The Lithuanian automobile rally championship has finally begun. The pre-season plans of Martynas Samsonas and Ervinas Snitkas looked a little different as they expected to start with a Subaru Impreza VRT, but the delay in the production of this project meant that the crew of Samsonas Motorsport got back into their stunning BMW E36 M3 with N5 suspension.
This year, the 7bet Rally Lazdijai was a one-day event, starting early on Saturday. A total of 90.34 km of special stages were planned, but due to a very high number of serious accidents and red flags, some of these stages were run in road mode. The fast and flowing stages benefited both Martynas and his BMW, allowing the Lithuanian crew to stay consistently in the top 10 despite numerous factory-made and other very fast 4WD cars. That was until SS4, where the crew was stuck for some time in the bottomless ruts that had formed due to heavy rainfall and very soft roads. With the help of the fans, the car quickly got back on track, and Martynas even managed to take first place in the overall standings in SS6 with a top speed of 206 km/h and an average speed of 142.2 km/h. With this pace, Martynas and Ervinas quickly moved back into the top 10, and with a final push on the Power Stage, they finished the race in 8th place overall and in first place in the 2WD class.
Martynas and Ervinas were not alone in this rally, as siblings Kajus Samsonas and Maja Samsonaitė also took part in the Lazdijai Rally with their BMW E46 equipped with Samsonas Sequential gearbox and dampers. They also drove a good rally and were only 29 seconds short of second place in the 2WD class. So, after a very wet and demanding rally, the LARČ7 and 2WD podium was occupied by both Samsonas crews.
The team is now preparing for the trip to Finland, SM Red Devil Länsirannikon Ralli, the third round of the Estonian Rally Championship.