September 30 – October 1 the final event of the Lithuanian automobile rally championship “Samsonas Rally Utena” will be held in Utena and its surroundings. More than a hundred crews will compete in the round partnered together with the Utena district municipality. And although this year’s rally champions in the absolute standings are already clear , the crew of Dominykas Butvilas and Renatas Vaitkevičius, who secured the title, hopes to end the season with the sixth victory out of six possible.
Until now, the duo of Dominykas Butvilas and Renatas Vaitkevičius, racing in the Škoda Fabia R5 car, has won all stages of the Lithuanian automobile rally championship and no one has even a theoretical chance to overtake them. Regardless of their performance in the “Samsonas Rally Utena” competition, this crew will still be named the kings of the Lithuanian Rally in 2022.
It is interesting that it was in the competition called “Rally Aukštaitija” last year, where unbroken series of victories of Dominykas Butvilas and Renatas Vaitkevičius began. In last year’s final stage, after a persistent fight in the last stages of the race, they overtook the duo of Vladas Jurkevičius and Aisvydas Paliukėnas.
Dominykas Butvilas, the pilot of the leading crew, who is showing great pace and impressive form this year, says that although having already secured the championship title in Utena, they will definitely not slow down and will not give “gifts” to their rivals, and will aim to extend the winning streak and consolidate this season’s leadership with their sixth victory this year.
“We have no plan to give up and go slow. We want to drive to win. Of course, there is a little bit less of motivation than in other events, but looking at it from the other side, now we are no longer burdened by tension and we will no longer have to worry about the result of the championship. Not only us, but also our competitors are getting faster, so I’m sure it won’t be easy. I expect a very close fight and maybe we can finish this season with a win. We always ride not only for points, but also to improve our skills.
Special Stages in Utena will be really difficult, so we will need to pay more attention to the pacenotes. I don’t know much about this region, because we haven’t been here for a long time. Maybe even ten years. Although some stages will be taken from winter rallies, everything is different in winter. We knew all the previous rallies and sprints of this year’s season a little better. This rally will be like new and undiscovered for us”, said Dominykas Butvilas.
The list of participants of “Samsonas Rally Utena” this year is very rich. It features 112 crews from nine countries. More information about the competitions taking place September 30 – October 1 can be found at www.samsonasrally.com and organisers’ page in „Facebook“.
