From Italy, we went straight to Hungary to the second competition of the season, FS East. The competition at FS East was even tougher than in Italy. That didn’t discourage us – the recent victory gave us the motivation we needed and once again we managed to have a very good race. The reward was second place overall. After FS East, there was a one-week break until the next competition. We spent the week in Hungary, where we tested the car, prepared for the static events and made both the team and the equipment competition-ready again.

The third competition took us to Austria, to the F1 circuit in Spielberg. We had not been able to attend FS Austria since 2014. It is an exclusive race where only a few teams are selected, but the level of the teams is very high – all the top teams were represented. In addition to feeling good from the previous two races, we also had the burden of being the favorites. All of the events went well, we were consistently strong both on the track and in the static events. Another overall victory was within millimeters. After all the events, we were leading, and our competitors were already congratulating us for the win, but in the post-race technical inspection, a small error was discovered in the safety chain. A brake pedal over travel switch that is supposed to activate when there is a loss of pressure in the system did not activate. With the earlier pedal adjustments, the button had shifted a few millimeters. The error, which did not give us any advantage on the track, was enough to get a disqualification – rules are rules. It was an incredibly painful and foolish mistake, which will probably haunt us for a very long time.

The final week and the final competition of the season had arrived. We had been on the road for five weeks and had arrived at the competition venue at the Hockenheim F1 racetrack in Germany. We tried to wipe Austria’s incident from our minds, but at the same time learn as much as possible from it. However, we probably didn’t succeed in doing that completely. It was clear that both the team and the car were getting tired. The long competition season was starting to take its toll on us. The advantage of our Central European competitors, who were able to rest in their bases between stages while we had been on the road for five consecutive weeks, became increasingly apparent. In Germany, we were able to compete at our average level until the last moment, but then we made a mistake and retired from the endurance event.

It was time to return to Estonia. After arriving home, we spent half a day in Tallinn and then moved on to the Baltic Open, which took place in Tartu this time. The Baltic Open is more of an entertainment event, with no static areas and where you can also race with old cars. There was a lot of driving to do at the Baltic Open, even young engineers who built the car were able to drive it. In an exciting final duel, the Czech team managed to beat us. In addition to the victory cup, the winner of the Baltic Open also gets the right to organize the next season’s competition. Now, there is a reason for the team’s old cars to wipe the dust off their wheels in Estonian soil next year.

It was a memorable season. The team and the car reached a new level again. Although our result “on paper” was not as valuable as we had hoped due to some small misfortunes in the last two big races, it is not the most important thing. Nothing diminishes the value of the experience, knowledge, and connections gained from building the car, and that is what matters. We also proved that Estonian education, engineering, and FS Team Tallinn are among the best in the world.

Big thanks to all the supporters whose help and support made it possible for us to have an extremely successful season!