Prologue in Croatia Completed: CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team Riders Satisfied with Results

On Sunday, more than 130 crews crossed the starting line in Croatia, kicking off the week-long Dinaric Rally, where participants will face tricky and often challenging mountain tracks. This time, the quad category is particularly competitive, with 13 riders from six different countries, including two CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team athletes.

The prologue stage, held on Sunday, was shorter than the race stages, as usual. Its purpose was to give participants a better feel of the terrain they will face over the next five days and to determine the starting order for Day 1. Antanas Kanopkinas, who has competed here before, admitted that he couldn’t avoid mistakes but was still pleased with his performance: “The first working day is done. The prologue was fairly long – I haven’t had such a long one in quite a while. On the other hand, whether it’s a prologue or a race day, it doesn’t make a huge difference – you still have to push. Today reminded me what Croatia is all about – a mix between trial and high-speed sections, which has a lot of charm.

Here the key is to stay focused and follow every turn, because mistakes are very easy to make – and many riders did, myself included. In one particularly difficult section, I lost a lot of time, but I’m still in the overall Top 10. Tomorrow I’ll start near the front, and I’m very happy with that.”

Adomas Gančierius, returning to international competition after some time, said that this was his first start at the Dinaric Rally, but prologue delivered exactly what he expected: “It’s clear that this rally will feature narrower, more enduro-type tracks. 54 kilometers on the first day – at the start I definitely felt a bit nervous, especially coming back after a long break. Already at the 16th kilometer I caught up with two riders who had started ahead of me. In the tougher navigation sections, I managed to solve the problems well and didn’t lose as much time as others. Of course, it could have been even better, but in the end I finished fifth overall – which is a very good result, especially since tomorrow I won’t have to open the stage.”

In the quad standings, Kanopkinas set the third-fastest time, while Gančierius secured second. Tomorrow, all riders will start according to their overall positions, with preliminary results placing the CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team athletes in 10th and 5th place respectively. On Monday, competitors will face the first full racing stage.