The Kaunas awaits – middle point of the season!
The notorious Nemuno Ziedas race track, the little Green Hell of Baltics on July 7th will welcome the third round the Baltic Touring Car Championship, Nankang 2h Endurance and Lithuanian Time Attack series, and another event of national championsips of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The event could be very decisive for the BaTCC participants as only 2 events will remain in the season so every point will be very crucial. The Saturday will have testing sessions, official practices and Qualifying while Sunday will be the race day for all classes and all sessions for the Time Attack series. Good mix of racing and spectacular cars for the spectators.
The BMW 325 CUP this season is a battle of Latvians vs Lithuanians. In Riga locals dominated, but how it will turn out in Kaunas? 2023 vicechampion Ricards Subeckis has won four out of four races, but he will carry 70 kg additional weight ballast in Kaunas where he won both races last year. Paulius Urbonavicius retained second place in the standings, while Uldis Timaks jumped up several positions and now is ranked third, followed by Matiss Malinovskis, Krisjanis Oskerko and Karlis Ozolins. Watch out from Romet Reisin who skipped Riga round but will be back in Kaunas where he is always fast!
Uldis Timaks is the fastest in Masters category followed by Matiss Mezaks who might use Kaunas race as his preparation for TET WRC Rally in Latvia. Vilnis Batraks is the points leader in the Gentlemen class, while Arturs Sarma is the best rookie so far in the season.
BTC2 class is the new black! With 10 participants in Riga race, no less are expected in Kaunas, including a return of one of the class legends. While Simo Lind has won all four races so far, none of them have been easy! With followers like Kairo Kallas, Andrius Keblys, Agnius Narbutas, Tadas Petukauskas and Kristupas Sablinskas it never is! While 2 Estonians hold the leadership of the standings, Lithuanians will be very hard to beat in Nemuno Ziedas. Grab your popcorn and enjoy this race.
BTC1 was dominated by Latvians in Riga with newcomers like Maris Bulans and Edgars Plonis sharing the race wins. Standings is led by Latvian lady Lelde Jukama but local competition from Dovydas Akstinas and Audrius Liutkevicius is expected! BTC3 is a titan duel between Arturas Kliobavicius and Tomas Jatkevicius. Who will be the best in home track?
ABC Race never disappoint, and the championship is wide open as always – newcomers in circuit racing, draw instead of lottery – fun racing from start to finish! Nauris Agafonovs is the leader with 76 points after 2 rounds, followed by Arturs Danilevskis with 55. Daniels Ungurs currently sits third in the rankings. What will be the situation after Kaunas? Nobody knows. But definitely this is the class to enjoy watching. And maybe some time soon we will see racers joining in from outside Latvia aswell.
V1600 class is the way to go to enjoy semislick tires with reduced costs and limited engine power. All four races so far have been very exciting and the battle for 1st place is wide open. Estonian Ragnar Simuland leads the standings with 86 points, followed by Viesturs Ozols who won both races in Riga, and Raivis Meilands sits third with 66 points. Kaunas is a different ball game and the best one will win in here!
Nankang 2h Endurace race is always very popular with a lot of participants in Kaunas. It’s a proper test of driver fitness and car reliability – a proper challenge for whole team! Most interesting battles in the 2h race is in BTC3 class where among 9 participants Estonian team Reinup Motorsport are leaders after 2 rounds, followed by compatriots Lind Racing and RS Racing Team. BTC4 lead is held by Hemi Racing by Statomenas followed by Diesel Power, long time veterans, and Orlen Lietuva-Jauda. BGT AM, the most powerful class is lead by Reimpex-Capkauskas Autocentras that acquired standings leader position by winning Riga race, followed by DMK Racing Team and Porsche Baltic teams. Autokaslita are leaders in BTC2 while MKM Racing team hold the lead in BTC1, chased by ACAP Racing and LDV Racing. Rent325cup.com by KTK are leaders in BMW 325 CUP category, but still chasing their first victory of the season.
The Kaunas Grand Prix will also feature second round of LASF Time Attack championship in classes Historic, OC3, OC4, SGC2, SGC3, SGC4 and Pro classes. This is where you see the next generation of BaTCC drivers polishing their skills.
Tickets are available on Kakava.lt.
See you in Kaunas!
