The fourth event of the Lithuanian automobile rally and rally sprint championships “CBet Rally Rokiškis” ended on Saturday in Rokiškis. 90 crews started in it, but a third part of them did not reach the finish line due to breakdowns or incidents. The winners of the rally were the crew of Vladas Jurkevičius and Aisvydas Paliukėnas, who started at number one. They kept the leadership both days of the rally.
On the first day of the rally, five Special Stages and a distance of 50 kilometers awaited the participants. The winners of the rally, Vladas Jurkevičius and Aisvydas Paliukėnas, who started in the Škoda Fabia R5 car, won the two longest, 18 km speed sections already on the first day and finished Friday with a 23 seconds advantage over Giedrius Notkus and Dalius Strižanas, who were classified in second place. 7 seconds behind the Rokas Steponavičius with Dovydus Ketvirčius finished third on the first day.
Saturday was the main race day of CBet Rally Rokiškis. It included 10 more speed sections with a total length of 90 kilometers. Crews had to fight for seconds and positions in both new and legendary speed sections of this rally. One of them is a cult section through the springboard named after Vaidotas Žala.
Finally, after overcoming the gravel Special Stages and the last one, which stretched through the streets of Rokiškis, the crews reached the finish line. Vladas Jurkevičius and Aisvydus Paliukėnas, who did not let go of the leader role on the second day and only increased their advantage, were named the winners of the rally. In the final line-up, they celebrated their victory by advantage of 43 seconds accumulated over 140 km of Special Stages.
It was a very close battle for second place on Saturday. At first, Giedrius Notkus and Dalius Strižanas held the initiative, but their situation was complicated by a ten-second penalty for violating the rules even before the start.
In the end, the crew fell to third place, losing Rokas Steponavičius and Dovydus Ketvirčius in front of them. Still, the intrigue here remained until the last speed section. After thirteen sprints, Rokas Steponavičius had a lead of seven seconds, but in the next sprint he received a ten-second penalty because he started too early.
Giedrius Notkus rose to the second place again with one sprint remaining and gained 1.5 seconds advantage over Rokas Steponavičius. However, the returned to the second position after recording the best result in the last city Special Stage, where he beat Giedrius Notkus by 3.5 seconds. and the lead of two seconds established itself in the second place. Giedrius Notkus had to settle for the third position.
The crew of Benas Šimkaus and Vaidas Paulikas, who drove in a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO, won the overall standings of the Lithuanian automobile rally sprint championship. They were 35 seconds ahead Darius Sukackas with Ernestas Česokas. Mindaugas Grikienis and Donatas Gaidelis stepped onto the third place step.
