Lithuanian’s goal – the title of “Formula 2” world champion: “I only want to achieve gold”

Edgaras Riabko feels like a fish in water in this year’s F2 World Championship.

In the UIM F2 class of high-speed motorboats, the 42-year-old racer from Lithuania is the leader in the overall competition standings, having scored 32 points after two stages and holding first place ahead of the remaining two stages in Portugal.

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Midway through the championship, 15min spoke with E. Riabko about ambitions, the accident that happened this summer in the race in Italy, and the path to success.

– Edgaras, how did your journey in water formula sport begin?

– It started with my father. In 1994, when I was 10 years old, I began sailing motorboats myself, and before that, my father raced during the Soviet times.

My brother, who is ten years older, was also involved, and then the equipment was left to me, and I started.

I sailed only in Lithuania for many years, then gradually moved up through the classes. Like in cars, we have small boats, then they get bigger, power increases, the “formulas” themselves grow until Formula 1.

Just like on land, on water there is Formula 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I am now racing in the second Formula class.

I became European champion for the first time and started sailing in wider waters in 2011 – in Ternopil, Ukraine, in the Formula-5 class, I won my first European gold.

In 2012 and 2013, I sailed in the Formula-4 class, where I achieved third place in Europe and third place in the world. Since 2014, I started trying out Formula-2 races; that year I was only renting equipment, it was the first tests and trials.

And already in 2015, I bought my own formula, which unfortunately broke – I capsized during one race, the side of the boat did not hold, and then I flipped. That season was very short, I had to buy a new boat.

Since 2016, I started seriously racing in the Formula-2 class. I am still racing in it; in 2018 and 2019, I became European champion in this class and over all these years I was three times third in the world and three times second, and this year – we are leading.

– That’s what I wanted to ask about – in the world championship in Portugal, only two stages remain out of five. How do you feel, after so many times finishing second and third, that you might win?

– The season started a bit tough. The first stage was in Klaipėda, we organized it ourselves at the cruise ship terminal in early June.

We were very well prepared, but during qualification, ballast scattered inside the formula due to load and waves, and the formula became very difficult to control. I was only sixth in qualification, but during the race, I was third and felt that if not for this one problem, I would have felt strong among all athletes in the first stage.

But after going to Italy for the second stage of the world championship, we confidently won first place in qualification and finished the race that way. After those two stages, I rose to first place in the overall standings, then came the third stage, again in Italy but in another city. I was first in qualification again.

Unfortunately, at the start in the first turn, six formulas crashed, one racer had to be airlifted in a coma by helicopter to the hospital. The judges canceled the race because it was unclear how the athlete was doing.

He survived, everything is fine – already at home.

For me, it was a very big chance to pull away even more from all participants and ease the situation a bit before the stage in Portugal.

So now we are going to Portugal in high spirits because we feel our pace is very good, we are fast, there is just a slight tension. Now, since I got no points in the last race in Italy, full concentration is needed again, no mistakes allowed.

So the mood is currently upbeat but focused, we are not celebrating too much because everything can change after one race – two stages remain, anything can happen. But so far, our pace is good, we have a good chance.

– Are such accidents common in the sport, or do you constantly face danger?

– Of course, accidents are common as in every technical sport. Speeds are high – we race up to 200 km/h.

When people are airlifted by helicopter – that is really rare. Other injuries may happen more often; in every race, someone capsizes. You can capsize alone or go airborne and do a flip, or capsize in a turn, or two can collide.

This time, Andre Solvang from Norway, racing for the “Sharjah” team from the United Arab Emirates, who was starting from somewhere around fifteenth place, made a mistake and sharply veered to the right, blocking the way for everyone.

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Another Norwegian hit him, then a Finn crashed straight into the capsule at 180 km/h.

The entire formula was destroyed, the capsule separated from the formula – it was gruesome. Then others coming from behind tried to avoid the accident by turning left. When a Belgian turned left, a Spaniard hit him. A mass accident occurred.

This time, thank God, all athletes remained healthy and alive, returned home, just a bit unlucky for me because I was first in qualification, also leading after the first turn, so we were a bit disappointed when the race was canceled. But the most important thing is that everyone is safe and alive.

– In another interview, you said you set yourself a very strict goal to win the world championship. If you win it this year, do you plan to move up to Formula-1?

– Yes, my goal now is only the F2 world champion title, and I only think about it now. I do not plan anything about the future now – I want to achieve gold, if I don’t succeed, I will aim further next year. But if I manage to triumph this year and if there are serious offers from factory teams, I would go.

If there were offers from weaker teams, for whom the top six or prize places are almost unattainable, then I would probably refuse and continue racing in Formula-2.

Simply put, since Lithuanians understand basketball very well: I would rather be a star in the EuroLeague than sit on the bench in the NBA.

F2 and F1 are very similar, very high, professional levels. It would probably be hard for an ordinary person to distinguish those formulas – they are almost identical, only the engines in the higher class are a bit more powerful.

– How did you create your current team, was it difficult to find the right specialists and get funding for sports activities?

– Our team was not formed immediately. Gradually, people came to the team whom we saw fit for our sport, who understood what needed to be done. Over the years, the team has become quite good, I am very satisfied.

The number of sponsors started to grow until the pandemic. But the pandemic and the war greatly slowed down funding; it is harder now. Companies tell me frankly: they have some money but do not know what tomorrow will bring, what the future holds amid these troubles, so they try to save.

So it is not easy now; I am always open to offers, but so far, I have to put what I earn from business into the sport.

– In 2020, the first motorboat academy was established in Lithuania, so how is the younger generation doing in this sport now?

– There were new elections, and our late former president already refused to continue in office, and I was a bit too young, still wanting to compete.

There was no one else who wanted to take the position where there was nothing – no boathouse, no garage, no office – we simply had nothing. But I decided to invest some money and my time for the children, the future, the new generation.

The Inland Waterways Directorate allowed us to rent an area near Kaunas Lagoon, where we built boathouses, bought boats, various motorboats so that children would have the opportunity to try. Gradually, those children started to gather, and now there are quite a few teenagers who invest, buy other formulas, having outgrown the smaller ones.

This year, the children’s world championship was held at Kaunas Lagoon, with participants from all other academies, and Lithuanians became world champions in the overall standings.

So, I think, since 2020, the creation and implementation of ideas, the whole path we are on, has brought us great results. A large team has formed that still works today.

I was the only one who was president, teacher, coach, father, and did everything “from A to Z,” and now a considerable team works. Even those athletes who came that year, tried themselves, and now they are 17-18 years old and already train the little ones.

F2 formula race moments in San Nazzare

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So it is very nice to see that both the sport and the members are growing, they already have experience and can train six-year-olds. I think everything we have done and are doing now has brought great benefits, and that recognition – the world gold – says it all.

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