Another new name appeared in the Lithuanian car rally calendar – Rally Ukmergė. The competitions organized by Varėna ASK start from the lowest level of the rally discipline – the Lithuanian Mini Rally Championship. Although the competition is held for the first time, it immediately stands out from the general context of mini-rally – at least for the moment – with the maximum mileage, which is up to 40 kilometers, and the service area in the heart of the city. We finally return to Ukmergė after a long break. The roads of this city region used to be used by the organizers of the Vilnius Rally and various sprint competitions were held. All this attracted an extremely high number of participants, which reached 102 crews. Among these hundreds there are also three N5 gang members who will come to Ukmergė with different goals.
Darius Biesevičius comes to Ukmergė after a short break in the N5 car to celebrate his birthday. The last time we saw Darius with his Ford Fiesta N5 was at the pre-season tests in Grenadavė, where Darius not only drove but also gave other racers the opportunity to test the N5 technology. Marius Kairys, Eugenijus Sladkevičius’ current co-driver, sits next to Darius. During the forty sport kilometers, one of the most famous Lithuanian motorsport engineers will test the improvements of the Ford Fiesta N5.
There will also be a debut in one at the Ukmergė Rally. In another Ford Fiesta N5, the driver and co-driver will swap places – Rokas Steponavičius will take the pacenotes from Dovydas Ketvirtis, and the latter will take the steering wheel from Rokas. Dovydas races quite a lot, but in the circuit racing discipline, and this will be his debut on gravel. By the way, Dovydas comes from Ukmergė, so this will be a symbolic start of his career as a rally driver in an environment that brings back many memories.
The third crew at the Ukmergė Rally is Vilmantas Padegimas with Edvardas Gurevičius, who will be behind the wheel of a Renault Clio N5. As Vilmantas Padegimas has only been rallying for a short time, he is trying to gain much-needed experience as quickly as possible by taking part in as many competitions as possible. It will be the tenth start for the racer from south Lithuania.
The Ukmergė Rally will take place on July 15, a Saturday. At 11:30 the participants of the Mini rally will start, followed by the representatives of the guest class. The rally consists of 9 special stages around Ukmergė and one service area. The total distance will be 217 kilometers.
| Nr. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Team | Class | |||
| 79. |  | Vilmantas Padegimas | | Edvardas Gurevičius |  | Renault Clio N5 | Samsonas Motorsport | Guest |
| 80. | | Darius Biesevičius | | Marius Kairys |  | Ford Fiesta N5 | Samsonas Motorsport | Guest |
| 81. | | Dovydas Ketvirtis | | Rokas Steponvičius | | Ford Fiesta N5 | GSR Motorsport | Guest |
Information – Rally Ukmergė 2023