As soon as we have time to shake off the Latvian snow, we will be heading to Zarasai this weekend, where the first stage of the Lithuanian Car Rally Sprint Championship – “Winter Rally Aukštaitija 2024” – will take place. As in previous years, many guests will come to enjoy the joys of winter. To tell the truth, there are even more guests than “sprinters”, which only shows how popular winter rallies are in Lithuania. The “Winter Rally Aukštatija 2024” will offer a rather unique format – half of the rally during the day, the other half of the rally at night. 8 special stages and 55 sport kilometers. The competition will start this Saturday at 13:45, the last SS will start at 19:00. The crews of the N5 class with all guests will start after the participants of the Lithuanian Rally Sprint Championship.
Giedrius Firantas will test his new purchase – a VW Polo N5 – with Matas Valiulis for the first time in competition. Although this team has already completed some smaller tests, this will be their debut in real rally with this car. Previously, Giedrius drove a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII. It’s great that the VW Polo N5, which was extremely fast last year, has ended up in really good hands.
“I am constantly watching the weather forecast and hoping for a proper winter at the end of January, because I want to drive the first kilometers with the new VW Polo N5 as soon as possible”
Giedrius Firantas
The crew of Eugenijus Sladkevičius and Marius Kairys will arrive at the “Winter Rally Aukštaitija 2024” in their Škoda Fabia N5+ after warming up their hands and feet. The pair took part in the “Rally Alūksne” last weekend, from which they only withdrew at the very end of the rally. The accumulated sporting kilometers on snow and ice should put them in a good mood next weekend.
Aurimas Eidžiūnas will not miss the opportunity to enjoy the cold season in a rally car. Having sent his usual co-driver on vacation, he will be joined by Martynas Samsonas’ co-driver – Ervinas Snitkas. During the tests a few weeks ago, this crew has already warmed up a bit, and Deividas Gezevičius is making sure that the silver Ford Fiesta N5 will be even faster in Aurimas’ hands.
“It seems that winter has come to Lithuania, and this is a great time for the winter rally. I am very glad that Arvydas and the whole company keep the tradition that the winter rally takes place in Aukštaitija, Zarasai and Ignalina. We will start with the same Ford Fiesta N5, there are almost no changes, because we think that the seconds are not in the car, but in us. In reality, the car is faster than us, so my colleague Deividas Gezevičius and I have a program to get faster. That means we improve pacenotes, driving and car settings. Little by little we are making steps forward to be more competitive with the other N5 guys this season. A big thanks to Deividas for his time and insights.
There have been questions about how we will start here. To answer that question, we can congratulate Justas Barysas on the addition to his family, so we will let him rest in the winter. Therefore, I will start with the Lithuanian rally champion Ervinas Snitkas in the winter. Martynas Samsonas lent it to him for a competition and during the tests, I found that driving with Ervinas is very pleasant from the first corner.”
Aurimas Eidžiūnas
In the N5 car, we will once again see a guest from Poland – Mikolaj Kempa. Last year, he won two rounds of the Mini Rally Championship in Darius Biesevičius Ford Fiesta N5 and took part in the Saaremaa Rally in Estonia. This time we will see him in Vilmantas Padegimas’ Renault Clio N5, and Vilmantas himself will play the role of course crew with a Toyota Celica. It’s hard to say whether this will be a one-off appearance, but we hope to see Mikolaj more and more often in the N5 gang.
The biggest news – the aforementioned Darius Biesevičius car will compete in the Aukštaitija winter rally with an Estonian crew. Jaak Tammeka and Jaanus Virro will drive the Ford Fiesta N5. The Estonian, who has rarely taken part in competitions since 1996, competed last year in Lithuania with another car from Darius Biesevičius – Mitsubishi Lancer 4WD. Jaak, like Mikolaj, drove in mini-rally competitions, only in other events – in Daugai and Kaunas. This will be his debut behind the wheel of such a modern car.
| Nr. | Driver | Co-Driver | Car | Team | Class | |||
| 27. |  | Giedrius Firantas | | Matas Valiulis |  | VW Polo N5 | Autoralis | AWD+ |
| 29. | | Eugenijus Sladkevičius | | Marius Kairys |  | Škoda Fabia N5+ | Samsonas Motorsport | AWD+ |
| 30. | | Aurimas Eidžiūnas | | Ervinas Snitkas |  | Ford Fiesta N5 | 7Bet Racing | AWD+ |
| 32. |  | Mikolaj Kempa | | Marcin Szeja |  | Renault Clio N5 | Mikolaj Kempa | AWD+ |
| 33. |  | Jaak Tammeka | | Jaanus Virro | | Ford Fiesta N5 | 7Bet Racing | AWD+ |
