On Saturday afternoon, the last event of the Lithuanian rally and rally sprint and Latvian championships “Samsonas Rally Utena” will start in Utena. Before the official part of the rally begins, the participants will have the opportunity to test their cars on a 3.15 km long shakedown. The time will not be included in the overall result of the participants – it is an opportunity offered by the organizers to test the current conditions before the official start.
10 a.m., all willing participants were able to complete the shakedown “Samsonas Rally Utena”, which had been started in the morning, twice. On this relatively short, 3.15 km long stage, the host of this competition, Martynas Samsonas, with his co-driver Ervinas Snitkas and his “Škoda Fabia N5+” achieved the best result – their time was 1:36.89.
The authors of the second result were the duo Giedrius Notkus and Dalius Strižanas. They drove in a Škoda Fabia R5 and were 0.83 seconds behind the leaders. The third time was set by the crew of Vladas Jurkevičius and Aisvydas Paliukėnas in a Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. They were 1.21 seconds behind the leaders on the shakedown.
The solemn opening ceremony of the competition “Samsonas Rally Utena” will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m. next to the Creative Industries Center “Taurapilis”, where the headquarters of the rally is located. The starting arch is already set up here. From here, the participants will head to the first special stages. On the same day, four-day and two-night stages await the crews. After that, a concert by “Augustė” is scheduled at 22:00, which will take place on the large open-air stage near the Utena Cultural Center.
Sunday is the second day of the rally. It will begin at 8:25 a.m. when the first car will start for the first stage of the second day. The participants of Samsonas Rally Utena will receive their prizes at 20:30, directly followed by the concert of Jovani.
Rally pass for Samsonas Rally Utena 2023 can be purchased here 
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