The starting order of the “Samsonas Rally Utena 2023” is announced, with a record number of 118 participants, plus seven course cars. This starting order consists of 88 participants and guests of the Lithuanian Rally and Latvian Rally Championship and 30 crews of the Lithuanian Rally Sprint Championship. We have no less than 42 4WD cars and 76 2WD cars driven by drivers from eight different countries. The red “Škoda Fabia N5+” have the first starting number and is driven by the crew Martynas Samsonas and Ervinas Snitkas, who won the title of Lithuanian Rally Champion.
The second and third starting numbers will be shared by Vladas Jurkevičius and Giedrius Notkus – for one of them it is the return to the rally stages after a serious accident at the Rally Rokiškis, for the other one it is the opportunity to regain the lost places in the class and in the overall standings after the two unfinished rallies. Vladas will be driving a Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, which has been rented from the Latvian Sports Racing Technologies, while Giedrius will drive a freshly repaired Škoda Fabia R5.
The fourth starting number will adorn the Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo of sixteen-year-old Norwegian rally star Karl Peder Nordstrand, and the fifth number went to one of the fastest Estonians – Egon Kaur, who will compete in Utena in his Ford Fiesta KMS Proto.
Right behind the Norwegian, two other extremely strong guests will start. The fastest Baltic racers on Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution – Latvian Emils Blūms and Estonian Timmu Korge – will drive with sixth and seventh starting numbers. It will be their eighth principle duel this year.
It is the same with the eighth and ninth numbers for Nedas Radišaukas and Rokas Steponavičius – this year it is one of the best duels on Lithuanian special stages with VW Polo N5 and Ford Fiesta N5 cars. Deividas Gezevičius, who was late in the Lithuanian Rally Championship for half a season, but has an extremely fast pace with a newly built Ford Fiesta N5, expects to join that battle. He is given the 10th number.
The eleventh starting number went to Giedrius Firantas with the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII, who together with the owners of the twelfth and fourteenth starting numbers, Ramūnas Čapkauskas and Latvian Janis Vorobiovs, will fight for the symbolic title of “champion”masters”. The latter two will drive the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX cars.
The top 15 is completed by the young 17-year-old guest from Poland, Tymoteusz Abramowski, who last year won the Samsonas Rally Utena in his class with Ford Fiesta Rally3 and finished sixth overall.
Due to the shorter distance, the participants of the Lithuanian Rally Sprint Championship will compete only on Sunday. Darius Sukackas with BMW E46 received the highest number – 92. Donatas Ožiūnas will start behind him with the number 93, also with a BMW E46 and the new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX car of Benas Šimkus, marked with the number 94, will try to overtake them.
You can find the full starting order here:
Rally pass for Samsonas Rally Utena 2023 can be purchased here 
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