We are talking to a guest from Poland, Mikołaj Kempa, who thought it was high time to take the rust away and take part in some test sessions. With the help of Lithuanian colleagues, these plans very quickly turned into a start at the Ukmergė Rally with Darius Biesevičius’ Ford Fiesta N5. Even more, these extremely spontaneous plans ended with Mikołaj winning this event of the mini-rally.
How was your weekend in Lithuania? How did you decide to come to Ukmergė and rent an N5 car?
I have a very short but also very nice time in Lithuania, it was my second rally here with last one was in 2020 in Roksiškis. The decision to come was very spontaneous because just a week before the rally I decided that we need to take rust away and do some testing. It was the closest date and I saw that there will be one of those mini-rallies soon so I decided to make a rally ( which is the best test in my opinion 
). I was thinking about several options, Oreca R4, N5, and older R5 car so there couple of things to pick it up In here comes with rescue Giedrus Notkus ( who is I can say my rally friend in Lithuania and “Godfather” of that idea to start in N5 
), who pointed me out Darius, that is very nice and kind guy who has that kind of car. There was also a good offer and I decide
Tell us about the Ukmergė rally. How was the rally for you from the organization, stages and other points of view?
Rally Ukmergė surprised me a lot because I don’t remember when I had started on such demanding roads. Very twisty and narrow roads ( with dust everywhere ). Technical and with no place for mistakes. The organization was on a good level, everybody was nice and polite to us, and they put a lot of work to organize it (I spoke with CEO’s rally father he told me that they had some bigger issues just before the event, but at least they manage it ). I was impressed that the service park is in the middle of the town and the main road is blocked because of that ( that’s good for rally promotion ) Overall it was good
What is your impression of the Ford Fiesta N5? Can you compare the Fiesta N5 with other rally cars you have driven?
I used to try 2 years ago in Spain ( thanks to Martynas Samsonas ) N5 car, it was then Citroen C3. But then I remembered that I didn’t have such good impressions which I had this time I really enjoy the car (I didn’t have any test before, the rally was my test ), it was very easy to handle, good braking, gearbox works nice, suspension I think is the biggest value. Maybe the engine is not so powerful and that could be a little bit better but I can compare it to Egon Kaur’s proto which is quite similar, with maybe some small differences ( his one doesn’t have ALS ). I think it is an R5 style car but a little bit less powerful and a little bit different driving-wise, but gently.
There are 10 N5 cars in Lithuania and an amazing battle between them. Would you consider participating in LARČ events with it?
Yes I’m watching that N5 class competition since the beginning of the year, and that is also one of the reasons I would like to try that car I need to make some more tests and maybe other small starts and get better prepared and there is a chance that we will start in one of the championship events in N5 class
