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Made a single mistake
In recent years, Vaidotas Žala, who has dominated the gravel runs, and Andris Malnieks, a co-driver from Latvia, have gone ahead this time. After the first 4 speed stages, his lead was almost 44 seconds. T. and. They beat every kilometer almost a second faster than the closest pursuer.
It is almost the same as winning each half on the basketball court by 10 points. During the day of the 2020 Samogitia Rally competition, Vaidotas made the only mistake when they “fell asleep” while flying a fast curve of the road and managed to turn the car 180 degrees. The adventure ended happily, but it took about 10 seconds without affecting the final result.
“Just in the afternoon I was asleep and I fell asleep. Nothing terrible, everything ended well, “laughed the pilot of Agrorodeo V. Žala.
The sixth and seventh stage were resumed according to plan: V. Žala gained these speed sections and increased the lead over the closest crew again to almost 39 seconds.
The eighth stage was canceled due to an accident, and in the ninth the Agrorodeo crew again dictated their conditions: after winning the ninth stage, V. Žala and A. Malnieks increased the lead to almost 44 seconds (+43.85).
The situation did not change during the rest of the rally distance: V. Žala won all the remaining stages and confidently won the general classification.
“Aside from a few mistakes, things turned out pretty well. At the end of the rally I was already starting to feel the car as things were going, everything was on the way. At first, it was necessary to adapt. And now everything is much better, to Be precise. The last fast speeds were a lot of fun: they wanted to break the limiter even more. In the end we were already driving well, without adding or subtracting. The most important thing is that the car is healthy, “V. Žala was happy.
Lithuanians and Latvians competed fiercely
One can speculate whether Dominykas Butvilas, who drove an identical Škoda Fabia R5, could have kept up with the leaders. However, after a break for a couple of years, one of the racing favorites returned to the rally world, made a mistake in the second gear section, went off track and broke the lap. Although the car was later repaired, Dominic returned to the track only to “rack up fast kilometers” but not to fight for victory.
The most persistent fight for other top positions took place between Latvian rally celebrities Janis Vorobjovs and Giedrius Notkus. They passed most of the speed sections at an almost identical rate, breaking one or the other. After 10 stages, Giedrius had accumulated an advantage of almost 8 seconds, but after another GR, the advantage turned into an 11-second deficit. In the last, longest speed section, G. Notkus managed to bounce back in 5 seconds, but failed to beat the old Latvian rally wolf.
The fourth fastest team, Vytautas Švedas with Žilvinas Sakalauskas, was more than 2 minutes from the leaders. Ramūnas Čapkauskas was in fifth place for a long time, but near the GR 11 he was forced to stop on the sidewalk due to the broken left rear wheel. His position in the standings was taken by the Polish guest team Robert Kocik and Sebastian Wach, who were driving a Ford Fiesta R5. For the leaders, they lost almost 4 minutes.
Surprisingly beautiful fight
A fantastically beautiful fight boiled between single-axle cars. Latvian Martins Sesks with the Ford Fiesta led for a long time here, and Justas Tamašauskas with the BMW M3 were on his heels. Before the last lap, the brother had a lead of almost two seconds, but in a straight line, Justas was able to send the guest to a 6-second knockout and score a victory.
Giedrius Firantas also applied to participate in this fight, demonstrating an enviable pace in the test speed section. Unfortunately, shortly after the official start, the bolt that holds the rear shock absorbers of the BMW N3, which never breaks, mysteriously broke. After this blink, Giedrius did not return to the track.
Another rally virtuoso, Karolis Raišys, who drove BMW, did not reach the finish line when the crankcase crashed, from which a little oil dripped midway through the race. Upon reaching the GR5 finish, it became clear that the fastest automobile oil from a Lithuanian architect was flowing in a stream, so he stood on the sidewalk and hurried to find a sorbent.
Ginas Petraitis, known as the rally prodigy, was unable to finish Kelmiškis’ great frustration due to clutch failure, demonstrating enviable pace and driving technique.
A quarter did not reach the end
In total, 24 teams out of 86 that started did not reach the end of this race. Most of the cars stopped due to technical glitches. Only the Latvian duo Jānis Sala and Jānis Bruzinskis, who led the Audi 90 Quattro, led the Rally Sprint Championship, suffered a more serious accident.
When leaving the highway, it hardly damaged his car, but it was found in the hands of doctors. After the initial examination at Kelmė Hospital, the men were taken to Šiauliai for more detailed examinations. After them, it turned out that one of the crew members had a broken clavicle and the other a pair of ribs. Such injuries are likely to have been caused by improperly fastened seat belts.
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