The Lithuanian rally championship reached its halfway point last weekend. The Orlen Lithuania Rally featured two innovations. Firstly, the rally route extended far to the south, where there were two special stages with a significantly different profile than usual for this rally. The other thing is the weather conditions. The last time we had to deal with heavy rain and mud was in Utena in 2022, so everyone had to remember how to behave on a much more slippery surface.

After a bit of a mistake in the shakedown, Deividas had a great race

The very first day of the rally brought some surprises, as the competitors drove on 4 gravel stages and a short asphalt section. Although it had rained a lot before the rally, the sun did its job and on Friday evening there was even dust in some parts of the special stages. However, the latter did not come out from under a Ford Fiesta N5 slowly approaching the finish in the second part of Friday. Unfortunately, this car belonged to Irmantas and Edvinas Buivydai, who struggled with problems and finished penultimate on the day. Nevertheless, this was incentive enough to continue the competition, as it was still possible to score a considerable number of points in the class. Paulius Beniušis’s great streak also came to an end – after Friday’s problems, the man from Kaunas prepared for the start on Saturday according to the super rally rule.

It was a lot of fun to watch Eugenijus return to his rhythm and speed

For all the other crews, however, things went quite well and, as always, the battle was not for seconds but for fractures of it. Irmantas Buivydas was replaced in this season’s regular three-way battle by Eugenijus Sladkevičius, who, having prepared his car perfectly and already working better with Gediminas Saudargas, was an impressive 0.05 seconds behind Deividas Gezevičius, who was in seventh place after the first day. Just six seconds away was Giedrius Firantas, who was after Eugenijus Sladkevičius. A little further on – a very entertaining battle between Tomas Šmagarys and Linas Vaškys, who switched to a different car for this rally.

After solving the problems that arose in Žemaitija, Giedrius won the LARČ5 class

On Saturday, the participants were greeted by threatening clouds, which did not take long to turn the Telšiai district into a very wet place. The three-way battle between the Fiesta, Fabia, and Polo over the remaining eight stages on Saturday was very even. Gradually, Deividas Gezevičius was pulling away from Eugenijus Sladkevičius, who was just as far away from Giedrius Firantas. Everything could indeed have ended much worse for Eugenijus, as the stone severely damaged the car’s suspension, but it all happened at a good time and Eugenijus paid with a small loss of time but very tired mechanics.

It wasn’t an easy ride for Linas Vaškys with another car, but the points in the dowry made up for the trouble

Meanwhile, Linas Vaškys lost his N5 rival Tomas Šmagarys from the ninth special stage and was forced to stop. Instead, it meant another very important thing – having just managed to partially repair the car in the evening and morning service, Irmantas Buivydas drove the rest of Saturday’s special stages confidently, moving up to 23rd position and collecting 2 place points in the LARČ5 standings. Meanwhile, Deividas Gezevičius, who drove a great rally, fulfilled one of his wishes – to take a photo on the podium with the guest of honor of the Orlen Lietuva Rally, Esapekka Lappi.

This time, Irmantas Buivydas had a much more complicated scenario than in the previous events.

Now there is a very short break before the survival rally in Rokiškis, which starts in less than two weeks.

Although Tomas and Valdas drove confidently, luck deserted them this time
After an unfinished first day, Paulius successfully clocked up the kilometers on Saturday under the Superally rule

VairuotojasŠturmanasAutomobilisKomandaKlasėLaikasBendra įsk.Klasėje
Deividas GezevičiusTomas NenartavičiusFord Fiesta N5Nordis racing teamLARČ158:26.2963
Eugenijus SladkevičiusMarius KairysŠkoda Fabia N5+Samsonas MotorsportLARČ158:48.9774
Giedrius FirantasMatas ValiulisVW Polo N5AutoralisLARČ559:03.4681
Linas VaškysLaurynas PaškevičiusFord Fiesta N5ORLEN Lietuva-Mažeikių ASKLARČ11:00:44.38135
Irmantas BuivydasEdvinas BuivydasFord Fiesta N57Bet Racing by RALLY4FUNLARČ51:04:10.55232
Paulius BeniušisKristupas AdinavičiusCitroen C3 N5ABEPA ST-SPORTLARČ5DNF––
Tomas ŠmagarysValdas ČiuplysHyundai i20 N5AUTORALIS ASKLARČ5DNF––
Share
Share
Share
Share