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Late in the evening on Saturday, a plane landed at Vilnius airport, which carried six planes from Saudi Arabia in 2021. Crews from Lithuania who finished the Dakar Rally.
The first to appear in the waiting room. Antanas Juknevičius and Darius Vaičiulis, who were in a good mood, but hinted that with their eight-year-old car it was the last Dakar.
“I really appreciate the Dakar, because with a car like ours, being in a place like this. In front of us, 20 cars that are several years old and none like us. We know where to work. With such a car, the result is very good.
Everything was very messy last year. We had plans to change everything, but things started this year. We will see what is happening in the market here and think. It no longer makes sense to drive such a car, because we have already squeezed everything out of it, “said A. Juknevičius.
He soon reached journalists and triumphed in the “lonely” class Arūnas Gelažninkas.
“I feel like a fan, I’m already happy, the initial excitement subsided, but when I saw everyone at the airport, everything rebelled again. I did more than I expected. I feel appreciated, I have great support, I see that it is important for the people and I hope it will be a big step in the popularization of motorcycling, ”said A. Gelažninkas.
About “lonely”: “It was not boring, there was no time to think nonsense. You came back, got ready for the motorcycle and went to bed. Those two weeks flew by. “
About the award: “I will keep it in the other awards that have been won in recent years. I am very happy for such an evaluation, but I am more than happy to have received so much support. It shows that people are important.”
About next year’s Dakar: “It will be seen, there will be a new season and plans for it, there is still a lot of time.”
Dakar comparisons: “For me, this Dakar was easier because I drove more than half of the Dakar in pain last year. This year the Dakar Rally itself was tougher, the tracks were tougher, but for me it was better. “
About helping others: “There are unwritten rules. Even if you compete, but you give help and maybe save a life, you get compensated for the time, so I don’t know why you shouldn’t help. You don’t do this to do a good job, but when it happens to you, You hope that others will help you and really help you. It is not a heroic move. “
On emotions after rescuing a motorcyclist: “It was very difficult to finish the sprint section that day because I couldn’t concentrate. As I mentioned, when I found out that everything was fine and that he would recover, the next day dawned and everything was forgotten ”.
On the Dakar phenomenon in Lithuania: “I have not read all the congratulations yet. As I said, I am very happy that the Dakar is a great tool to promote motorcycling, but there is still work to be done.”
Roughly one defeat in Dakar: “The discipline of rallying is really dangerous because there are enormous speeds. That probably won’t be avoided in the future. “
The microphones stopped and Laisvydas Kancius, who became the first Lithuanian to defeat the Dakar on ATV.
“It just came to our knowledge then. I thought Dakar would be a bit faster. It turned out to be different for me than I expected,” said L. Kancius. “We were very well prepared physically and we prepared correctly and completely throughout the year. It was the most important thing, because we were not tired, we were in a good mood, we felt psychologically good ”.
On the hardest things: “The most difficult part was the stones, because there are many. Every afternoon we received abbreviated information on the route, where it was said that there would be 100-200 km of gravel, but this so-called gravel is for trucks, because for us it is an insurmountable stone where speed is reduced to a minimum. After 3-4 hours of crazy work, it was hard on my hands. “
About Dakar disease: “We have been infected for a long time and we will see what it will be like.”
About a possible best position: “It just came to our knowledge then. There are athletes of a certain level who have factory equipment, they hire the best runners who get paid and make a living from it. Their level is definitely higher than mine or at least the same. half more. We had the right tactic, the plan was to ride to the maximum every day, but keeping the technique and us to endure until the second half of the Dakar. We had analyzed that about 40 percent. Riders crash due to errors and fatigue. So we took advantage of that. I think our tactics have paid off. “
About the advantages over others: “Maybe the second half of the Dakar was good for me on the dunes. We even saw a bit of my advantage over the leaders. “
On the popularity of the rally in Lithuania: “Thank you all very much, I had a lot of support on social media.”
About preparation and training for the Dakar: “We have no place in Lithuania to train for such a rally. Yes, there are cross country tracks, but fitness can be improved. It is a different discipline and it is just a situation.”
About the future: “I’ll be home for a couple of days with my family and then to work.”
Finally appeared and Benedict Vanagas, Filipe Palmeiro, Edvinas Juškauskas and Aisvydas Paliukėnas. As usual, the keynote speaker was Vanag, who recounted his experiences at this year’s Dakar.
“We are very happy that most of the Lithuanian crews have reached the finish line and are really running it. It was fun to have a plane that is exclusively used by Lithuanians. We calculate that we now have a difference of about 50 degrees between where we go up. and where we land. In terms of evaluation, it is too early to do so. As for our team and Felipe, we are ranked 12, but both we and everyone else expected a top ten. We did an analytical work and saw that we were 5 hours Trailing the leader this year, when a few decades ago the top ten drivers were 8 hours behind. We know where we need to improve and what to do and I will definitely continue that, “said B. Vanagas.
About the shortage of up to ten: “It just came to our attention then. More than a few years ago, I wasted only a few seconds. Basically, there are not so many things we can change anymore. Now we can only polish the details, and I will only be able to provide more analysis in a week. Among the main ones. shortcomings, there were several factors: we got a new car and after testing in Lithuania it seemed that we already knew, but in Dakar we tested it for another four days and realized that we accelerated every time. Now we know what we could have done, but at that time we did not know. Dakar is a complex thing and there are many variations on what to do. The winners are those who have 10,000. Doing things better than the others. “
About the new car: “It has a very different center of gravity than our old one, which Edwin now handles. If our old car was thrown and thrown, this one is paving the way. During my nine years in Dakar there were three phases: the first 3 years were ambitious but with little experience and a lot of adventure. For the next 3 years, we learned, calmed down, and put some concepts together. The last 3 years are stable and we had no flickers. It is hoped that the tenth Dakar will surprise everyone ”.
About the stones: “The Dakar was in Saudi Arabia for the second time. I can say that the organizers have improved a lot and have found sand dunes that were not present in the last Dakar. There are an infinity of stones in Saudi Arabia and that you will not avoid. cancer for absolutely all the participants and the organizers will definitely receive a lot of requests. It is a bit sporty and very expensive as it spoils the technique. I myself, recovering the medal, asked that there be less of those stones next year. I have high hopes that another state will emerge next year and help the Dakar to be even sportier. “
On the importance of the automobile to obtain results: “It just came to our knowledge then. You may have the best car in the world, but if you don’t have a good driver, it won’t do anything. You may have a mediocre car but a wise driver and they will get one result or another. I also have a lot of complaints. that buggies, for example, have bigger wheels and we have smaller wheels and we hit them constantly. I think the organizers will discover that balance and maybe allow cars to run on bigger wheels. Anyway, motorsport is a technical sport and it should come as no surprise that the car determines a lot here.
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