The time has finally come when the main attribute of the rally is not snow, but green fields and dust. The warm rally season willy opened by the Visaginas AMSK Club, which is organizing the Visaginas Rally for the third year in a row. This time it will also be an event of the Lithuanian rally sprint championship, and when we add the guest class, in which many crews want to shake up the winter stagnation – we get almost a LARČ-level competition. Another calling card of this rally is its compactness. Everything to do with the rally will take just over a day. Five N5 crews, including one debutant, will use this opportunity to train in battle mode before the first event of the Lithuania Rally Championship in Lazdijai.
There will not be a single N5 representative in Visaginas who has not warmed up a bit before the first start of the season. Eugenijus Sladkevičius tested the car in the well-known Beižionys special stage, Linas Vaškys visited Samaniai in north Lithuania, Aurimas Eidžiūnas and Paulius Beniušis tested a new place in the geography of the Lithuanian rally – Tauragė, and N5 newcomer Irmantas Buivydas tested his new car near his home. As Martynas Samsonas has disappeared from the N5+ company, only Eugenijus and Linas remained to fight in this mini class. Work was done in both workshops – Eugenijus improved the cooling system of the Škoda Fabia N5+, and another Škoda Fabia N5 was born in the workshop of Linas Vaškys.
M.Vaškys budino save ir automobilį Samaniuose
To be fair, the N5 / LARČ5 gang in Visaginas should have been a bit bigger, but some participants did not prepare their cars for Visaginas, so we will see them in Lazdijai in a couple of weeks. There are really interesting moments among those who will be driving. Aurimas Eidžiūnas has been working diligently with his colleagues during the off-season, both on driving and pacenotes, so the man from Vilnius speed is likely to increase. Paulius Beniušis has taken care of the car and hopes to end his finish curse. Of course, the most interesting thing is how the young team of Irmantas and Edvinas Buivydas will look in the new car. It is fair to say that they have already outgrown their previous equipment and this move comes at the right time. As we know, the transition from the factory Ford Fiesta R2T to this type of AWD equipment is quite fast and smooth. We will be following Irmantas and Edvinas’ progress with interest.
As always, the Visaginas rally will be very compact. The participants will start with the formalities on Friday evening and the actual race will begin on Saturday afternoon. Eight excellent special stages await the racers and two runs through the streets of Visaginas already in the evening. So the format is the same as last year.
| Nr. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Team | Class | |||
| 41. |  | Eugenijus Sladkevičius | | Marius Kairys |  | Škoda Fabia N5+ | Samsonas Motorsport | AWD+ |
| 42. | | Linas Vaškys | | Laurynas Paškevičius | | Škoda Fabia N5+ | ORLEN Lietuva-Mažeikių ASK | AWD+ |
| 45. | | Aurimas Eidžiūnas | | Justinas Barysas |  | Ford Fiesta N5 | 7Bet Racing | N5 |
| 46. | | Paulius Beniušis | | Kristupas Adinavičius |  | Citroen C3 N5 | ABEPA ST-SPORT | N5 |
| 47. | | Irmantas Buivydas | | Edvinas Buivydas | | Ford Fiesta N5 | 7Bet Racing by RALLY4FUN | N5 |
