Reinis Nitišs (born 16 December 1995) is a

rallycross Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport held on a mixed-surface circuit (racing), racing circuit using modified production touring automobile, cars or prototype racing cars. It began in the 1960s as a cross between rallying and autocross ...

driver from

Jēkabpils Jēkabpils () is a state city in Jēkabpils Municipality in southeastern Latvia, located roughly halfway between the capital Riga and Daugavpils, and spanning the Daugava River. The name of the city literally translates into "Castle of Jacob". H ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. He is the winner of the Super1600 division in the

European Rallycross Championship The European Rallycross Championship (former abbreviation ERC, now Euro RX or ERX) is a rallycross competition held in Europe, organised under the auspices of the FIA. History The predecessor championship began in 1973 as the Embassy/ERA Europ ...

in 2013 and is the youngest event winner in

FIA World Rallycross Championship The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull G ...

history.

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.

World Rallycross

;Olsbergs MSE (2014–15) In 2014 he debuted in the

Supercar category, driving a

Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car that was marketed by Ford from 1976 to 2023 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and had been positioned below the ...

for

Olsbergs MSE Olsbergs MSE, which also competes under the title OMSE, is an auto racing team founded by Swedish former rally champion Andréas Eriksson as Motorsport Evolution (MSE) in 2005. In 2008 it ran under the name ''Ford Team RS Europe'', while in 2009 ...

(OMSE) alongside

Andreas Bakkerud Andreas Bakkerud (born 10 October 1991) is a rallycross driver from Bergen, Norway. He has competed in the FIA Rallycross Supercar class since 2013 in both Euro RX and World RX, Nitro Rallycross since 2021, and Extreme E since 2023. He became Euro ...

. 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 The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

- which he later failed to take part in due to engine failure. His third event in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

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 Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974), nicknamed "Mr. Hollywood" is a Norwegian former professional rallying, rally and rallycross driver. Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford World Rally Team, For ...

and

Toomas Heikkinen Toomas "Topi" Heikkinen (born 27 March 1991) is a rallycross and ice-racing driver from Finland. He won the Finnish Rallycross Championship in 2010 and the Global Rallycross Championship in 2013. He currently competes in the FIA World Rallycross ...

. Despite staying with OMSE, 2015 was a much tougher year for Nitišs - the highlights being second in

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain, Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" ( ...

and third in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. 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 Münnich Motorsport GmbH, which also competes under the title All-Inkl.com Racing, is an auto racing team founded by German racing driver and entrepreneur René Münnich in 2006. The team has been built around three areas of motorsport since its ...

and their brand new

SEAT Ibiza The SEAT Ibiza is a supermini car that has been manufactured by Spanish car manufacturer SEAT since 1984. It is SEAT's best-selling car. The Ibiza is named after the Spanish island of Ibiza and was the second SEAT model to be named after a Span ...

Supercar. 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. ;Return to Olsbergs MSE (2016) He returned to OMSE for three of the final four rounds, skipping

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to allow the team to give RX Lites title winner

Cyril Raymond Cyril William North Raymond Order of the British Empire, MBE (13 February 1899 – 20 March 1973) was a British character actor. He maintained a stage and screen career from his teens until his retirement, caused by ill health, in the 1960s. Hi ...

a run in a Supercar. He made the semi-finals twice, at his inaugural home round in

as well as

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. ;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.

Racing record

Complete FIA North European Zone (NEZ) Rallycross Championship results

( key)

NEZ-1600

Complete FIA European Rallycross Championship results

( key)

Super1600

Supercar

Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results

( key)

Supercar

Complete Global RallyCross Championship results

( key)

GRC Lites

Records

* Youngest winner in World Rallycross Supercars, at 18 years and 6 months. * First WRX event winner from outside

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. * First WRX event winner from the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

References

External links

*
Official profile page at the World RX website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nitiss, Reinis 1995 births Living people Latvian racing drivers FIA European Rallycross Championship drivers World Rallycross Championship drivers People from Jēkabpils 24H Series drivers