With the Dakar Rally no longer hosting his category in 2025, Laisvydas Kancius is the latest Quad refugee to find a new home on the FIA side. On Thursday, Petrus Racing Team announced he will be the co-driver of their MD Optimus piloted by fellow Lithuanian and team leader Gintas Petrus.
Kancius won the World Rally-Raid Championship for Quads in 2023, capping off a campaign that saw him win once at the Sonora Rally and record three podiums. He finished fourth at the latest Dakar in January, which turned out to be the final edition for the Quad category as the Amaury Sport Organisation announced in April that it would not return for 2025.
Rodolfo Guillioli, whom Kancius beat for the 2023 title, is now a navigator as well in the SSV class. Pablo Copetti, who finished third among Quads at the 2023 Dakar, will drive a side-by-side in 2025. This year’s Dakar winner and newly crowned Quad World Champion Manuel Andújar has expressed interest in migrating to a car, but plans to take a sabbatical before making the switch.
Petrus finished twenty-eighth overall among Ultimate entries at the 2024 Dakar Rally. Débuting in 2002, he has entered the race annually since 2020 while his first run with the MD Optimus T1.2 buggy was in 2021. Kancius replaces Jose Marques in the co-driver’s seat.
Until the team finds sponsorship, Petrus intends to put the Ukrainian flag on the car. Lithuania has strongly supported Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion; Lithuanian rally raiders Antanas Juknevičius, Benediktas Vanagas, and Vaidotas Žala led a drive to donate first aid kits in 2023, while Kancius and Vanagas have sent vehicles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“We must not forget the war is still going on, but of course, it would be very good to find a main sponsor,” Petrus explained. “The media is filming, journalists are showing it, and when Dakar comes, they will show it even more.”
To prepare for Dakar, the team will enter the Rallye du Maroc in October. Petrus finished seventeenth at the 2023 race.
The 2025 Dakar Rally runs 3–17 January.
