A month later, we return to the battles of the Lithuanian rally championship. Usually the “Rally Žemaitija” opened the LARČ season, but in the last two years this honor has been taken over by other rallies, and Žemaitija itself has become the second bullet point on the calendar. The rally itself is still basically similar and unique at the same time. There are not many cases in Lithuania and around the world where the special stage starts at 23:30, so half of the participants theoretically even start the next day. As usual, the special stages are all located to the west of the rally center in Kelmė. All the action revolves around Kražiai and Pagiai, who are well-known in rally folklore. The stages are quite the same with some changes and there will be places where the crews will drive the same stretch three times. The main action starts on Friday and will continue throughout Saturday.
In Žemaitija we will again see a great duel between two LARČ1 colleagues – Linas Vaškys and Eugenijus Sladkevičius. Linas was better in Lazdijai, beating his rival from Elektrėnai by ten seconds. Eugenijus had problems at the start of the rally but fought his way back position by position on the second day. Linas visited Zarasai last week, where he did fast-kilometers in tests with other classmates in Suviekas.
As for the LARČ5, the battles will be no less interesting. Each of the three fastest drivers will play their trump card in the special stages of the Rally Žemaitija. Class leader Irmantas Buivydas and his brother come from these regions and therefore know the roads well, to say the least. It can be assumed that the walls of the house will provide some confidence. However, the direct competitors are ready to be the fastest too. Deividas Gezevičius has found and solved the problems that slowed him down in Lazdijai, and he with Tomas Nenartavičius has also covered kilometers in the aforementioned Suviekas. So form, confidence, and motivation will be at a very high level. The third contender – Giedrius Firantas. If before Lazdijas we did not know exactly how easy or difficult it would be to switch from the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution to the Volkswagen Polo N5, then what Giedrius and Matas showed in the last Lazdijas rally special stage indicates that the crew has more or less already understood what and how to do in the new car. He also did training kilometers last Thursday in Suviekas.
An equally interesting intrigue awaits the other trio with the Ford Fiesta, Citroen C3 and Hyundai i20 N5 cars. This year, Paulius Beniušis not only successfully reaches the finish line, but also shows a really respectable pace. The crew of Kaunas had a lot of speed on the first day of Lazdijai. A month ago, Aurimas Eidžiūnas and Ugnius Vainevičius were 22 seconds short of Paulius, and if not for the first SS on Saturday, it would have been even less. So this fight will definitely be moved to Žemaitija. Aurimas, along with other members of the N5 gang, also tested in Suviekas. You should have seen how Aurimas flew there, even the wheels lifted off the ground, although there was no jumps. Well, the biggest question mark now hung over the crew of Tomas Šmagarys and Valdas Čiuplis. Their crash at Lazdijai has already made its way around the internet, and the Biesmo workshop is still working hard to restore the car and get it to Kelmė. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that the previous incident is rectified with a successful finish in Žemaitija.
| Nr. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Team | Class | |||
| 7. |  | Irmantas Buivydas | | Edvinas Buivydas |  | Ford Fiesta N5 | 7Bet Racing by RALLY4FUN | LARČ5 |
| 8. | | Deividas Gezevičius | | Tomas Nenartavičius | | Ford Fiesta N5 | Nordis racing team | LARČ5 |
| 9. | | Giedrius Firantas | | Matas Valiulis |  | VW Polo N5 | Autoralis | LARČ5 |
| 11. | | Linas Vaškys | | Laurynas Paškevičius |  | Škoda Fabia N5+ | ORLEN Lietuva-Mažeikių ASK | LARČ1 |
| 12. | | Eugenijus Sladkevičius | | Gediminas Saudargas | | Škoda Fabia N5+ | Samsonas Motorsport | LARČ1 |
| 18. | | Paulius Beniušis | | Kristupas Adinavičius |  | Citroen C3 N5 | ABEPA ST-SPORT | LARČ5 |
| 19. | | Aurimas Eidžiūnas | | Ugnius Vainevičius | | Ford Fiesta N5 | 7Bet Racing | LARČ5 |
| 23. | | Tomas Šmagarys | | Valdas Čiuplys |  | Hyundai i20 N5 | AUTORALIS ASK | LARČ5 |
