The heat is on! The Baltic Touring Car Championship continues in Kaunas with Stateta Bro Pro Bro Grand Prix!
The fourth round of the championship will take place on July 26-27 in the picturesque, legendary Nemuno Ziedas race track and it will be a crucial race for season standings as much can be gained, and also to be lost.
July 26th Saturday will be training and Qualifying day, while Sunday, July 27th will be when fun part will begin with all day dedicated to racing, with first races starting before 10 in the morning and ending 8 in the evening. What is to be enjoyed?
The BMW 325 CUP is as always unpredictable. But some things in it are – it’s quite clear that most likely one of the three guys – Aurimas Mistautas from Lithuania, Ragnar Simuland from Estonia, Matiss Malinovskis from Latvia, will be crowned as the new champion of the BMW 325 CUP as those 3 so far have dominated the series, with Simuland leading the standings with 262 points, 12 points ahead of Mistautas. Malinovskis is third with 226 points. Every single one of them had one DNF this season, so the battle is on. Pole Karol Wyka and Darius Gaidulionis are tied for fourth with 172 points, one more than Janis Horeliks. Those three are also close together in the Masters standings. Laimonas Starkevicius is the fastest rookie with 258 points in the class, Erik Stefanovic is second with 220 points, while Saulius Jonaitis third with 204. Normunds Dobums is the fastest Gentleman.
The inaugural season of the new BMW Turbo cup is more than exciting, the not so big fields are completely compensated by close, but fair racing and unpredictability in results. Five different drivers have won a race this year already and this means also packed situation in the standings! Mantas Jasiulevicius is the leader of the series with 107 points, but 103 points are in the bag for two drivers – Artjoms Koclamazasvili and Algirdas Gelzinis, with Brynjólfur Þorkelsson fourth with 80 points.
In the Baltic Touring Cars classes where modified touring cars compete there are many intrigues. In the more powerful class of BTC3, the duel between Arturas Kliobavicius and Tomas Jatkevicius is already legendary. Atis Veismanis has used the mixed conditions in his favor a lot and is not that far behind and is still in the contention for the highest places. For many seasons the target to hunt in BTC2 class was Estonian Simo Lind, now he is replaced by his main challenger in 2024 – Kairo Kallas, who so far has the perfect season – 7 wins out of 7 races. Local Lithuanians for sure see Nemuno Ziedas as the best place to break this streak – watch out for Kristupas Sablinskas, Tadas Petukauskas, Orestas Burgaila and Marius Grigaitis. Maybe some surprise entry will add more excitement to the mix. Nine participants so far have had a go in BTC1 class, more than in many previous seasons. The race for title is still on between Tomas Buskevicius and Valdis Kikusts, both have had technical issues, but their speed on track is mirrored in the standings, Buskevicius leads with 165 points, 49 points ahead of Kikusts. Lelde Jukama is third with 63 points, two in front of Maris Bulans. Dovydas Akstinas is ready to battle for the round win, so it’s not easy to predict who will be the fastest in Stateta Bro I Pro Bro Grand Prix!
A record number of participants – 11 competed last event in Parnu in V1600 class, around the same number of racers are expected for Kaunas. Mareks Matvejevs have had a perfect season so far, dominant in both dry and wet conditions and taking 7 wins out of 7 races, thus leading the standings with the maximum of 175 points. Nauris Agafonovs has been second all the events and have accumulated 115 points, with his teammate Viesturs Ozols in third with 79 points, being chased by multiple opponents not that far behind in points. Arturs Danilevskis is the master and the man to beat in the ABC Race class. Three wins in 3 rounds are proof that he is deserving leader of the standings with 165 points, beating Roberts Ozolins by 32 points. Ozolins in turn is chased by Yaris army – Andris Misins(83), Arturs Locs(69), Karlis Skirmanis (63) and Sandis Laube(50).
The jewel of every BaTCC round, as always will have magnificent race cars and proper racing on track! Riga race was hearbreaking for both, the fans and Paulius Urbonavicius and Aivaras Remeika, in a crash both cars were destroyed but those guys don’t just give up. Both were already on track in Parnu with different cars – Remeika with a newly bought Cupra TCR and Urbonavicius with a loaned SEAT Leon but in Kaunas he ll have a new Ginetta G55 GT4 cars and will be back fighting for top places. Egidijus Gelunas is first in the standings of BGT AM+ class with 90 points, 15 ahead of Romet Reisin and 18 more than Egidijus Gutaravicius. Urbonavicius is fourth with 65 points and on the mission! In the BGT AM class the man to beat is Rokas Kvedaras, who has won 4 out of 5 races he has competed in and is leading the standings with 115 points. Rolandas Salys steady pace has ensured 2nd position with 96 points, but the man on the charge now is Aivaras Remeika, who won the last round and is a very strong contender now for a win in Kaunas! And a special guest for the fans – Ramunas Capkauskas with the now iconic BMW M3 E36, for sure home crowd favorite! In the most powerful class BGT PRO Gediminas Baksys has found reliability and the pace in his Nissan 180SX and is the leader of the class with 112 points, followed by Tomas Rudokas and Julius Adomavicius.
Hankook Endurance Challenge is the series where the pace and reliability of the cars and drivers are tested in 2h long endurance races. Baltic Karting Academy after 3 rounds is the leading team in the standings with 152 points, followed by Porsche Latvia Racing team, that also leads the BGT AM+ class standings, and Reimpex by GSR team. Baltic Karting Academy is the best team also in BGT AM classification, while Flash Racing Latvia has the most points in BGT PRO class.
The mixed conditions of the first three rounds have mixed up also the standings and point numbers in the Nankang 2h Endurance Academy. The biggest intrigue is in the BMW 325 CUP class, where among 12 participants, Daugavins Racing team is leading the pack with 124 points, only 4 more than RS Motorsport Jurmala team, while Degviela Motorsport is third. No points in between for the leading teams in the BMW Turbo cup class, Binny Racing and Rode racing are at the top of the table with 110 points. In BTC1 class the yellow leader shirt is taken by ACAP Racing by Joujaam, followed by LDV Racing. Autokaslita both teams are at the top of the standings in BTC2 class but watch out from Osmo Racing Team by Baltic Maintenance team, that has overcome technical issues and will be ready to battle for win in the class and maybe also overall standings! Similar like last year, Estonians dominate the BTC3 class – in very equal BMW M3 E36 cars, this year is the duel between RS Racing Team with 170 points so far and the 2024 champions Reinup Motorsport with 146 points! Who will prevail in Kaunas will be very important for the standings! The ABC race class classification is between Portmann Racing(120 points) and JV Racing(100 points).
See you in Kaunas!
