The starting order for the “7bet Rally Lazdijai ’25” has been revealed: who will start the race with the first number?
The first round of the Lithuanian rally championship “7bet Rally Lazdijai ‘25” will start in Lazdijai on Friday. The first rounds of the Lithuanian Extreme Rally and Rally4 Trophy will also take place during the competition, which will be held on May 16-17.
The list of participants in the “7bet Rally Lazdijai ‘25” is truly impressive. As many as 90 crews from five countries have expressed their desire to participate here. There will definitely be no time for spectators to get bored, as the entire Lithuanian rally elite is coming to Dzūkija, and experts in this sport do not hide the fact that predicting the top ten will be very difficult. Just a couple of days before the start, the starting order was announced, according to which the participants will start the race and will drive in this order until the first regrouping.
The first starting number was given to last year’s Lithuanian rally champion Vladas Jurkevičius, whose pacenotes will be read this time not by Aisvydas Paliukėnas, but by Vaidotas Žala’s former co-driver Ivo Pūkis. Vaidotas Žala himself will start with the second number, and he will be assisted by the young Lithuanian Ugnius Vainevičius. The Dakar and classic rally driver will compete here in a completely new “Škoda Fabia RS Rally2” model. Giedrius Firantas and Mats Valiulis, who surprised everyone with their speed in Visaginas, will start the race with the third number. The fourth number will adorn the door of the Hyundai i20 Rally2 car of Rokas Steponavičius and Dovydas Ketvirtis.
The fifth number is given to the duo of Giedrius Notkus and Dalius Strižanas. Nedas Radišauskas and Justas Vičiūnas will start the race in the sixth starting position, followed by Justas Simaška and Mantas Ližaitis. In the eighth starting position, spectators will see the tandem of Deividas Gezevičius and Evaldas Kvederis. The ninth number will be assigned to the duo of Justas Tamašauskas and Algirdas Pranckūnas, who are returning to the rally. The crew of Paulius Beniušis and Kristupas Adinavičius will complete the top ten.
Sometimes there are discussions among spectators about the basis on which the starting order is drawn up in the rally. Darius Šileikis, the CoC of “7bet Rally Lazdijai ‘25”, agreed to answer this question. “There is such a thing as a speed index. Let’s say who completed the last rally the fastest, how long it took the crew to cover the sports kilometers. However, I evaluate not only the speed index of the last rally. Currently, I am calculating the indices of several seasons.”
It is also important to remove anomalies from the speed index. What is an anomaly? It is driving slower than usual. For example, due to dust, a flat tire, or other technical problems that prevented the crew from driving at its usual speed and damaged the speed index. Such things must be taken into account, and the index is calculated after removing these anomalies. The other side of the coin for arranging the starting order is that one of the most stable crews is also taken as a starting point. Previously, Vytautas Švedas was considered such a driver. He was very stable with his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO – not only did he finish in practically all rallies, but he did so in stable positions and had no breakdowns. So, you take a stable athlete as a starting point, as a unit, and you arrange faster and slower drivers around him. There is a lot of calculation and arithmetic. Of course, it happens that sometimes you ask, but during the competition, a regrouping occurs and the crews are already arranged according to the intermediate results in that rally. The most important thing about the starting order is that the crew does not interfere with the one behind them, and the one in front does not interfere with the one in front,” said Darius Šileikis.
This year, participants and spectators of the “7bet Rally Lazdijai ‘25” will be able to enjoy nine special stages, the total length of which will exceed 90 kilometers. The organizers have already announced that this year they will offer athletes both new and previously modified special stages, where, after the Dacia Bigster safety cars pass, an uncompromising fight for seconds and the first points of the season will begin.
