With the Dakar Rally now not internet hosting his class in 2025, Laisvydas Kancius is the most recent Quad refugee to discover a new house on the FIA aspect. On Thursday, Petrus Racing Group introduced he would be the co-driver of their MD Optimus piloted by fellow Lithuanian and workforce chief Gintas Petrus.
Kancius gained the World Rally-Raid Championship for Quads in 2023, capping off a marketing campaign that noticed him win as soon as on the Sonora Rally and file three podiums. He completed fourth on the newest Dakar in January, which turned out to be the ultimate version for the Quad class because the Amaury Sport Organisation introduced in April that it might not return for 2025.
Rodolfo Guillioli, whom Kancius beat for the 2023 title, is now a navigator as nicely within the SSV class. Pablo Copetti, who completed third amongst Quads on the 2023 Dakar, will drive a side-by-side in 2025. This 12 months’s Dakar winner and newly topped Quad World Champion Manuel Andújar has expressed curiosity in migrating to a automobile, however plans to take a sabbatical earlier than making the change.
Petrus completed twenty-eighth general amongst Final entries on the 2024 Dakar Rally. Débuting in 2002, he has entered the race yearly since 2020 whereas his first run with the MD Optimus T1.2 buggy was in 2021. Kancius replaces Jose Marques within the co-driver’s seat.
Till the workforce finds sponsorship, Petrus intends to place the Ukrainian flag on the automobile. Lithuania has strongly supported Ukraine for the reason that begin of the Russian invasion; Lithuanian rally raiders Antanas Juknevičius, Benediktas Vanagas, and Vaidotas Žala led a drive to donate first support kits in 2023, whereas Kancius and Vanagas have despatched automobiles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“We should not overlook the battle remains to be happening, however in fact, it might be superb to discover a principal sponsor,” Petrus defined. “The media is filming, journalists are displaying it, and when Dakar comes, they may present it much more.”
To arrange for Dakar, the workforce will enter the Rallye du Maroc in October. Petrus completed seventeenth on the 2023 race.
The 2025 Dakar Rally runs 3–17 January.
