As was to be expected, the big break between Rokiškis and the Elektrėnai rally was not entirely peaceful. A few weeks ago, Rokas Markovičius and Martynas Masaitis drove the special stages of the Cēsis Rally in Latvia, and last weekend we saw them at the Lithuanian Mini Rally Championship stage in Plungė, where they competed as guests. For this crew, it was already the thirteenth competition this year – it’s a busy season for them. Darius Biesevičius also joined them. Although Darius has owned a Ford Fiesta N5 for two years, he has not yet competed in an official rally. This time, Darius made his debut in Plungė with a car that he normally rents out to other drivers. There was also another debut. The Renault Clio N5, which had been on vacation for some time, was bought and went back on the stages last weekend. It was bought by Julius Masonas. Sitting next to him was Co-driver Ugnius Vainevičius, who has been in more than one N5 car. To get to know Julius better, we present his thoughts:
All the time I enjoyed watching the rally live, I was not a big fan, but I attended 1-2 rallies per season in Lithuania. I especially enjoyed the winter rallies. I knew Martynas Samsonas, to whom I mentioned several times that I was interested in rallying. Everyone said I was having a midlife crisis and was just fooling around. The people around me did not believe that I would take part in the rally.
Martynas introduced me to Aurimas Eidžiūnas and with his help it all started.Aurim helped organize everything. He introduced me to Justas Barysas from 800RPM, who agreed to repair and maintain the rally car. He also introduced me to Ugnius Vainevičius, who taught me how to write pacenotes. He also organized trainings session on tracks and stages in Versmė, Auto Moto Park and Ukmergė. All of them taught me: Ugnius, Martynas, Aurimas, Markas.
We went to Martynas to consult about the car, he bluntly said N5 without leaving us even a doubt.
We were looking for a solution, renting was proving expensive if we wanted to drive a lot. Then we found the Renaut Clio N5 for sale and made a quick decision. Justas and the team worked a lot on the car and prepared it for training and racing.Now the first christening took place. I did not sleep well the night before the rally, the excitement was great. After half of the first section, it subsided. But in the 1stand 2nd stages I drove really badly, worse than in the tests. Rode satisfactorily 3 out of 8 stages, their times improved. Ugnius controlled the pace and the excitement, he kept repeating that it was important to get to the finish. I did not make any critical mistakes, I did not create any emergency situations.
The car is currently programmed to run on normal fuel and I am driving with the first anti-lag program. I therefore hope that I can drive faster with more training sessions and once I have learned to control the Renault Clio N5, I will be able to drive with the full power of the car.Julius Masonas
In terms of results, Rokas Markovičius and Martynas Masaitis looked the best. However, their speed had consequences – the team suffered an accident for the first time in their career. The car, which entered the corner too fast, rolled several times – the crew remained healthy, and the Hyundai i20 N5 is awaiting some repairs. Darius and Arnas Biesevičiai drove perfectly throughout the rally and reached the finish of the rally in second place overall after 8 special stages. Darius was less than one and a half seconds short of victory. Debutant Julius Masonas with Ugnius Vainevičius successfully finished in the top twenty, but a time penalty dropped them to 38th place.
In a few weeks, we will prepare for the upcoming Elektrėnai Rally, to which Aurimas Eidžiūnas, who has recovered from his accident, promises to bring his car back.
| Driver | Co-driver | Car | Team | Class | Time | Overall | Class | |||
 | Darius Biesevičius | | Arnas Biesevičius |  | Ford Fiesta N5 | Biesmo | Svečių | 00:23:22.53 | 2 | 1 |
| Julius Masonas | | Ugnius Vainevičius |  | Renault Clio N5 | Samsonas Motorsport | Svečių | 00:25:54.69 | 38 | 3 |
| Rokas Markovičius | | Martynas Masaitis |  | Hyundai i20 N5 | Gorilla Burgers | Svečių | DNF | – | – |
Photos – Ugnė Kniūraitė (UniquePhotography)
