The Portuguese Rally Championship, which started in the mud a few weeks ago, drastically changed the venue and temperature and moved to the south of the country. Although there is a lot more sun and warm there, the special stages themselves were definitely no easier. Some of the stages are the same as those driven by the WRC competitors at the WRC Rally de Portugal when this round was held in the south. Just like in Fafe, there was no room for the slightest mistake in the Algarve. There is often a huge cliff on one side and an abyss on the other. From time to time, visibility was further restricted by dust. Very difficult conditions in a very beautiful place, it’s not for nothing that this rally is highly regarded by the Portuguese.
The action began on Friday with a qualifying stage on the track near Lagoa. For the participants of the Promo Championship, it is rather conditional, as the participants of this championship would start after the participants of the main championship in the best case, but the position can be improved. M.Samsonas showed the 9th best result, and the other N5 Portuguese A.Lopes and M.Carvalho – 14th and 15th. After the selection of the starting positions and the opening ceremony of the rally, the rally caravan moved to the first special stages, which took place near the west coast of Portugal. After passing two almost 7 km long special stages, the Lithuanian crew was in 6th place overall, but after the night SSS on the roads of Lagos, Martynas and Ervinas dropped to 11th place. The Lithuanian was severely slowed down by insufficient turbo pressure, causing the car to lack power. Friday was not as successful for other N5 colleagues – A.Lopes was 17th, and M.Carvalho and J.Araujo finished the day in the top forty.
At dawn, Saturday offered the crews 3 special stages, each of which was driven twice. This time the distances were more serious – two stages of 10 km each and one of 24 km. These were separated by a half-hour service zone. Unfortunately, the Lithuanian car did not recover overnight and Martynas and Ervinas drove a much weaker car than usual, but their skill and experience allowed them to regain some positions during the 6 stages and move up to 9th place in the overall standings. This result was enough to be victorious in the Promo Championship. Portuguese rally legend Adruzilo Lopes finished right behind the Lithuanians in his Škoda Fabia N5. The Portuguese driver also had a very good day and drove from 17th to 10th place and second place in the Promo Championship. Close behind in 12th place overall was the Hyundai i20 N5 with Miguel Carvalho behind the wheel. Miguel was flying on Saturday and showed a really good times. He climbed from 38th place to the aforementioned 12th and 3rd in the Promo championship. Impressive. Joao Araujo, driving a Ford Fiesta N5, also made good progress on Saturday, improving from 42nd to 30th.
Martynas Samsonas‘ third trip to Portugal will be a little different. While the competitors in the Portuguese main championship rest up, the Promo championship continues. In two weeks’ time, the crews will meet in the Vieira do Minho region, which is very close to the previously visited Fafé. This means that the drivers will once again compete on the WRC Portugal stages with a total length of 80.63 km. The Rally Vieira do Minho is quite familiar to the Lithuanians, having raced here in 2021 and 2022. in 2021, Martynas won this rally with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. We will meet on March 29th and 30th.
| Driver | Co-driver | Car | Team | Class | Time | Overall | Class | |||
 | Martynas Samsonas | | Ervinas Snitkas |  | Škoda Fabia N5 | Samsonas Motorsport | P4-17 | 1:07:28.0 | 9 | 1 |
 | Adruzilo Lopes | | Paulo Leones | | Škoda Fabia N5 | P4-17 | 1:08:18.2 | 10 | 2 | |
| Miguel Carvalho | | António Reis |  | Hyundai i20 N5 | P4-17 | 1:09:27.9 | 12 | 3 | |
| João Araújo | | Luís Araújo |  | Ford Fiesta N5 | P4-17 | 1:16:04.7 | 30 | 4 |
