We are now in a time when our region is on vacation in terms of racing. It is too warm for winter rallies, but the condition of the roads is still too bad to enjoy racing on gravel. Therefore, the only way to turn the wheel is to do it virtually or to travel to the south, where there is really no lack of action. Martynas Samsonas, who has traveled to Italy, Great Britain, Portugal or Spain in the last four years, prefers to do some rallying in early spring We will see Martynas in Spain this weekend, but not only him… The company of the N5 class ambassador in Lithuania is supported by four other Lithuanian crews. This is undoubtedly the largest excursion of Lithuanians in Southern Europe.
The “Rally da Auga” takes place in the northwest of Spain, near the town of Ordes, very close to the sea. Ordes is located between Santiago de Compostela and La Coruña. On Friday, participants will complete a qualifying test, and on Saturday, the action really gets going from morning to evening. The rally consists of four special stages, each of which will be driven twice. After each of the two stages, the crews will return to the service area in Ordes. The distance of the stages is 111.40 km, the total rally distance is 242.76 km.
Martynas Samsonas comes to Spain directly from the United States, where last weekend he participated in the rally in the 100 Acre Woods with a BMW M3 E36. In this competition, Martynas could be in the top three of the overall standings, but problems with the fuel stopped the competition of the Lithuanian right at the beginning of the rally. In Spain, Martynas will drive a Nissan Micra N5, and Justas Vičiūnas will sit next to him this time. The two already competed together in 2021. Rally della Val d’Orcia in Italy.
After switching from BMW M3 to Ford Fiesta N5, Rokas Steponavičius shows the most stable results of the whole N5 group. Three winter rallies in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – three successful finishes. Finally, winter is over and Rokas and Dovydas Ketvirtis will test the car for the first time on Spanish gravel.
I feel good, I had a lot of extra activities, so my thoughts were focused there, I did not think too much about the rally. This is the first gravel rally for us as a crew in this car. The goal is to get sport miles, experience and try to understand how the car handles on Spanish gravel. I think I will have to make some changes to the set-up of the car. It would be nice if we finish the rally without any adventures and have a good time in the car.
Rokas Steponavičius
VIlmantas Padegimas, as soon as he bought a Renault Clio N5, set himself the goal of driving everywhere and accumulating the necessary sports kilometers. He successfully kept this promise over the winter, and the start in Spain will be the fifth competition for the racer from the Dzūkija region. The development process was somewhat slowed down by the change of co-drivers, which ended with Edvards Gurevičius sitting next to him. Now Vilmantas can concentrate fully on driving.
Like before every trip – it’s interesting and a bit anxious because you do not know what will happen. Somehow I already feel like going to Spain, because I am a bit tired of winter, I want warmth, well, we hope to find it there. The goal is clear – to reach the finish line. We will try to collect all the sporting kilometers and work even more with Edvardas. Of course, I hope above all that I can bring the Renault back to Lithuania, like the one we sent to Spain. We will do the first kilometers on gravel with the N5, we also updated the car, installed a new engine, a new turbine and a 34-mm restrictor. Everything is newly adjusted, I ran around the house, it’s scary how the cars drives now. Anyway, it’s going to be an interesting experience, qualifying is coming up, the regulations say you can only reece the stages once, there will be a kind of “show stage”. Well, it will be interesting because we have zero experience on gravel and asphalt. I hope we can stay on the road and not have any problems
Vilmantas Padegimas
For Aurimas Eižiūnas and Justas Barysas this will be the second start with the new Ford Fiesta N5. For Aurimas, as for other Lithuanians, it will be the furthest event of his career, but Aurimas is not only traveling to Spain to collect kilometers with a new car. As an organizer of the competitions in Lithuania, Aurimas will try to gain experience from his Spanish colleagues.
Every rally is a special experience and a special challenge. For our team, it will probably be the furthest rally we have ever participated in. We have already been to Finland, but this is something completely different. First and foremost, it’s about getting familiar with the car before the upcoming Lithuanian rally season. And secondly, I am interested as an organizer. It is interesting to gain experience, to see how others are doing and to see possibilities. From a sporting point of view, it’s always interesting to go where you have never been before and compete with the locals. However, you will not be a prophet in your own country. Our whole N5 team is driven by this goal and went to Spain.
Aurimas Eidžiūnas
The fifth Lithuanian team in Spain – Linas Vaškys and Laurynas Paškevičius with the Škoda Fabia N5. This tandem tested the N5 car last year when they fulfilled the tasks of the course car in the “Samsonas Rally Utena”, so they and Martynas Samsonas are the only ones who have experience with the N5 technique on gravel. Also Linas and Laurynas visited the Arctic Circle this winter, where they participated in the competition “Arctic Lapland Rally”.
„Rally da Auga“ 2023 Itinerary
| March 25th, Saturday | |||
| SS1 | A1 | 14,47 km | 09:33 |
| SS2 | B1 | 11,01 km | 10:16 |
| Servise zone (Ordes) | 00:25 | 11:25 | |
| SS3 | A2 | 14,47 km | 12:08 |
| SS4 | B2 | 11,01 km | 12:51 |
| Servise zone (Ordes) | 01:20 | 14:25 | |
| SS5 | C1 | 14,89 km | 15:53 |
| SS6 | D1 | 15,33 km | 16:31 |
| Servise zone (Ordes) | 00:30 | 15:25 | |
| SS7 | C2 | 14,89 km | 18:13 |
| SS8 | D3 | 15,33 km | 18:51 |