How are the Rally Sprint participants preparing for the first winter event?

The entire Lithuanian rally community has finally breathed a sigh of relief – the first event of the Lithuanian Car Rally Sprint Championship will take place in Rokiškis. It even took three postponements before the winter had sufficiently settled on the future special stages. And the cold weather did not let up – even double-digit sub-zero temperatures ensured a decent frost and a sufficient layer of ice on the road. However, the postponements also have a negative side – some crews had already planned for the coming weekend and will unfortunately miss this rally. In this situation, of course, the N-1 rule helps them, and it is possible that this missed event will not cost them anything in the year-end standings. Nevertheless, more than 20 Sprint participants are preparing for the first and only winter event in Lithuania. How are they getting on with their preparations? We asked them ourselves 🙂

Mantas Gurkšnys / Grigorij Tarasov – BMW E46 Compact

Well, after last season there was not actually much to prepare, the car is still new, freshly assembled, all components have been checked and inspected. The biggest preparation is a new design, new lights for special stages at night and a different steering column. There is no further work on the car, of course a more powerful engine is planned, but for the first event the good 2.5 liter engine will be enough. We will try to change it before the first gravel rally.

Remigijus Vaitasius / Daumantas Vasiliauskas – BMW E36 Compact

The preparation should be strong for the new season, but there is not enough time because the rally has been constantly postponed, and I myself spend a lot of time outside Lithuania, so we will leave the serious preparation for the next event. This is in case Rokiškis finally forgives me, because so far 2 rallies in Rokiškis and not a single finish. Besides, the BMW was “written off” in an accident last year. So we will start with our new BMW E36, which I bought just before the Elektrėnai rally last year. We will dust off the car, check its components, do what is necessary – repair it, put on sport studded tires and try to start. There were no tests, neither with the car nor with the do-driver Daumantas Vasiliauskas, everything starts improvised in this new season, but the feelings are good. We will get used to the stages and the finish!

Arūnas Černius / Jolanta Ščiglinskienė – Subaru Impreza

We were convinced that the winter rally would not take place, so we planned more serious work for the spring, before the Visaginas rally. So we just will dust off, polish the car and give it a go!

Lukas Vidrickas / Andrius Čižauskas – Subaru Impreza WRX

We decided to take part in the “Biorina Winter Rally Rokiškis 2025” somewhat hastily, in the last few days before the registration deadline. Somehow we didn’t expect a serious winter, so we will get the car out of garage and prepare it all next week.

Veteran Arūnas Vaičiūnas is also preparing for the “Biorina Winter Rally Rokiškis 2025” competition, and Greta Šaduikytė will read the pacenotes for him. The crew will drive a Subaru Impreza STi.

During the “Biorina Winter Rally Rokiškis” wristbands (tickets) will be available for purchase at the entrances to the special stages and from 2025-02-21 at 15:00 at the Rokiškis District Municipality (Rally Center)

The event is free for children under 12 years old.

Ticket price 10€