Rokas Baciuška (, born 10 December 1999) is a professional

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver from

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. He has won the Lithuania Kart racing championship, the

European Rallycross Championship The European Rallycross Championship (former abbreviation ERC, now Euro RX or ERX) is a rallycross competition held in Europe, organised under the auspices of the FIA. History The predecessor championship began in 1973 as the Embassy/ERA Europ ...

in the Super1600 class, and the

World Rally-Raid Championship The World Rally-Raid Championship (officially abbreviated as W2RC) is a rally raid series co-sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, FIM and promoted by the Amaury Sport ...

in the T4 SSV class.

Racing career

Early career

Rokas Baciuška started

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

. at the age of 7. Multiple victories, including the winning of a national title, inspired him to pursue a professional motorsport career. Since then, R. Baciuška has competed in several motorsport disciplines, including

rallycross Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport held on a mixed-surface circuit (racing), racing circuit using modified production touring automobile, cars or prototype racing cars. It began in the 1960s as a cross between rallying and autocross ...

, and

rally raid Rally raid is a type of off-road motorsport event competed with different types of vehicles. Along with shorter Baja (cross-country rally), baja rallies, rally raid constitutes cross-country rallying. Both the Fédération Internationale de l'Aut ...

Rallycross

Rokas Baciuška competed in the

2018 FIA European Rallycross Championship The 2018 FIA European Rallycross Championship was the 43rd season of the FIA European Championships for Rallycross Drivers. The season consists of nine rounds across three categories; Supercar, Super1600 and TouringCar. This season is confirmed a ...

season, and won Super1600 class title on his first attempt.

Rally raid

At the age of 22, Rokas debuted in

2022 Dakar Rally The 2022 Dakar Rally was a rally raid event held in Saudi Arabia and the 44th edition of the Dakar Rally organized by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). The event took place between 1–14 January 2022. This was the third time Saudi Arabia had hos ...

as the youngest Lithuanian ever to participate in the

Dakar rally The Dakar Rally () or simply "The Dakar" (), formerly known as the Paris–Dakar Rally (), is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). It is an off-road endurance event traversing terrain much tougher than convent ...

. Rokas took third place overall in the T4 category, and was nominated as a Bestbrookie. The

was the first round of inaugural

2022 World Rally-Raid Championship The 2022 World Rally-Raid Championship was the inaugural season of the annual competition for rally raid events sanctioned by both the FIA and FIM. Calendar The calendar for the 2022 season originally featured five rally-raid events. Rally Kaz ...

. Rokas completed the season by taking four podiums, winning 2022 Rallye du Maroc, and winning the championship title in T4 category. His results in 2022 gained him a spot in

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974, and again from 1977 to 1987. The Can-Am rules were deliberately simple and placed few limits on the entries. This led to a wide variet ...

Team for the

2023 Dakar Rally The 2023 Dakar Rally was a rally raid event held in Saudi Arabia and the 45th edition of the Dakar Rally organized by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). The event takes place between 31 December 2022 and 15 January 2023. This is the fourth time Sau ...

. He finished second in the

in the T4 category, winning prologue, three stages and leading at the start of the final day. However, he lost the rally in a cruel manner, losing around twenty minutes due to a broken suspension arm, which needed replacement. The time loss was enough for him to drop down to second place in the general standings.

Racing record

* 2010 Lithuanian Karting Championship: 1st place in Rotax Junior class * 2012 WSK Euro Series - 60 Mini: 10th place * 2012 2012 23° Trofeo Andrea Margutti - 60 Junior Trophy: 4th place * 2014 25° Trofeo Andrea Margutti - KFJ: 9th place * 2015 Andrea Margutti Trophy - KF: 8th place * 2015 WSK Champions Cup - KF: 10th place * 2017 2017 CIK-FIA European KZ2 Championship: 7th place * 2019 German Kart Championship DSKM: 1st place * 2019 24° South Garda Winter Cup - KZ2: 6th place *

: 1st place in Super1600 class *

2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship The 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy was the sixth season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, an auto racing championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest cl ...

: 11th place * 2021 Rallye du Maroc: 5th place * 2021 Andalucia Rally: 4th place * 2021 Baja Aragon: 4th in T4 class category *

: 3rd place in T4 class category * 2022

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is an international rally raid race held in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates since 1991. The race is points scoring for the World Rally-Raid Championship The World Rally-Raid Championship (offi ...

: 2nd place in T4 class category * 2022

Rallye du Maroc The Rallye du Maroc (Morocco Rally) was a marathon rally, similar to the Safari Rally, but that should not be confused with the Rallye du Maroc rally raid introduced in 2000. History It was first run in 1934, and held intermittently until 1988 ...

: 1st place in T4 class category * 2022

Andalucía Rally The Andalucía Rally was a rally raid held in Andalucia, Spain, from 2020 to 2022. The event was part of the World Rally-Raid Championship in 2021 and 2022. The race was introduced in 2020 as a replacement for the Rallye du Maroc, which was ca ...

: 2nd place in T4 class category * 2022 W2RC championship: 1st place in T4 class category *

: 2nd place in T4 class category *

2024 Dakar Rally The 2024 Dakar Rally was a rally raid event held in Saudi Arabia. It was the 46th edition of the Dakar Rally, organized by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), and the 5th time Saudi Arabia has hosted the event. The event took place between 5 and 1 ...

: 3rd place in T3 class category

Achievements and Nominations

* Multiple Lithuanian and Baltic States Karting champion * Twice nominated as Lithuania best racing driver of the year - 2018 and 2019 * European Super1600 RX champion at first attempt - 2018 * First Lithuanian to participate in World RX Championship - 2019 * Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge: 2nd place - 2022 * Rallye du Maroc: 1st place in T4 category - 2022 * Andalucía Rally: 2nd place - 2022 * Dakar Rally: 3rd place in T4 category - 2022 * Dakar Rally: Best Rookie - 2022 * Dakar Rally: youngest Lithuanian to participate in series (22 years old) * Dakar Rally: s10 and s12 stage winner - 2022 * Dakar Rally: 2nd place in T4 category - 2023 * Dakar Rally: Prologue, s5, s7 and s11 stage winner - 2023

Racing record

Dakar Rally results

Complete World Rally-Raid Championship results

( key) * Season still in progress

References

External links

* *
Driver profile on Dakar.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baciuška, Rokas 1999 births Living people Lithuanian racing drivers FIA European Rallycross Championship drivers Dakar Rally drivers People from Tauragė Sportspeople from Tauragė County World Rallycross Championship drivers