July is a very busy month for rally competitions, with one event following another. Therefore, organising a rally is inseparable from choosing the right date in the calendar, and this year we will see the benefits of that. The Jusema Rally Ukmergė will take place a week before the World Rally Championship (WRC) round in Estonia – an excellent opportunity for WRC crews to use this rally as training, thanks to the timing, logistics and the specific characteristics of the event. This opportunity will be taken next weekend by Frenchman Arthur Pelamourgues, who is competing in the WRC2 championship with a Hyundai i20 N Rally2.
This year, in the centre of Ukmergė, during the opening ceremony of “Jusema Rally Ukmergė”, the French flag, rarely seen in our rallies, will fly alongside those of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the United States. On their way to Estonia, the “Fun Meca Sport” team will stop in Ukmergė for the weekend with young driver Arthur Pelamourgues, supported by the French Motorsport Federation. For the southerner, who is more accustomed to asphalt, this will be a great opportunity to drive the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 on gravel stages for the first time. The organisers of this rally, “GSR Motorsport”, who raced on the roads of Ukmergė exactly a year ago with an identical car, will also be able to share their experience. For the Frenchman and his team, the Jusema Rally Ukmergė will be a key event in preparing for the World Rally Championship rounds in Estonia and Finland.
The special stages in the Ukmergė district will not only provide the driver with a chance to learn the intricacies of gravel but also to regain confidence after last weekend’s incident at the European Rally Championship in Rome. Arthur Pelamourgues, who showed excellent pace and set top-three times, was in fifth place and fighting for a podium when he made a mistake on the penultimate special stage – a broken rear wheel wiped out the impressive result he had built up all weekend. In addition, the team will need to work quickly to repair the damaged car and convert it to gravel specification before his debut in Lithuania. The young French rally star became particularly well known this year after delivering an outstanding result at the WRC Monte Carlo Rally, where he finished ninth overall and stepped onto the WRC2 podium. He has also started in the WRC Croatia Rally and taken victories in rallies held in France.
Arthur came to rallying at a young age, as his parents could not live without the sport. The Frenchman, who still enjoys tinkering with cars, made his rally debut in 2020 with a Renault Clio II 16V, and consistent victories led to his entry into the Clio Trophy France Tarmac with a Renault Clio Rally5. The championship title he secured in this series in 2024 opened the door to competing in the WRC3 classification with a Renault Clio Rally3 in 2025. A mixed season, crowned by victory in the Monte Carlo Rally, brought the Frenchman fifth place in the championship, after which it was decided to focus on competing with Rally2 machinery – which is exactly what Arthur is doing this year. His start at the Jusema Rally Ukmergė will be his eleventh of the season. The Frenchman, who usually races on asphalt, has driven on gravel four times, most recently last autumn in a Citroen C3 Rally2 at the Rallye Terre de Vaucluse, where he finished fourth.
