That’s it, we have reached the point where the 2023 season of the Lithuanian Rally Championship will be concluded in Utena. It seems that just a short while ago in Visaginas and Mažeikiai we were eagerly watching how the new LARČ5 classification and the three LARČ1 N5+ cars would fit into the rhythm of Lithuanian rallying, and after the coming weekend the last empty spaces in the annual classification tables will be filled. However, the action will not be missed after the LARČ finale – a large group of N5 and other Lithuanians will head to the Saaremaa Rally, which will take place right after the “Samsonas Rally Utena”. Maybe there will be even nors action later as well – just maybe in a slightly different format. We will wait and see, and now we can focus on this year’s biggest rally in Lithuania. Samsonas Rally Utena will welcome a record number of participants, which means that there will be battles on all possible fronts. 3 N5+ and 7 N5 cars and their crews will contribute to the rally list.
In terms of racing, the calmest will be the mascot of “Samsonas Rally Utena” and one of the organizers – Martynas Samsonas. After two rallies, where the difficulty was not in the rallying itself, but in securing the result, Martynas and Ervinas will drive as hard as possible without second thoughts. They already have the Lithuanian rally championship title, the LARČ1 title and the team classification title in the bag, now they just have to enjoy the roads of their home country to the maximum.
The situation is a bit more exciting for the other two LARČ1 representatives – Eugenijus Sladkevičius / Marius Kairis and Linas Vaškys / Laurynas Paškevičius. These men could have turned the situation in Elektrėnai one way or the other, but Eugenijus’ and Linas’ mistakes in the middle of Lithuania led to DNF notes for both of them in the overall standings, and when Utena came, the same gap of 20 points remained in favor of Eugenijus Sladkevičius. The opposite situation is in the general AWD standings, where Linas Vaškys is established in the top ten, and Eugenijus needs a good result to get into the Top 10.
As for the current situation of the LARČ5, the situation there is very similar. 19 points – this is the gap between Nedas Radišauskas / Justas Vičiūnas and Rokas Steponavičius / Dovydas Ketvirtis. Here, unlike in the LARČ1, the Elektrėnai Rally made its contribution. When Nedas Radišauskas found a rather big rock, his series of 100% finished rallies streak ended, and when Rokas overtook all competitors in the class, the gap between these two friends decreased to the mentioned nineteen points. That’s a big gap, but it doesn’t allow anyone to relax too much, and Utena’s special stages will not forgive any mistakes.
During the season, Aurimas Eidžiūnas and Justas Barysas established themselves in third place. After two podium finishes, the crew could feel more or less secure, but the situation changed in the second half of the season. Deividas Gezevičius jumped into this season with Tomas Nenartavičius sitting next to him. This crew took a while to get into the LARČ, as they built their Ford Fiesta N5 from scratch and only jumped on the Lithuanian Rally Championship train in the second half of the season. It didn’t take long for one of Lithuania’s fastest 2WD drivers to understand the nuances of 4WD, and Deividas immediately climbed to the second-place podium in two rallies, earning a large amount of points right away. However, these points are not enough to seriously threaten Aurimas – the gap between them is now 32 points. However, the theoretical chance remains.
We will not see Vilmantas Padegimas Utena who is in fifth place at LARČ5 standings, so 4 crews could compete for his place, but one of them dropped out. Ramūnas Čapkauskas, who is right behind Vilmantas, will start in the rally but with his old Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX and will not score points in this class. Vaidotas Paškevičius, who has also switched from the Lancer Evo to the N5, will be in Darius Biesevičius’ Ford Fiesta N5, as he was in Elektrėnai and in Utena. The debut with this car in Elektrėnai was successful – Vaidotas and co-driver Paulius Vičiūnas climbed the podium. Only this time Paulius is replaced by rally professor Žilvinas Juršys.
Two crews that have been using N5 cars since the beginning of the season will try to move up from the last places in the LARČ5 table. However, this year was the most difficult for them. Tomas Šmagarys with Valdas Čiuplys and Paulius Beniušis with Kristupas Adinavičius finished only in Rally Žemaitija, bringing some points in the standings. Everywhere else, the crews of the most interesting cars – Hyundai i20 and Citroen C3 – were held up by technical problems and accidents.
| Nr. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Team | Class | |||
| 1. |  | Martynas Samsonas | | Ervinas Snitkas |  | Škoda Fabia N5+ | Samsonas Motorsport | LARČ1 |
| 8. | | Nedas Radišauskas | | Justas Vičiūnas |  | VW Polo N5 | Samsonas Motorsport | LARČ5 |
| 9. | | Rokas Steponavičius | | Dovydas Ketvirtis |  | Ford Fiesta N5 | ST-SPORT | LARČ5 |
| 10. | | Deividas Gezevičius | | Tomas Nenartavičius | | Ford Fiesta N5 | Nordis racing team | LARČ5 |
| 17. | | Eugenijus Sladkevičius | | Marius Kairys | | Škoda Fabia N5+ | Samsonas Motorsport | LARČ1 |
| 18. | | Linas Vaškys | | Laurynas Paškevičius | | Škoda Fabia N5+ | ORLEN Lietuva-Mažeikių ASK | LARČ1 |
| 21. | | Paulius Beniušis | | Kristupas Adinavičius |  | Citroen C3 N5 | ST-SPORT | LARČ5 |
| 22. | | Tomas Šmagarys | | Valdas Čiuplys |  | Hyundai i20 N5 | Autoralis | LARČ5 |
| 24. | | Vaidotas Paškevičius | | Žilvinas Juršys | | Ford Fiesta N5 | Vaidota Racing Team | LARČ5 |
| 27. | | Aurimas Eidžiūnas | | Justas Barysas | | Ford Fiesta N5 | 7Bet racing by RALLY4FUN | LARČ5 |
N5+ / LARČ1 standings
N5 / LARČ5 standings
