A victorious weekend at the Toivakka Ralli 2026

This winter, Samsonas Motorsport once again travelled to central Finland, where the Toivakka Ralli was held south of Jyväskylä. This year, almost 200 cars took part in the rally, including three from Lithuania. The team conducted tests before the rally and prepared the cars at the Dogbox Oy premises. The rally began on Friday morning and featured five unique special stages, covering a total of 50 kilometres.

From the first stage to the last, the fastest crew was Deividas Gezevičius and Tomas Nenartavičius, driving a Ford Fiesta N5. The Lithuanian crew won all five stages and secured overall victory by a minute.

Deividas Gezevičius:

Regarding the experience in Finland, I recommend everyone try it. First, I would like to thank Martynas Samsonas for inviting me, for his care, and for arranging the logistics, tickets, planning, ferries, accommodation, garages, and tests. All thanks go to Samsonas Motorsport team for this contribution – everything else was left for us to enjoy and admire: the nature, the terrain, and the corners. We had tests where an engineer from the Toyota Gazoo Racing team joined us; we drove together, and he gave a lot of valuable advice: how to protect the tyres with dampers, how to adjust tyre pressure, and how to avoid bringing too much snow, as every gram that sticks is excess weight. We gained a lot from this visit.

From the pacenotes, the driving itself, the surface, the terrain, Finland, and from seeing the rally here – everything was incredibly enjoyable and interesting. After returning from Finland, I realised that I would like to drive more outside Lithuania and in competitions like this, where you see a completely different rally.

The comments from the participants, especially those who drove R5 cars, were that they were surprised our N5 was going so fast, as they were driving with a 34 mm restrictor in those R5s. I was most surprised by those who drove Opel Astra cars – they handle the corners really well. We did not take any risks and drove at our own pace, so that when we finished the rally and returned home, we could say it was enjoyable.

The famous red BMW M3 E36 N5 returned to the Jyväskylä region stages, this time with Nedas Radišauskas behind the wheel. It was his debut with the newly purchased car and marked the return of his co-driver, Justas Vičiūnas, after a long break. They successfully completed the event, finishing 37th overall.

Nedas Radišauskas:

I have just managed to get used to it, as it is a different calibre of technology. The new car is much more precise, more stable on fast sections, and inspires greater confidence when driving "on the limit". With our old M3 car, everything was more familiar and predictable, but now it is clear where the step forward has been made – especially in terms of the suspension and overall balance.

Finland is on a completely different level: fast, technical roads, high speeds, and very little margin for error. This is a country where you must trust the car and the pacenotes one hundred per cent, or you have no chance. The competition left a very good impression – a difficult but extremely rewarding experience, which brings many benefits for the future.

It was a great event for brother and sister Kajus and Maja until special stage 4. They were 19th overall until their BMW E46 stopped due to a driveshaft failure. Nevertheless, they were happy with the experience gained during the event.

Kajus Samsonas:

Five special stages, 50 kilometres, and you are free. No waiting in Parc Ferme, nothing – you simply drive home calmly. Everything is fine with Maja; perhaps I myself lacked a bit of courage to push through these special stages. It was unclear how things would go with the Hankook tyres, what the overall feeling would be, as the last time I drove was in Zarasai.

We did not really think about competing with the locals here; we just kept to our own pace, and perhaps by the fourth special stage, we started to drive both enjoyably and competently. We made fewer mistakes and managed to drive fast enough, but then a mechanical issue occurred and we had to stop.

Such outings benefit both the crew and the driver and co-driver, as these special stages are completely different from those in Lithuania. They are both narrow and fast, with many blind turns over crests and jumps, where you have to trust not only the pacenotes but also assess the terrain and accurately adjust the car to drive over the crest. In terms of experience, this gives the crew a great deal.