European Autocross Championship ends in Portugal, with Latvia's Ūtēns sixth overall

The 2026 European Autocross Championship, an amateur motorsport series in which drivers race cars and buggies on off-road dirt circuits, ended on Sunday at the Foz Coa track in Portugal. The season was unusually long: 12 rounds stretching from Latvia to Portugal, the most in a European championship since 2006. Latvian drivers performed well overall, but organisers now face the problem of shrinking participation.

Wide calendar has cut entries

The long calendar has contributed to a drop in regular participants, hitting the most distant rounds hardest: both Baltic events and the season finales in Spain and Portugal. The final round in Portugal had critically low numbers. The Buggy 1600 and Super Buggy classes together had fewer than 20 entrants, even though points at that round were awarded with a 1.5 coefficient. Expanding the championship geographically has not paid off in terms of attracting drivers.

Latvian drivers

Markuss Ūtēns was the only Latvian to compete in every round. He finished sixth overall in the Crosscar class, with third and fourth places in individual rounds. The class is traditionally dominated by French and Spanish drivers. Oskars Zaķītis (33rd), Rumbenieks (43rd) and Apfelbaums (49th) also scored points in a field of almost 100 drivers.

In Super Buggy, Ervīns Grencis used a newly built buggy and finished 12th overall, his best single race result being seventh. Māris Līcis also took seventh at the Bauska round. In Buggy 1600, Andris Kuļikovskis was 30th and Tomass Zavarskis 28th.

The Junior Crosscar class started at the Latvian round for the first time. Jānis Kozlovskis and Everts Grava each finished third in individual rounds. Klāvs Žvagins, who also raced outside the Baltics, was 11th overall, Grava 14th, Patrīcija Neikšāne 15th and Kozlovskis 16th among 23 drivers.

Cost as the main issue

In the traditional buggy classes, Latvia is still represented by the same drivers who competed before the euro was introduced there in 2014. Taking part in the full championship is becoming more expensive, so organisers must decide how to develop the series.