The Visaginas Rally, the opening event of the Lithuanian summer rally season, is already becoming a classic. And everything fits together very well here – the Lithuanian Rally Sprint Championship gets a great event, and the LARČ participants have a place to train before the first round, which is held in Lazdijai. For the past three years, this rally has established itself with the familiar special stages and format, but this year the organizers have shaken things up. This year, competitors will only tackle two special stages twice, which are an impressive 16.5 and 18.5 kilometers long. And the special stages themselves are fast and wide, so in some places the speed is reduced by the built-in braking zones. The famous Visaginas city stage with a fast section in the forest and the stadium no longer exists. Instead, there is a short, safe section in a slightly different location. However, the mileage of this rally is very high for a sprint event – 72.46 km.
There have been some changes in the N5 family since last season. Giedrius Firantas sold his VW Polo N5 to Audronis Gulbinas, and the new owner of Irmantas Buivydas’ Ford Fiesta N5 will be announced shortly. Aurimas Eidžiūnas’ Ford Puma N5 should also see the light of day this year. Although the car is not yet finished, the Vilnius native will compete with his own Ford Fiesta N5.
We will see up to seven N5 cars at the Visaginas Rally. Two of them will take part in the sprint championship, the other five will start in Visaginas as guests. The highest starting number was given to Julius Masonas with his Renault Clio N5, which showed an excellent performance on the wintry Rokiškis rally. As in the winter, he will be supported by co-driver Markas Buteikis, whose advice will have a very positive effect on Julius’ speed, and the crew has a great chance of fighting for the top positions in the LARSČ. The next N5 crew in the LARSC standings is Rokas Markovičius with a Hyundai i20 N5. As in the winter, the regular co-driver will be replaced by Tomas Grigonis.
An equally interesting battle is expected in the guest classification. Paulius Beniušis has been very active this winter and has competed in three events with a Citroen C3 N5, demonstrating great speed in Rokiškis in particular. Like many of his colleagues, he has also been training for the upcoming competition in Visaginas. Eugenijus Sladkevičius will definitely try to test the Kaunas driver’s speed with a Škoda Fabia N5+. The driver from Elektrėnai has also warmed up a bit in his native surroundings, on the legendary Beižionys special stage. Deividas Gezevičius will start the season with a few changes. First, he improved his car, then he joined the big team Abepa ST-Sport, which also includes Paulius Beniušis. The third change – for the Visaginas and Lazdijai rallies, Deividas will have a different co-driver. Tomas Nenartavičius will be replaced by Evaldas Kvederis.
Interestingly, Aurimas Eidžiūnas is building a Ford Puma N5 model. While we are all waiting for the debut of this car, Aurimas will appear at the Visaginas Rally with the well-known Ford Fiesta N5. In the meantime, Audronis Gulbinas will make his debut with the VW Polo N5, which he already bought during the winter. Audronis is taking a very active part in the tests to get used to the new car, as the Kaunas-born driver has only driven front-wheel drive so far. Normally, Vytis Paliukonis reads the pacenotes for him, but in Visaginas, a member of the former N5 crew – Edvardas Gurevičius – will take over the co-driver’s duties for him.
| Nr. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Team | Class | |||
| 4. |  | Julius Masonas | | Markas Buteikis |  | Renault Clio N5 | RallyLithuania.com | Open |
| 20. | | Rokas Markovičius | | Tomas Grigonis |  | Hyundai i20 N5 | Gorilla Burgers | Open |
| 52. | | Deividas Gezevičius | | Evaldas Kvederis |  | Ford Fiesta N5 | ABEPA ST-SPORT | Svečių / AWD+ |
| 53. | | Eugenijus Sladkevičius | | Marius Kairys |  | Škoda Fabia N5+ | Elektrėnų ASK | Svečių / AWD+ |
| 54. | | Paulius Beniušis | | Kristupas Adinavičius |  | Citroen C3 N5 | ABEPA ST-SPORT | Svečių / AWD+ |
| 55. | | Aurimas Eidžiūnas | | Justas Barysas | | Ford Fiesta N5 | 7Bet Racing | Svečių / AWD+ |
| 58. | | Audronis Gulbinas | | Edvardas Gurevičius |  | VW Polo N5 | GSR MOTOSPORT | Svečių / AWD+ |
