After the tragic end of the last event of the LARČ, the world of rallying does not stand still and continues. The consequences are inevitably seen and felt, but that does not stop the desire to organize, drive, and move on. Although the last event of the Mini Rally Championship in Druskininkai was hanging in the air because of the accident two weeks ago, the rally will take place with a slight change to the original idea. The whole festive part of the rally – opening ceremonies, concerts, and other festive attributes – was canceled. Only the purely sporting part of the rally remained, which was also changed by removing the unique special stage through the streets of Druskininkai.
The special feature of the rally itself is that all the special stages are located in the forests east of Lake Grūtas. Although there are some more open sections, almost all special stages are on narrow forest roads with trees directly near them. You can expect a very technical rally. Due to the non-running urban SS, the route of the rally has been shortened to 25.86 km and eight special stages.
As many as four members of the N5 family will come to this final season of the Lithuanian rally, all driving in the guest class, which means that they will start after the channel of the mini-rally participants. The guest list will be opened by Devidas Gezevičius with a Ford Fiesta N5, who this time will sit next to his partner – Rūta Miliauskaitė. This is Ruta’s second competition in the co-driver seat – the last time she sat with Deividas was in 2020 and also took part in the event of the mini-rally that took place nearby – in Lazdijai. Back then, they were driving a Honda Civic. Another Ford Fiesta N5, driven by Aurimas Eidžiūnas together with Justas Barysas, will drive in the forests of Druskininkai.
We will also see two other members of the N5 family with slightly rarer chassis. Rokas Markovičius will come to Druskininkai with a Hyundai i20 N5 together with Martynas Masaitis. The pair have been driving wherever they can this year, so it’s no surprise that this will be their fifth mini-rally competition and sixth start in the Hyundai they only bought in the middle of the year. It will be the 16th start for this crew in the rally competition this year. Well, the fourth crew is also very interesting – Julius Masonas, who bought a Renault Clio N5 from Vilmantas Padegimas, has already started in three mini-rally competitions this year – two in Lithuania and one with the already mentioned D.Gezevičius in Latvia. In Druskininkai, Julius will sit alongside Aisvydas Paliukėnas, an extremely experienced co-driver who is this year’s Lithuanian rally champion.
| Nr. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Team | Class | |||
| 75. |  | Deividas Gezevičius | | Rūta Miliauskaitė |  | Ford Fiesta N5 | Nordis racing team | Guest |
| 77. | | Aurimas Eidžiūnas | | Justas Barysas | | Ford Fiesta N5 | 7Bet Racing | Guest |
| 78. | | Rokas Markovičius | | Martynas Masaitis |  | Hyundai i20 N5 | Gorilla Burgers Racing Team | Guest |
| 79. | | Julius Masonas | | Aisvydas Paliukėnas |  | Renault Clio N5 | Samsonas Motorsport | Guest |
