Winter rallying in the Baltic countries is over – we had four events in Lithuania, Latvia and Finland. What do you do when there’s a three-month wet spring in our region? Go where it’s already warm. So after four winter events, until it is possible to race in Lithuania again, we will have four gravel rallies under the N5 LTU banner, all of which will take place in Portugal. This flag will be carried by Martynas Samsonas and his co-drivers Ervinas Snitkas and Ugnius Vainevičius. The first start is already this weekend.
Ricardo Domingos, owner of “Domingos Sport”, visited the base of “Samsonas Motorsport” back in December. After working with Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution for many years, the Portuguese decided it was time to look ahead and start working on more sophisticated cars in Portugal. The idea of the N5, as an evolution of the N Group, was a perfect fit, right next to RMC Motorsports, who produce these cars and a good relationship with Samsonas Motorsport. Ricardo has taken the first steps and the number of N5 cars in Portugal is increasing. N5 will participate in the second most important championship – the Promo Championship. The plan is to take part in the Portuguese Rally Championship in 2025. On the other hand, as in our country, both championships will be held together in some rallies. The “Rali Serras de Fafe” is no exception.
As you may have already seen, Martynas Samsonas‘ Škoda Fabia N5 has been given a new design. That’s not the only change – the car has been updated to comply with N5 homologation, so it’s no longer the Fabia N5+ as before. Three other N5 cars will accompany him on the Fafe Rally – a Škoda Fabia, Ford Fiesta, and Hyundai i20 N5.
Martynas Samsonas is no stranger to this region in the north of Portugal. He has already competed twice in the “Ralli Vieira do Minho”, which he won in 2021. Both the “Vieira do Minho” and the “Serras de Fafe” stages have been and are being used in the WRC and ERC events, so you can see the Lithuanian Škoda Fabia N5 flying over the legendary Fafe jump this weekend.
We want to help our customers RMC Motorsport and Domingos Sport to develop the N5 class in Portugal, even if things are going well there without us. As we can see, more and more N5 cars are coming to this country, which shows that the N5 is not a bad project. Lithuania is a perfect example of this with 11 cars last season. If the car is assembled with really high quality, it practically does not wear out, so the running costs are low.
Our goal together with RMC Motorport and Domingos Sport is to show optimal, good speed and reliability of the N5 cars. If we achieve these things, we will be happy 🙂
Martynas Samsonas
The other three N5 crews are serious too. Switching from the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X to the Škoda Fabia N5 in 2023, champion of the Promo championship – Adruzilo Lopes. Miguel Carvalho, who finished third in the Promo Championship and is the fastest Promo 2WD driver, will try to keep up with Andruzilo. It will be the biggest challenge for the Portuguese driver, as after many years of getting the most out of the Peugeot 206 GTi, this year he will be in the brand new Hyundai i20 N5. At the wheel of the Ford Fiesta N5 will be João Araújo, the Promo champion of central Portugal, who, after driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII MR, bought an N5 car from Spain at the end of last year, enabling him to take part in one of the competitions before the end of the year.
The Seras de Fafe Rally has been part of the European Rally Championship for three consecutive years, but he is no longer taking part this year. This is the first stage of the main Portuguese championship, the Promo, the TGR Iberian Cup and other smaller championships, in which 56 crews took part. The competition for the Lithuanian crew will certainly be tough. They will compete against Armindo Araujo, multiple Portuguese champion and long-time WRC competitor. Also Kris Meeke and Ricardo Teodosio will represent Team Hyundai Portugal. There will be one more WRC competitor – Marco Bulacia, and several fast Spaniards. As the Lithuanian crew is in the Promo championship standings along with the other N5s, they are very low in entry list. But that’s nothing to worry about, as there is a qualifying stage in Portugal. On Friday morning, 19 crews will take part in Qualifying SS to determine the starting positions, including the Lithuanians and two other N5 crews. Later, a shakedown will be carried out on the same track.
The format of the rally itself is two days. The rally starts on Friday at 17:45 Lithuanian time in the town of Boticas, near which there are two different special stages of 9.64 km and 11.53 km long. The teams will then head southwest to Fafe itself, where they will have to tackle a 1.62 km city stage. On Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. Lithuanian time, the second day of the rally begins, which consists of 4 special stages that are driven twice. In between, the participants return once to the service area in Fafe. As usual, it is the last special stage – Lameirinha 2, which hosts the famous double crossing of gravel and asphalt and the Fafe jump that attracts numerous spectators. Podium – 21:00 Lithuanian time.
| Nr. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Team | Class | |||
| 101. |  | Adruzilo Lopes | | Paulo Leones |  | Škoda Fabia N5 | P4-17 | |
| 102. | | Miguel Carvalho | | António Reis |  | Hyundai i20 N5 | P4-17 | |
| 105. | | João Araújo | | Luís Araújo |  | Ford Fiesta N5 | P4-17 | |
| 106. |  | Martynas Samsonas | | Ervinas Snitkas | | Škoda Fabia N5 | Samsonas Motorsport | P4-17 |
