“Samsonas Rally Rokiškis” will be held next weekend on 9-10 of August in Rokiškis and its surroundings. 80 teams from 10 countries will participate. However, let`s talk about those who will compete to win a special prize for a winner in R2 class. Fastest duo will win brand new “Toyota Yaris”
5 teams are already registered on entry list till today – one from Lithuania, two from Finland and two from Estonia. Lithuania will be presented by tandem of Vladas Jurkevičius and Edvinas Bieliauskas. They will drive „Peugeot 208 R2”. Driver Vladas Jurkevičius states, that their rivals are well known. He says that fight is going to be tough as guests from Estonia and Finland will be pretty ready to take the main prize home.
„We have already competed with a lot of rivals in other rallies. They will be really strong. We can see that some of them will come to get the main prize. I thinks that spectators will enjoy watching intriguing fight in R2 class. We`ve been competing with Estonians in the same race. So one of them is fast, the other one is very fast. Finns are also very fast and well prepared”, – said Vladas Jurkevičius.
All rivals will compete with „Ford Fiestas R2”. Lithuanians with already familiar “Peugeot R2”. This class is special because of almost no difference among the cars. So in this case good cooperation between driver and co-driver will be very important.
“Rivals will probably have newer “Ford Fiesta R2”. Difference between their techniques and ours is that “Fiesta” has 200 HP, our “Peugeot” has 185 HP. So driving, pacenotes are very important as engines are not very powerful. R2 cars were constructed so there would be a possibility to compete with the same cars. Maybe first ever R2 cars were slow. However, techniques of cars from few lasts years are pretty much the same. It doesn`t matter if it is “Ford’ or “Peugeot” or some different model”, said team driver.
Two teams from Finland will come to “Samsonas Rally Rokiškis” – Sami Pajari and Antti Haapala, Benjamin Korhola and Pekka Kelander. Benjamin Korhola was participating with cartings recently. Later on he drove cross motorbike. But not long ago he started driving rally car. “Samsonas Rally Rokiškis” will be first race out of the Finland for sixteen years old Finn We shouldn`t underestimate this young driver as his teacher is famous Kristian Sohlberg.
This trainer brought another Finn to “Samsonas Rally Rokiškis” – Sami Pajari. He will compete in “Junior WRC” class in World Rally Championship this weekend in Finland. Straight after that he will travel to Lithuania. By the way it won`t be the first time in Rokiškis for Sami Pajari. He competed in last year’s “Samsonas Rally Rokiškis” and was the second in R2 class as well as fifth in 2WD class. This year after five events Sami Pajari is second in Finland Rally Championship R2 class and is only 1 point away from first place.
Two teams will also come from Estonia – Gregor Jeets and Kuldas Sikk, Robert Virves and Rasmus Vesiloo. Both teams are highly classified in National rally championship. Robert Virves now is the second, Georg Jeets is fifth. Total number of R2 teams in Estonia Rally Championship is 17.
Organizer of “Samsonas Rally Rokiškis“ Audrius Gimžauskas considers that entry list may increase few days before the event. It is likely that after successful finish in WRC in Finland, few more fast R2 class teams will come to Lithuania.