With the arrival of the new year, the guidelines for the new 2024 season are becoming clearer. The cars moves from one hand to the other, and the winter rallies are filled with sensational participants. The changes have not escaped the ‘N5 gang and their cars. One of these changes is that the white VW Polo N5 will now have a different crew. Nedas Radišauskas and Justas Vičiūnas will be replaced by another extremely fast duo that previously drove the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII – Giedrius Firantas and Matas Valiulis. Not only the crew will change, but also the design of the car – the white color will be replaced by an updated, but still familiar to Lithuanian rally fans color combination and the large inscription “Rokiškios GRAND”.
Giedrius Firantas has been seen in special stages since 2007 when he started driving a BMW 316 Compact. The next season, Giedrius was in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII, but then he took a break and later returned to BMW. Matas Valiulis has been in the co-driver’s seat with Giedrius since 2014, and this duo has now been racing for ten years without interruption. This decade has seen a string of class wins with the BMW 325i E36, BMW M3, and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII. In the 2022 season, Giedrius and Matas became LARČ5 champions. Giedrius revealed that the Mitsubishi is not the car he particularly likes. After the accident in 2022 at the Elektrėnai Rally, the crew from Rokiškis even rented a “Ford Fiesta Proto” car, but this did not live up to expectations either. The year 2023 has shown that the N5 class that has emerged in Lithuania will probably be much closer to Giedrius’ wishes.
Of course, I followed N5 project from the beginning and was interested in it, but I did not want to rush into a new class for the 2023 season. I do not like the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution either driving-wise or visually, so we knew after the season that we would change the car, but I did not expect it to turn out so well. Until now I have not driven a car in this class and have even avoided it so I do not have to sit sadly in the “Mitsubishi” knowing how much fun other drivers have driving modern equipment. The mood will be at its best when the gravel rallies are coming up, but I am constantly watching the weather forecast and hoping for a proper winter at the end of January, because I really want to get the first kilometers behind me as soon as possible. As for the coming season – finishing all the rallies would be the biggest dream
Giedrius Firantas
Giedrius Firantas and Matas Valiulis have signed up for the “Winter Rally Aukštaitija 2024” competition, where we will see not only Giedrius and Matas but also many other representatives of the N5 class. Action in Zarasai ay January 26-27.
