Successful debut in the Canadian rally scene for the Samsonas Motorsport crew

Samsonas Motorsport returned to North America to continue this year's programme across the Atlantic Ocean. This time, the destination was Canada, where team VEX Performance is based. Not far to the west of Calgary, the Rocky Mountain Rally took place, serving as the second round of the Canadian Rally Championship, featuring very rocky roads and changeable weather conditions.

On this occasion, Martynas Samsonas was joined by his son, Kajus, in the co-driver’s seat. Kajus is also known for his impressive speed in a rally car. It was the debut for the family crew together, and although Kajus has co-driving experience, it was his first outing abroad and his first time with such a fast car and driver. The crew tackled the western Canadian stages in a Subaru Impreza N14 rally car, which had debuted back in April at the Olympus rally. Samsonas Motorsport chief mechanic Dalius received assistance from the VEX Performance team.

The Rocky Mountain Rally offered 176 stage kilometres over two days. The rally and its roads proved challenging even during the recce, where the crew suffered three punctures and, in an area with no mobile service, were rescued by teammate crew Johnny Summers and Celine Pepperdine. Due to these issues during recce, extra work was required on the pacenotes later. The rally itself went flawlessly for Martynas and Kajus. The first day was much shorter due to the cancellation of four stages, but on the remaining five, the Lithuanian crew was the fastest among the 26 entered crews on the dry and dusty mountain roads.

The second day brought heavy rain, which persisted throughout, but it had no effect on the Samsonas Motorsport crew, who finished the rally by winning all the stages with a margin of more than six minutes after whole distance. The car remained issue-free throughout the rally, despite the very treacherous conditions and extremely rocky roads.

The plan was to attend the next Canadian Rally Championship event, the Pacific Forest Rally, next weekend, but due to the high forest fire risk, the event was postponed.

Rocky Mountai Rally 2026