Five competitors spread across four categories will fly the flag for Lithuania at this year's FIA Motorsport Games.
The Baltic nation will participate in the Touring Car Cup, Drifting Cup, Karting Slalom Cup and Digital Cup when the new multi-disciplinary event takes place at Vallelunga Circuit near Rome. With less than two weeks remaining before on-track action gets underway on Friday 1 November, the Lithuanian Automobile Sport Federation (LASF) – the country's National Sporting Authority – has officially presented its delegation.
Speaking about the line-up, LASF President Saulius Girdauskas said: "It is a great pleasure to have such a young generation of athletes holding desire and possibilities to represent their country among other great entrants from all over the world. I am glad to be here during this historical moment, when we are going to take part in this impressive event.
"Another part of enjoyment comes from knowing that we are not only able to delegate someone, but that we have quite a list of great athletes we can choose from," Girdauskas continued. "Automobile sport is strong today; we have a young and powerful generation with the ability to represent the country abroad.”
Indeed, youth is a theme of Team Lithuania's bid. The nation's Touring Car Cup representative, 18-year-old Julius Adomavičius, will be among the youngest drivers on the grid in his category. A former junior tennis ace, Adomavičius has since swapped his racket for a race car and this year finished as runner-up in the Baltic Touring Car Championship's TCR class. Having driven a SEAT Leon Cupra for that effort, he will take the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf GTi at the FIA Motorsport Games.
As is the case across the Baltic region, drifting has established deep roots in Lithuania. As such, there will be high hopes for the nation's Drifting Cup representative, Benediktas Čirba. He comes with considerable experience of the discipline, having clinched a brace of Lithuanian Drift Championship titles in the PRO class. Expanding beyond his homeland, Čirba is also a vice-champion in the Baltic States Drift Championship and this year finished eighth in the ultra-competitive Drift Masters European Championship. He will tackle the FIA Motorsport Games using a BMW E46.
In the Karting Slalom Cup, Lithuania will be represented by the mixed female-male pairing of Skaistė Petrauskaitė (aged 15) and Kajus Šikšnelis (aged 14). The latter will arrive in Rome following a standout 2019 season, which has included winning the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy and taking third place in OK-Junior class at the CIK-FIA World Karting Championship in Finland.
Finally, the nation's Digital Cup representative will be Martynas Sidunovas. Ranked among Europe's leading sim racers, Sidunovas made his mark in 2017 by winning Dream 2 Drive, a programme that takes competitors from the virtual world to real-life racing. He has been an active competitor ever since behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Scirocco, while also keeping his digital skills sharp.
The FIA Motorsport Games is a new multi-disciplinary contest that features six categories: GT Cup, Touring Car Cup, Formula 4 Cup, Drifting Cup, Karting Slalom Cup and Digital Cup. Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded to the top-three finishers in each event, with the the highest-scoring National Sporting Authority awarded the inaugural FIA Motorsport Games trophy during the closing ceremony.