The fourth round of the Lithuanian automobile rally championship “CBet Rally Rokiškis” will take place in Rokiškis and its surroundings upcoming weekend. There will be more than 90 participants at the start line and names of the crew of Vaidotas Paškevičius and Kamilė Kazickaitė are among them.
It is true that the preparation of the “Pastatų sistemos Racing” crew for the competition was really stressful. At one point, the duo’s chances of starting this rally were even doubtful. However, Paškevičius would not be Paškevičius if he did not come up with a solution to even the most complicated situation.
Vaidotas says that after the previous event in Mažeikiai, their team had a lot of work to do with car. And if earlier the duo was stopped by such failures as suspension problems, this time the situation was much more complicated – heart of their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution started showing whims. It was decided not to run the same unit now and just do a quick transplant and use the stock engine.
“We had a lot of problems at the finish of the Mažeikiai rally. We overheated the engine. Fortunately, we had a second engine, so for the Rokiškis rally we decided not to take risks and “lift” the old engine, but to put another, new engine. However, even after installing a new engine, things did not go according to plan. I had to “demolish” the engine again and look at the gearbox, because something was wrong with it. Everything went on until the last night, like for students.
After collecting everything in one formation, we made a “surround” and drove from Vilnius at our own pace to Klaipėda, where the engine was adjusted. Unfortunately, the new engine was not as good as the one we had before. It has much less power. Since “CBet Rally Rokiškis” is both a long and fast rally, we were not optimistic about it. I really think that it will be difficult to fight for the top position in the class, but we are not those who give up without a fight”, said Vaidotas Paškevičius.
After changing the engine and traveling at his own speed and in a calm mode to Klaipėda, where the adjustment took place, Vaidotas Paškevičius finally decided to take part in the tests before the Rokiškis rally with the updated car.
Private test drives on Tuesday showed that even with less power than before, the sportsman can demonstrate his characteristic pace.
“The car passed the tests, there were some small details, but they can be solved. Looks like the mechanics will need to stay overnight, but we’ll get those minor issues sorted out. Tomorrow we have time for reconnaissance. At that time, the mechanics will be able to finish preparing the car,” said Vaidotas Paškevičius.
The duet of Vaidotas Paškevičius and Kamilė Kazickaitė is supported in this competition by the main partners “Pastatų sistemos”, “SV Technika”, “Otanki Mill”, “Stiklų ekspertai”, “Stareka”.
The duo of Vaidotas Paškevičius and Kamilė Kazickaitė will start with the 14th starting number in the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO.
