Congratulations Aigar, this has been a fantastic start to your season?

Thanks. Yeah, this is the best result that I could have hoped for. It feels great to get a result like this and to stand on the podium. I didn’t really expect to be so competitive here but everything came together and today was my day.

How did your day go, you were consistently fast all day and were always posting top five results?

Overall it was fairly good and I didn’t make any major mistakes during the day. I struggled a little bit on the Enduro Test but was able to pull some time back on the Cross Test and the Extreme Test. The Enduro Test was very tough. In places it was only one lined and you really had to be careful. A couple of times I got stuck on some of the uphills but I think everyone did at some point in the day.

The Extreme Test really suited you and you were the fastest rider on it today.

That test suited me. It was on a cool little motocross track that mixed in some man made extreme sections. It was quite fast to ride but a lot of fun. I managed to win two out of the three timed special tests and overall was the fastest in Enduro 3 on it.

Last year you were a late start in the EWC and were unable to prepare for the season. What did you do this year to improve your riding?

Last year it was a bit chaotic coming straight into a full season of EWC with no training but this year was a lot better. In January I spent two weeks testing with TM at their headquarters in Italy. After that I went to Spain to train with Juha Salminen, Matti Seistola, Eero Remes and Marko Tarkkala. Getting to ride and train with them every day helped me to lift my game. They’ve so much more experience in enduro than me so I was able to learn a lot by being with them and I think that’s helped me to get this result today.

Along with changing class to Enduro 3 you also made the switch to riding the TM 300 EN. Why was that?

I’ve always liked riding two strokes and when TM asked if I would race one I jumped at the chance to do so. The bike has been so much fun to ride – it’s lighter and easier to ride on the extreme sections and also when the going gets tough. I’m really happy with this and I think it’s been the right move for me.

Now that you can officially call yourself a true enduro rider, what are your expectations for the rest of the year?

Today has been great and makes all the hard work during the winter worth it but tomorrow is a new start. I just want to keep pushing as hard as I can and to give it 100 per cent. This time 12 months ago was my first ever EWC race. I struggled a lot there and made many mistakes - I even got lost at one point. Today I feel I’ve showed that I’ve become an enduro rider and I want to thank everybody in TM for believing in me to help me get this result.