At the end of February, the Portuguese main and Promo championship kicked off in the north of the country, where the Ralli Serras de Fafe took place. The Samsonas Motorsport team, Martynas Samsonas and Ervinas Snitkas, were also there with their Škoda Fabia N5. Samsonas Motorsport and the Domingos Sport – Portuguese distributor / N5 partner agreed to participate in the first four Portuguese Promo championship rounds with Martynas Samsonas behind the wheel, while Domingos Sport will take care of the car. This agreement was made to promote the N5 class in Portugal and show its speed, reliability and potential.
Everything started well, with the 4th time in the qualifying stage, but the rules of the Portuguese championship meant that despite this time, the Lithuanian crew had to start at the end of the Portuguese main field. Things got worse when on the first Friday stage, just before Martynas and Ervinas took to the stage, torrential rain set in and made the road very slippery. When it was supposed to get better on SS2, ruts took the car off the main line. Unfortunately, the rear wheel hit something very hard, resulting in retirement. Despite after overnight repairs and good preparations by the crew, things didn’t go any better on Saturday. The first morning stage was canceled due to another crew incident, and shortly before the start of the next stage the Lithuanians realized that the car had lost its brakes. After finishing the entire stage without brakes, the crew decided to preserve the car for future starts and withdrew from the event. The next planned start is in mid-March at the Casinos do Algarve Rally.
Martynas Samsonas shares his story about this very adventurous rally:
After a winter rallies in the north, team moved to the south, to Portugal. How was the whole week?
After the winter fun, the spring work has begun 🙂
It was a very busy week. The trip to Portugal started very early – 3 flights, one night without sleep, etc. Getting up early every day means going to bed late. We had quite a lot of time for reece, a day and a half, but the liaisons are terribly long. Sometimes you drive 15 km in half an hour, and it takes even longer to drive 100 km. We did reece all Wednesday, we had some tests until lunch on Thursday, but they were prolonged on a bit because more cars were being tested with only 1 car being on the stage. So we passed a few times, warmed up, and hurried to continue checking the stages.
Qualifying on Friday. In the first run, the time was 5th and in the second, which was already on our limit, it was 4th. I had already told myself in my head that we would not get through the competition without bad adventures at this pace, so I was already in the mood to ease it a bit. The biggest surprise was when it came to choosing the starting positions. Of course, K. Meeke was invited first, then another, another, and other drivers and we still are not invited. I see Ervinas’ eyes are as big as a cat 🙂 His face is red, we keep waiting, but we do not get invited. Ervinas was really nervous and finally we got 24th place. We were very sad and realized that the competition was not over here, but the result would not be good. On Saturday it turned out that maybe it was good that we drove at the qualification stage and at least we showed that we were not complete losers 🙂
After the departure to SS1, there was another setback – after the first twenty crews, it started to rain terribly, and again… The road is completely different from the qualifying. The surface of the 1st stage is like red clay and when it gets wet you get 10-15cm of clay mush and then it’s a circus with no money. The car does not go straight when it needs to, and it does not go where it needs to when you turn. Probably 2/3 of corners are in 1st gear. The rest are in 2nd gear and a couple of times in third. I expected and knew that we would do very poorly in some particularly slow sections. We watched a lot of onboards, a lot of videos. Where the R5 cars can drive in second gear, I have to drive in first. And where the R5 drives in 3rd gear, I either drive in 2nd or 1st. It’s simply that the gears are too long and we do not have the power at low revs.
It was a bit better in the second special stage. Of course, I have already lost my balance, but I was reasonably careful. In a fast corner, the car was thrown a bit through the deep ruts, then I corrected it and at one point there was a strong hit on the rear wheel. Looks like a smooth spot, with no crime. Well, but… We did not see any rocks or anything dangerous in the reece. I had to stop. The mechanics’ crew worked until 3 in the morning in the rain and cold. Rally romance.
In the meantime, we were working on Saturday’s stages, and when I wake up in the morning, I look at Ervinas and it’s clear that something is wrong. I see a faceless and mute person. Well, I say – tell me, old man, what’s wrong? 🙂 He said that we were placed last 🙂 This meant that we did not even have a chance to show a good time, because the road would be in very bad condition. I have never been to Dakar, but for some reason, I have a feeling it would not be much different there regarding the road. This was not the end of the circus. Before the first Saturday stage, we saw that there was a small Fiat before us. It seems that I will lift and take away that car myself 🙂 Then there was another issue – we got a one-minute gap from that small Fiat. I see that Ervinas is angry again, he is already yelling at the marshals and I tell him – do not take a time card 🙂 We yelled – they gave us 2 minutes, even if it’s about the fact that we will catch that in 2 kilometers even with 2 minutes gap because in the uphill that car barely moves 🙂 No problem – let us go, I say. We have to be careful because the ruts are very deep and there are a lot of stones. It’s not particularly good, but we are driving easily. Suddenly after the crest and sharp corner – there’s a Ukrainian Peugeot, with no bumpers, tipped on its side, and maybe 10 people, about 3 marshalls and they are shouting at me after we stopped. Of course, I almost managed to stop. They were yelling about why I was driving so fast, that I was crazy, etc. I am a simple person from the village, so I gave him a similar answer, maybe even a nicer one 🙂 I got out of the car and ran to stop the last car behind us. As it turned out later, the stage was canceled and we were not informed about it at the start. We had all the same procedures as the normal start. Well, we had stress, nerves, and adrenaline – we wanted to drive calmly to the finish line.
We prepare for the next stage – everything is fine. I’m at the start, I pull the handbrake and there was no effect. OK, I think, what else? 🙂 Somehow we got through the stage without brakes, but in a few places Ervinas and I had to say something very ugly, because I couldn’t stop the car on a long downhill to the left hairpin, and on the right it was a cliff into the abyss 🙂 Well, a few more such moments, and at the finish, I say to Ervinas – listen, I don’t understand what we’re doing here. Well, speaking of the road – I don’t know how it happened, but there was no road.
This was the situation for us – should we drive 2 more stages without brakes, then again 4 stages on the very bad road and there is no chance to show any results. Or, even if it’s not perfect, retire and prepare for the next event and save the car, save a week of work on the car, and save the budget. So we did the latter and I don’t know if it was a good or bad choice.
The Škoda Fabia N5+ became the regular N5. What has been done to the car and how does it drive now?
However, the “+” is just a play with words. We made up that “plus” ourselves to make it fearsome and we achieved that 🙂
This year in Lithuania, the only difference between N5 and N5+ is that “+” has no catalytic converter and no pressure control. Well, you can also put a big spoiler. The preparations for N5 were not particularly extensive, and perhaps this is a little proof for those who were dizzy that this is our regular bomb 🙂
On the contrary, we still have a lot of work to do to reach R5. You have to think about what to do with the power curve and how to do it. There are no options yet. Think about the gearbox, new gears, etc.
As for our car, of all the N5s – I like it the most.
As for our car between the R5 cars and the Fafe stages – well… We have a lot to do and few options. As for our car and the R5 in the Baltics – well, I think it’s a bit better here.
Again, it all depends on who is driving what. It’s difficult to compare a car on its own, and experience shows that only a few people can compare such cars with a clear head.
The Fafe Rally is using part of the famous WRC Portugal special stages. What impression did it make on you?
These special stages are the complete opposite of what we have here in the Baltic countries. The landscape is very complicated, hilly, winding. Sometimes there are 3 corners on one hill. Well, it’s complicated.
Moreover, let’s say a stage going up a steep hill, practically all right corners are sharp, driven on 1st or 2nd gear. All left corners are 100% blind and very often faster, but winding, sharpening. For example, in our pacenotes – “L3 and L3 long and L1 short”. Let’s add 10 cm of wet clay, etc. Really different stages and as long as there are no ruts, it’s really fun to see them.
How should you drive it if you want to get a good result?
First of all, you must drive in a similar road position with whom you imagine yourself competing. There is no other magic way – you do not have to turn the steering wheel in the other direction than in Lithuania 🙂 When we drove the qualifying stage in similar conditions, we could reach a reasonably good speed.
But when they start first and you are last… And someone tells you that we have to win – then I wonder what’s wrong with you all 🙂
You have seen the N5 Portugal community up close. What is the situation like there, have you perhaps interacted with fellow N5 crews?
Yes, of course, we talked to everyone – many questions, many things. They see that our car drives a little differently – I mean the suspension. We discuss something, we offer something. Anyway, it’s nice that the community is so united anyway. Little gangs in all countries 🙂
Lithuanians in Portugal are quite a rare phenomenon – did you get much attention in Portugal?
We all know that Portuguese fans have been crazy since Group B, and there are a lot of them. There are a lot of people everywhere. I was surprised at how many people knew us and how many people came – everyone said it was really cool that we were here, and everyone was looking forward to it. They ask when again, when again – will you be in the Algarve or will you be in Vieira do Minho… I say we will, we will 🙂
Even after the Saturday stage without brakes, we stand at the finish line with the lifted car and look to see where the braking fluid is leaking. A group of people come up to Ervinas and ask what happened. Ervinas said – no brakes. They say – you guys do not need brakes 🙂
Who takes care of the car in Portugal? Will it stay there?
Domingo’s sport takes care of everything, the boys and I fly to the place and that’s it. Without Domingo’s help, this project would certainly have failed. There is a lot to do and everything is fine with them. They put in a lot of effort. A lot. I don’t know if it will stay or not. Someone is planning – someone is laughing. We’ll see what the mood is because the last rally in Portugal is in April. There are also thoughts of going to Lithuania with this car to see how our colleagues, old and new, are prepared 🙂
