The 2025 rally season began last weekend. This year’s extensive rally season of Samsonas Motorsport in the Lithuanian and Estonian Rally Championship started in the north of Latvia, in Alūksne, where the first round of the Estonian Rally Championship took place. Martynas Samsonas and his long-time co-driver Ervinas Snitkas were there with their BMW E36 M3, which has a unique N5 suspension. This crew was not alone, as Kajus Samsonas and Maja Samsonaitė, son and daughter, were there with their BMW E46.
The rally consisted of 8 stages, two of which took place on Friday evening and the others during the day on Saturday. The conditions were not exactly wintry, especially on Friday, as the rain had melted all the snow and the road surface consisted of frozen gravel. Nevertheless, the grip was really good and after the first day Martynas Samsonas and Ervinas Snitkas were 9th overall and 1st in the 2WD class. The result could have been even better, but problems with the intercom system and the resulting 10-second penalty held the crew back.
The next day of the rally was more like a winter rally, as there was at least some snow and the sub-zero temperatures made for much better conditions than on Friday. Martynas and Ervinas drove very competitive top 10 times on all six remaining stages throughout the day and managed to hold their own against many 4WD cars in 9th place. The speed was enough to take victory in both the 2WD overall standings and the Estonian EMV6 class, beating their nearest rival, Estonian Markus Tammoja, by almost a minute and a half. With the class victory and the fastest time on the Powerstage, the Lithuanian crew scored maximum points in their class. They also finished 6th overall in the Estonian championship. The family crew of Kajus and Maja finished 21st overall and 9th in the 2WD class. The friends of Samsonas Motorsport, Emils Blūms and Didzis Eglitis, finished 2nd overall with the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX equipped with MV Sport suspension, Samsonas sequential gearbox and dampers.
The next planned rally for the crew is “Biorina Winter Rally Rokiškis”