DeWALT Grand Prix Preview!
One of the most anticipated events of the 2025 season, the DeWALT Grand Prix 2025 which will gather not only the best of the best from the Baltics but will feature also our Polish friends!
The timetable of the event is so tight, that we will have non-stop racing starting from Friday afternoon right until Saturday evening, with 20 races taking place during that time, some only for Polish competitors, some for Baltic, but the key races will be with mixed grids.
The real bomb of the event will be the GT race, where the fastest Baltic racers will be united with Poland. Hometown hero Arturs Batraks is one of the favourites for the win – he knows the Bikernieki track inside out and mixed with the great performance of the Lambo Huracan GT3 is a force to be reckoned with. For overall win we must mention Robertas Kupcikas and the car from ES Motorsport. Poles are bringing the big guns aswell – Przemysław Bieńkowski with Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 EVO, Audi R8 GT3 is expected and a good army of Porsche GT3 CUP 992 cars, including medallists from the 2024 season. In D4 3500 class, 3-4 TCRs are coming together with Mikolaj Kujawa with BMW M3. More than 20 quality cars are expected to start the race in Bikernieki!
The Baltic Touring Car race will be held together with Polish classes D4 1600 and D4 2000, not that many entries so far but more are expected – Maciej Szkudlarek in 2l class and Kacper Żeromiński and Oleg Magdziarz in 1,6l class. The BTC1 battles will rage on in Riga – the rainy Kaunas had real rollercoaster in results. Tomas Buskevicius is leading the standings with 40 points, 4 ahead of Valdis Kikusts who is still trying to replace the engine of his Honda car. Third place is held by Lelde Jukama. Maris Bulans is ready to go in Riga, so is Ernests Eglitis. Still waiting for few more entries. Kairo Kallas has started the season strong in BTC2 class – two wins in Kaunas, but in both races, he had to work hard to achieve it. Let’s see if he can repeat that in Riga. Agnius Narbutas, Andrius Keblys, Tadas Petukauskas and Kristupas Sablinskas definitely are up for the challenge. Atis Veismanis was an unexpected entry in BTC3 class, and he took full advantage of the rainy conditions, taking two wins back home. While the Tomas Jatkevicius and Arturas Kliobavicius will continue their duel in Riga. Simo Lind, the last years BTC2 champion is gonna keep them company, as he has upgraded his Honda with 2,4l engine and will aim at least for the podium.
More than 30 cars will line up on the grid for the smallest classes, the united V1600/ABC Race/RN2 class race will be a proper race with a lot of action on track. The usual Baltic grid will be joined by at least 10 Mini Cooper and Mini One model cars, whose performance is very similar to V1600 class. 8 participants of V1600 class participated in Round 1, where Mareks Matvejevs dominated, followed by his teammates Viesturs Ozols and Nauris Agafonovs. Kaspars Rudmiezis from Latvia and Risto Sirg will join the grid for Riga race and the number of participants in the class might reach even more than 10. Around 10 cars are also expected in ABC Race class – the Round 1 was dominated by Arturs Danilevskis, with Roberts Ozolins in second and Sandis Laube in third. That was in soaking wet Kaunas, but how it will go in Riga?
2h Endurance race will have the same essence with beautiful international field. Already 15 teams have entered the competition, ranging from GT3 and Porsche GT3 cup, to RN2 class Mini Coopers. If the field continues to grow and around 20 teams from Baltic will join, the 2h race will have to be split by speed because of the safety reasons.
Baltic Hankook Endurance challenge where participants has to use Hankook slick tires, so far has 3 entries – Porsche Latvia Racing team with Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport and two Lithuanian teams – Baltic Karting Academy, which was victorious in Round 1 and Reimpex by GSR with the exclusive Ginetta G56 car. In Nankang 2h race, a lot of teams are still expected to join, but we have a return entry from Lind Racing.
Aurimas Mistautas took his maiden victory of BMW 325 CUP race in Round 1 and proved himself as one of the favorites for the champions title for 2025 season. But the competition is so high, it’s still very early to tell. Championship vice leader Leo Messenger is not expected to start in Riga, but also the same story was in Kaunas. Ragnar Simuland made his class debut with a bang, and definitely will try to repeat the performance in Riga, yet we cant count out racers like Matiss Malinovskis, Povilas Bonkevicius, Janis Horeliks. All we know is, it will be one hell of a fight for P1.
The BMW Turbo Cup had a spectacular racing in Round 1 and no less is expected in Riga, with 8 possible entries and more coming in the next rounds. A surprise entry and great skill on the track was shown by Arturs Sarma, the championship leader with 40 points. Algirdas Gelzinis takes the second spot with 37 points, while Artjoms Koclamazasvili is third with 33 points. The new cars and new drivers makes outcome in Riga impossible to predict.
The Polish WSMP series will have one separate race for BMW 318 IS trophy, which fields similar BMW E36 cars, while The Maluch Trophy round is cancelled.
Full entry list can be found here: https://batcc.eu/entry-list-dewalt-gp-2025/
Tickets available: https://www.bilesuparadize.lv/en/event/151011
