The skies were not kind to the Ukmergė region on Friday either – the clouds occasionally broke through and caused unease among the participants, especially with regard to the fourth special stage, which took place on the Versmė autocross track. However, the fears were unfounded and the crews were greeted by excellent conditions. This was also reflected in the results – many crews were only separated by a few moments after the first day.
The Friday of the “Jusema Rally Ukmergė 2025” began with a shakedown, during which the crews familiarised themselves with the future competition conditions – wet but grippy roads. A little later, after the welcoming speeches of the organisers, the mayors of Ukmergė and Anykščiai and a joint photo, the crews went to their cars to do what everyone had gathered here for – race. The marshals were the first to drive through the special stages in their Dacia Duster cars fuelled by E100 fuel cards, and only then did the championship leaders Vaidotas Žala and Ugnius Vainevičius set off in pursuit of seconds. Somewhat unconventional special stages awaited them, some of which led over narrow tarmac roads. The Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 crew kept the pace high across all four special stages on Friday and built up a lead of almost 8 seconds. There is a particularly fierce battle going on around Vaidotas and Ugnius – two good friends, Vladas Jurkevičius and Justas Simaška, swapped positions on the final special stage on the Versmė autocross track – Justas Simaška jumped to second place in his Škoda Fabia SRT Proto, while Vladas Jurkevičius dropped to third in his Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. They are separated by just 1.63 seconds. Even more interesting is that local hero Deividas Gezevičius from Ukmergė is heading for the top three. He is 0.05 seconds behind Vladas in his Ford Fiesta N5, while Giedrius Notkus is 0.35 seconds behind Deividas in his Škoda Fabia R5.
Such intense battles do not only take place among the leaders. Two rally veterans, good friends and multiple champions – Ramūnas Čapkauskas and Vytautas Švedas – are separated by just 0.71 seconds after Friday and are fighting for a place in the top ten of the overall standings. Both are driving four-wheel-drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IXs, chased by an extremely fast, impressive and devil-red BMW M3 E36 driven by another Lithuanian rally legend – Martynas Samsonas. The man from Utena is less than a second behind the driver from Kaunas. Not far behind him is Mark Piatkowski, who has travelled to Ukmergė from the sunny east coast of the United States and is driving a Lithuanian-made Hyundai i20 VRT.
As usual, the youngsters in the Lithuanian Rally4-Trophy are also fighting for the tiniest fractions of a second and are not letting each other get a bit calm. Crews driving very similar cars have to find the speed in themselves, not in the cars they are driving, so such gaps of only a few seconds or even fractions of a second between them only show how similar their level is. It may be a little strange that Markas Buteikis from Ukmergė is only third in the Lithuanian Rally4 Trophy standings after the first day of the rally, but a gap of just four seconds to the leader Klaudas Bučinskas shows that the whole battle is on Saturday. Aras Kvedaras, who is in second place and only 1.19 seconds behind the leader, is driving a great race. Irmantas Buivydas promises to be in the fight on Saturday, going into the second day of the rally 10 seconds behind the leader. Erikas Valkeris is fifth, 26 seconds behind.
“Jusema Rally Ukmergė 2025” ends on 12 July, Saturday, at 21:30 with the award ceremony. Prior to this, the participants have to complete around 95 kilometres, divided into 12 special stages. Immediately after the event, guests can enjoy a free concert by the band “Requiem”. All information www.rallyukmerge.lt
Rally bracelets/tickets will be available for purchase at the entrances to the special stages and at the Ukmergė Tourism Information Center, located at Kauno g. 1, Ukmergė. The event is free for children under 12 years of age. The rally bracelet is valid for all special stages.
