Nine crews driving N5 cars will start at “7bet Rally Lazdijai”
The upcoming weekend, May 17-18, will be the start of this year’s Lithuanian Automobile Rally Championship in Lazdijai. The “7bet Rally Lazdijai” competition, which will be the prologue of the season, will be attended by more than eight dozen participants from six countries, and is organized by Marimotors Racing. This time for your attention – news about the crews starting here with N5 cars.
The Lithuanian Automobile Rally Championship starts this coming weekend in Lazdijai, but some of the N5 equipment has already raced more than once or twice this year and is sufficiently “warmed up”. It all started in the deep winter in Lithuania and Latvia. Later, when our roads were trying to recover from the winter spies, Martyn Samsonas drove around Portugal with his Škoda Fabia N5. As the roads in Lithuania dried up, tests were held every weekend in one place or another, where the N5 “boys” showed their skills. In the general rehearsal before the “7bet Rally Lazdijai”, which took place in Visaginas, five N5 cars could be seen, and as many as nine crews driving this technique will come to Lazdijai.
This year, the “Škoda Fabia N5+” trio will be fragmented – Martynas Samsonas left it, who will now drive BMW brand cars in Lithuania. However, one very interesting project related to N5 and Martyn is maturing at the Samsonas Motorsport base. After Martyn’s departure, Linas Vaškys and Eugenijus Sladkevičius, who raced against each other extremely hard throughout the last season, remain in the LARČ1 standings. Both of them had tests, both drove last weekend in Visaginas. True, Linas Vaškys faced problems and did not finish. Meanwhile, Eugenijus Sladkevičius also renewed his technique before the start of LARČ.
“I think it went well to prepare for 7bet Rally Lazdijai, the car will have a new heart, so everything should be positive.” Of course, it is interesting how you will be able to withstand such competition, because it seems that no one is going to miss this competition and I think there will be things to do to stay in the TOP10, because all the fast boys are registered. Well, I think we will gain momentum little by little”, said E. Sladkevičius. The real crazy dance will be danced in the LARČ5 competition, where as many as seven N5 class crews will compete against each other. There are even three newcomers among those seven, so let’s talk about them first.
The biggest surprise is Irmantas Buivydas, who, after buying a Ford Fiesta N5 from Roks Steponavičius, performed miracles with it in the Visaginas rally and almost got on the overall podium. This pace of the young racer raised the eyebrows of everyone who saw his driving and times, and Irmantas himself, who switched from the front-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta R2T to 4WD technology, immediately targeted the fastest N5 “boys”. “We have not missed a single competition of this organizer. We participated here when the Mini rally was held, later we also drove when the competition had the status of a rally sprint, and now we will return as participants of the A League. We grew together with this rally. That region, the surroundings of Lazdijai, we have seen to some extent, maybe we will ride in the speed sections of the sections”, said I. Buivydas
Another debutant in the N5 squad is Giedrius Firantas, who bought a VW Polo N5 from Ned Radišauskas, who once left the audience speechless with the BMW M3 and later the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII. He is an extremely fast racer and it will be extremely interesting to watch how he will manage to get used to a car with a completely different philosophy. It is true that Giedriaus’ debut will perhaps be a bit more modest at first, because the crew did not have normal training and will be able to fully settle in the car only in Lazdijai itself. “The car seems to be ready, but not tested. If I were weak, I would cry as if I was unable and unprepared, but nature does not like the weak. We won’t have additional training, it will be the first time with N5 on gravel in Lazdijai”, said G. Firantas.
The third debutant will not be a complete debutant, as Jaak Tammeka has already driven Darius Biesevičius’ Ford Fiesta N5. This happened this winter, at the “Winter Rally Aukštaitija” competition and last weekend in Kėdainiai, where the first stage of the Mini Rally took place. In Kėdainiai, Jaak finished second overall and appeared with a new design – maybe we will see this Estonian more often in Lithuania? By the way, this will be Jaak’s debut at LARČ.
The remaining four racers are already very familiar with N5 technology to the Lithuanian rally community and all four have their own goals and trump cards. According to forecasts, Deividas Gezevičius, who joined the N5 squad last year, should be the first to play the violin in this class only in the middle of the season. However, even the late joining showed that David will only fight for the top positions. Carrying out all the maintenance and improvements of the Ford Fiesta N5 car with his own hands, David hopes that the hard work will pay off from the first kilometers. “I prepare for the first start on weekends, days and nights – all free time – still at the car. Therefore, I hope that the car will run smoothly during the competition and will allow you to enjoy yourself. The rally is special because it is close to the Polish border, it will be an opportunity to shop cheaper, because I spent everything on the car”, joked D. Gezevičius
Another Ford Fiesta N5 car, which will be very interesting to follow, belongs to Aurim Eižiūnas. This man from Vilnius, who spent the entire off-season training his driving and shorthand skills, showed that his work was not in vain a couple of weeks ago in Visaginas. Another important thing is that one of the most promising Lithuanian navigators – Ugnius Vainevičius – will be sitting next to Aurim. “We are preparing for the rally as always. The garage is preparing the car, and after Visaginas, no major work is planned – perhaps such preventative works as changing the clutch or inspecting the entire car. We received Ugnias Vainevičius from Martynas Samsons, who will take the position of navigator in Lazdijai. We had registration training, we are not planning any additional tests, as there will be a Shakedown speedway in Lazdijai. I don’t see any questions or nuances as to why we should fail at anything. We communicate with Ugnis quite simply within the crew and everything is very clear, there is something to share and exchange opinions. Ugnius really has something to offer for improving work. This weekend’s rally is very special because it’s the start of the season and it’s also about our main partners 7bet, which is a lot of fun for us. We can see that the competition will be particularly strong – there are nine N5 cars alone, and the ranks of the R5 have also been filled, as well as some fast Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions. I think that not only TOP10, but also TOP15 is very strong in Lithuania. We are happy with the improving Lithuanian rally”, said A.Eidžiūnas.
