“We like tough races”

Gintas Petrus has been taking part in the Dakar for over 20 years, paving the way for Lithuania to become a force to be reckoned with in the cars. The 57-year-old entrepreneur made his debut in 2002, when he and Viktoras Kastelionis became just the second crew from the Baltic nation to complete the world's hardest rally. Gintas competed again in 2003 and 2007 before a long Dakar hiatus, which only ended when the rally switched to Saudi Arabia in 2020. He has since completed the three Saudi editions in around the top 40, coming as high as 36th with José Marques in 2021. He has linked up with the experienced Portuguese co-driver again for Dakar 2023, and is confident they can do a good job in their MD Rallye Optimus Buggy. Gintas admits that it's not always easy finding time to take part in rallies -especially with five children to look after!- but he did participate in this year's Tunisia Desert Challenge, coming fifth. He says that the Dakar is always “the number 1 priority”, so he's back for the fourth consecutive year looking to enjoy another desert adventure and hopefully improve on previous results.

G.P.: “The route looks harder than I've ever seen in Saudi Arabia: more days, more kilometres, more sand, a marathon at the end. So it'll be pretty challenging. But we're not looking for easy ways at the Dakar. We like tough races. It's very satisfying to conquer the challenge. We try to stay on the safe side but still push as hard as we can. Once the clock is ticking, I think everybody tries to do their best. Different drivers have different skills, so you have to adapt to your abilities and experience. We don't do many races during the year and we're not trained in a professional way, but I'm very confident that Jose can find his way around in the dunes and the desert in general. We did the Dakar together in 2021 and we've known each other for a long time. We used to race in Africa in separate vehicles, but we would always have a chat and keep in touch. He used to be a co-driver for Elisabete Jacinto, but she stopped participating and Jose is available, so I'm happy to have him on board. The competition is getting better every year. The T1+ are the most competitive cars around, they'll be hard to beat. But we're not fighting against the professional teams and crew, we're probably looking to compete against second-tier drivers and crews. There are 10 Optimus buggies on the course, so we'll have some internal competition with our teammates, guys with very similar cars, which is also fun. We've made some upgrades here and there. We have a very good buggy for amateur drivers, so I'm very happy. Our ambitions aren't too radical, we're just continuing in the same spirit, trying to improve the car, learn from past mistakes and use the experience we have accumulated to go forward. We look forward to improving on our previous results, trying to go a little bit faster and find the way a little faster. I can't wait to start!”