The two-time American rally champion and Subaru Motorsports USA works driver Brandon Semenuk will make his FIA World Rally Championship debut next month as the Canadian is set to join the new for this year`s Tet Rally Latvia which will be held around the Liepāja region.
The 33-year-old Canadian will be entering the WRC2 class in a private run Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 machine in search of getting more experience for his American Rally Association campaign.
The Canadian has spoken with the American motorsport publication DirtFish.com about the journey over to Europe: “This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, competing in Europe is obviously going to be different to what I’m used to. Latvia is a good event, it’s obviously new to the WRC, so it does bring a little more of a level playing field. That said, there’s so many fast drivers in that area, like even the national championships are really strong and we know that a lot of these WRC crews [competing in WRC2] have done events out that way already, so they’ll know the stages a bit, but hopefully not as well as some of the other world events.” Semenuk told DirtFish.
Credit: Vermont SportsCar / Subaru Motorsports USA
“I want to learn and to get the experience. Regardless of where I sit on the times and I really don’t expect a whole lot, it would be nice to find progress throughout the event. And to leave with a bit of an understanding of where I still need to develop as a driver and find more speed. I just think it’s a good tool to continue to develop my skills as a racing driver. I mean, if there’s a moment throughout the event where I have some sort competitive time or show some pace then great but the focus here is on making me a better driver for the ARA and other Subaru Motorsports USA efforts.”
Semenuk will be co-driver by the usual Englishman Keaton Williams, who has experience with Toyota machinery from before as he jumped in for one round to be the co-driver for the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Japanese driver Takamoto Katsuta in the 2021 Renties Ypres Rally Belgium.
Semenuk is holding a 49-point lead over his Subaru teammate Travis Pastrana in the 2024 ARA championship and he is looking strong to go for a hat-trick of championship titles this year. The 2024 Rally Latvia will be held on 17-22 July and the official entry list will be published in due course.