Rally finished! Thank you!

This is the end of the opening of the Lithuanian rally season, “Gravel Fest Rally – Lazdijai 2022”. A few days after the finish, we are slowly returning to the real world, which has been pushed to the side for a short time, because there are really a lot of things to do with 120 crews. No less business for us, the organizers, remains after the competition, but it is a normal routine. No one can drive any organizer with a gun and all those worries are even something enjoyable. Feel alive 🙂

During the rally (for which it was the fourth time), we learned new things again, adapted the lessons learned from previous stages, and hopefully this did not go unnoticed by both spectators and participants. If we remember how the first Gravelfest looked like in 2019, and what it looked like this year, the difference is obvious. We can boldly say that the rally has risen sharply, we can boldly say that it will not stop here. Thanks to everyone who came and raced. Each of you and everyone together has created a big rally festival, with a large number of participants. For us, this is a sign of the trust of the entire sports community. The trust we do our best to justify and not disappoint.
It is gratifying to see that the interest in “Gravel Fest Rally – Lazdijai 2022” has risen not only among athletes, but we have felt a greater stir among the representatives of the Lithuanian sports media, the global channel Motorsport.tv continued to cooperate with us. Live streaming has reached 720,000 viewers worldwide.
It could be very long and boring to write about each episode of preparation and the course of the competition, but the most important thing is the final result, which was achieved by the excellent and warm cooperation with Lazdijai District Municipality, mayor Ausma Miškiniene, the entire administration team and eldership leaders. Since the first meetings back in 2020, our aspirations as organizers and the feedback that accompanied them have been rightly understood. We are happy to organize large competitions in Lazdijai region, we notice that local businesses are also learning to use the competitions. It is not for nothing that the rally was dedicated to Lazdijai and tourism in Lazdijai region. A moose raging on the start numbers of the cars called “Discover Lazdijai”, speed section 1 was named after the same name, and GR-9 “Lazdijai-turizmas.lt”. In this case, we all won. It was nice to hear that there were no vacancies left in Lazdijai and Lazdijai district for the rally weekend, we had to hear that several teams were going to look for accommodation even in neighboring Poland!

On behalf of the rally organizer, the team “Marimotors racing” we say a big THANK YOU to the wonderful Lazdijai region and all the people living here!

And let’s not forget all the companies and their executives who also support the idea of ​​Dust, Dirt & Rock’n ’Roll:
We thank Mindaugas Šilale, the head of the company Lanksti linija. Unique trophies of moose were made in this company (we weighed as many as 180 kilograms!). The production process started in January and we picked up the trophy a few weeks before the competition. The design was created by Gabija Viliūtė, this work from the sketch to the technical drawing started in December last year and lasted for a good month.
We thank the rally printing house “Taurapolis” and its manager Laimas Navikas. The printing house printed road books, rally pacenote books (which each crew received as gifts), posters, rally guide magazines, branded baskets, dozens of kilograms of various stickers, name cards and many other quality products that are extremely important to the rally.
We thank Mantas Matukaitis, the head of the marketing department of “Volfas Engelman”. For the second year in a row, this company is simply bathing the participants with Dynamit energy drink, giving it not only to the participants, but also to the rally fans. Energy rally is really needed!
Thanks to the official Ford representative – Marimotors and its CEO Kęstutis Bielevičius. This company has been keeping pace with Gravelfest since the first race, so rally safety and officials can always rest assured that they will reach any point on the track in a powerful Raptor or Ranger SUV.
For the second year in a row, quality coffee and sweets are pampering the rally staff, guests and participants at the Sorpreso Coffee Shop. We thank the team of this company for the uninterrupted supply and prizes for the athletes: the manager Inga Arbačiauskienė and Fėja, Andrius Bondarevs, Laurynas Mitrulevičius, Dainius Gataveckas.
All creative workshops are RR Media. The video clips of the competition, press layouts, radio, television, the entertainment part of the rally and all the public relations of the competition “before / during / after” were entrusted to this team.
We would like to thank the managers of the companies, who are always helped by: Irmantas Ambraziejus, the official representative of SEW Eurodrive in Lithuania, the head of Irseva UAB. Thanks to Ramūnas Tarvainis, the head of the construction company Statrama.
No one would know anything about the rally, except our informational partners: the portal “Gazas.lt” and the media crew of Tomas and Rūta Markelevičius, who have been representing him since the first Gravelfest. We are glad that the relations are only strengthening with the rally TV “Motorsport.tv”, thanks to the radio station “FM99” and Liudas Ramanauskas, who are pumping information about the rally without sparing a second. Video news and news: “Dzūkijos Veidas” – thanks to Vytautas Garbenčius. We thank the team of Autorenginiai.lt and its soul Simas Paulauskas for their dedication, thank you to the Lazdijai Region newspaper Lazdijų Žvaigždė.
There are always more small business badges on rally posters and other advertising media, but “small” does not mean “insignificant”. Thanks:
Vidridas Lazdijai car service center – scrutineering and rally service area took place in its premises and territory.
“Lazdijai pizzeria”, which did not allow the rally staff to go hungry and accommodated them in their hotel for the night.
AAA Baltic Reklama is a small piece of paraphernalia that is done very quickly, because we usually needed everything “yesterday”.
Two large, fully loaded buses arrived from the Ramirent Alytus warehouse and brought the fences and TV filming towers to keep the event in order and have a good view.
“Lazdijai Tourism Information Center” – helped to invite guests and travelers to the rally.
„Lazdijai district municipality Public Library “- received the rally headquarters.
Baldoteka – for comfortable sofas for rally conversations.
AB Lazdijų kelių tarnyba provided all the missing road signs.
Personally, many thanks to: all the staff of the rally headquarters and its head Edvinas Vašteris, the timekeepers, the rally observers Arturas Gailius, Kastytis Torrau; Marimotors racing administrator Ramuna Dabulevičė, Lazdijai elder Vaida Gazdziauskienė, Veisiejai elder Zenonas Sabaliauskas, Šeštokai elder Liana Audziavičenė, Seirijai elder Rita Bražinskienė, Lina Marcinkevičienė, elder of Kučiūnai; LASF President Egidijus Janavičius, Robert Szaniawski Pro light & sound and his team, Ieva Dambrauskaitė, Darius Šileikis, Tadas Vasiliauskas, Gintautas Firantas, Stasys Tarailė, TaRuta group and its leader Jevgen, Artūras Lavrėnovas, Saulenis Pociūnas, Laurynas Matonis, Marta Gliožaitytė, Raimundas Radžiukynas, Petras Lisauskas, Goda Rukšėnaitė, Genadijus Segalis and everyone who contributed to the idea of ​​“Gravel Fest Rally – Lazdijai 2022” with a little work or a good word!

The organizers of the rally – T. Zdanavičius and R. Rutkauskas – say their biggest thanks to their family members and women – Lina and Rasma. Thank you for understanding and believing in what we insanes are doing!

Once again, congratulations to all the rally winners and prize-winners. See you in Lazdijai next year!

Marimotors racing.