The USA curse is broken - a strong result for Samsonas in 20226 Olympus Rally

Samsonas Motorsport team returned to the USA for the fourth time. This year, we visited Washington State in the Pacific Northwest, where the Olympus Rally was held, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the last Group B rally in 1986. The Samsonas team was joined by our Canadian friends and dealer, VEX Performance, who also ran a car driven by Johnny Summers.

The Samsonas team brought a newly built Subaru Impreza N14 rally car with a destroked 1.8 engine, which was tested at DirtFish Rally School just before the Olympus Rally. The rally itself consisted of an impressive 200 miles of special stages over three days, including some night stages. Although the recce was quite wet, the weather improved and the rally was dry and dusty, so the organisers even increased the time gaps between cars.

Martynas Samsonas and Ugnius Vainevičius were in the seeded group and, in Parc Exposé in the town of Olympia, had the opportunity to choose their starting position. The Parc Exposé was also organised in the rally town of Shelton, allowing fans to greet all the competing teams, and the atmosphere with a few thousand spectators was really special.

The rally went well for the crew despite a setback on the first special stage of the second day due to a puncture. The very twisty, narrow and hilly stages were a huge challenge, but the crew and the car coped very well, finishing an impressive 4th overall, only to be demoted to 5th due to a time penalty. Martynas and Ugnius were also the fastest non-factory car and Subaru, clinching a special Subaru America prize. The VEX Performance crew of Johnny Summers and Celine Pepperdine also finished successfully, clinching 2nd place on the O4WD podium in the Regional standings.

The Samsonas team would like to thank everyone involved in this great venture, especially VEX Performance.

Samsonas Motorsport team will debut in Canada at the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Forest rallies with the same Subaru, supported by VEX Performance.