKS RX GRX SET ESmotorsport-Eigesa WRX Team
Starts	53
Wins	1
Podiums	8
Best finish	3rd in 2014
FIA ERX Super1600 Championship
Years active	2012–2013
Former teams	Set Promotion SKN Sports
Starts	14
Championships	1 (2013)
Wins	6
Podiums	8
Championship titles
2013 2012 2011 2011 2009 2009	European Rallycross Championship (Super1600) NEZ Rallycross Championship Estonian Rallycross Championship Baltic Rallycross Championship Latvian Karting Championship Baltic Karting Championship

Biography

Early career

Nitišs started racing go-karts at the age of seven and was quickly successful having won multiple Latvian national titles and the Baltic series by 13. He moved into rallycross and dominated the Baltic and NEZ championships before moving into the European Super1600 category in 2012. The 2013 season brought about a very successful period in which he won 6 out of 9 events on his way to the title.^[1]

Nitišs racing in the Super1600 category (2013)

World Rallycross

Olsbergs MSE (2014–15)

In 2014 he debuted in the FIA World Rallycross Championship Supercar category, driving a Ford Fiesta for Olsbergs MSE (OMSE) alongside Andreas Bakkerud.^[2] His career started promisingly, with a semi-final win and ultimately a podium finish in his first race, followed by qualification for the final in his second - which he later failed to take part in due to engine failure. His third event in Norway brought his first and so far only win in World Rallycross. A further three podiums and points finishes in every round cemented third place in the standings at seasons' end behind Petter Solberg and Toomas Heikkinen.

Despite staying with OMSE, 2015 was a much tougher year for Nitišs - the highlights being second in Hockenheim and third in Belgium. He failed to qualify for the semi-finals twice and despite once again finishing every round in the points he finished seventh in the standings compared to Bakkerud in fourth with over two events worth of points in hand.

Münnich Motorsport (2016)

For 2016, Nitišs switched to German outfit Münnich Motorsport and their brand new SEAT Ibiza Supercar.^[3] The first half of the season was challenging for him, with the new car's unreliability restricting him to two semi-final appearances. Following the initial struggle, Nitišs ultimately quit the team effective after the French round, despite reaching the final there.^[4]

Return to Olsbergs MSE (2016)

He returned to OMSE for three of the final four rounds, skipping Germany to allow the team to give RX Lites title winner Cyril Raymond a run in a Supercar.^[5] He made the semi-finals twice, at his inaugural home round in Latvia as well as Argentina.

Audi Sport EKS RX (2017)

On 20 February 2017, it was announced that Nitišs would move to reigning champions Audi Sport EKS RX for the 2017 season. The move will see the Latvian driving a third car which, under the current rules, is ineligible to score teams' championship points.^[6]

Racing record

Nitišs in action during the 2014 World RX of Great Britain

Nitišs at the 2015 World RX of Hockenheim

Nitišs competing in the 2016 World RX of Portugal

Nitišs in his debut for EKS RX

Complete FIA North European Zone (NEZ) Rallycross Championship results

(key)

NEZ-1600

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	Position	Points
2012	SKN Sports	Peugeot 206	DEN 2	NOR 1	LTU1 1	LTU2 4	1st	70[7]

Complete FIA European Rallycross Championship results

(key)

Super1600

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	ERX	Points
2012	SKN Sports	Peugeot 206	GBR	FRA	AUT	HUN	NOR	SWE (16)	BEL 16	NED 14	FIN 12	GER 15	23rd	11
2013	SET Promotion	Renault Clio	GBR 6	POR 4	HUN 1	FIN 1	NOR 1	SWE 2	FRA 1	AUT 1	GER 1		1st	227

Supercar

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	ERX	Points
2018	Set Promotion	Ford Fiesta	BAR 1	BEL 2	SWE 1	FRA 6	LAT 1	1st	135

Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results

(key)

Supercar

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WRX	Points
2014	Ford Olsbergs MSE	Ford Fiesta ST	POR 3	GBR 7	NOR 1	FIN 3	SWE 4	BEL 8	CAN 4	FRA 2	GER 16	ITA 11	TUR 7	ARG 2		3rd	210
2015	Olsbergs MSE	Ford Fiesta ST	POR 11	HOC 2	BEL 3	GBR 5	GER 7	SWE 5	CAN 9	NOR 7	FRA 16	BAR 9	TUR 7	ITA 9	ARG 14	7th	167
2016	all-inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	SEAT Ibiza	POR 15	HOC 13	BEL 12	GBR 21	NOR 12	SWE 18	CAN 13	FRA 5						16th	44
	Olsbergs MSE	Ford Fiesta									BAR 13	LAT 11	GER	ARG 10
2017	EKS RX	Audi S1	BAR 10	POR 5	HOC 12	BEL 13	GBR 16	NOR 10	SWE 18	CAN 16	FRA 12	LAT 11	GER 12	RSA 18		14th	71
2019	GRX SET	Hyundai i20	ABU 11	BAR	BEL	GBR	NOR	SWE 3	CAN	FRA	LAT 8	RSA				14th	40
2020	ESmotorsport-Eigesa WRX Team	Škoda Fabia	SWE	SWE	FIN	FIN	LAT 11	LAT 13	ESP	ESP						19th	12

Complete Global RallyCross Championship results

(key)

GRC Lites

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	GRC	Points
2013	Olsbergs MSE	Lites Ford Fiesta	BRA	MUN1	MUN2	LOU	BRI	IRW 5	ATL 6	CHA	LV	10th	23

Records

• Youngest winner in World Rallycross Supercars, at 18 years and 6 months.
• First WRX event winner from outside Scandinavia.
• First WRX event winner from the Baltic states.