Although the first days of this year’s race festival were accompanied by sunny weather, rain drenched the track on the main race day. Teams started and finished the competition on a wet track, enjoying a dry track for only a few hours, but the difficult conditions did not prevent 19 out of 20 starting crews from reaching the finish line.
The “Aurum 1006 km powered by Hankook” weekend also featured the “OlyBet” sponsored “Women’s Challenge”, “A.R.S.A. Group” drag races, “Orlen” spectator slalom, the exclusive car “Motor Fest”, “Audio Freakz Lietuva dB Drag” competitions, “Volfas Engelman Non-alcoholic” thousand-meter mechanics’ run, and for the first time in Palanga, a “Mitjet Baltics” championship stage.
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Race statistics
· This year, 20 teams lined up at the start. All participants together completed 6376 laps – more than 17 thousand kilometers.
· During the races, teams made a total of 286 stops in the technical service zone. Here, drivers changed, tires were replaced, and sometimes necessary repairs were carried out.
· The race leaders completed the entire 373-lap distance in 8 hours, 41 minutes, 57.8 seconds. In terms of duration, these were the fifth fastest races in the event’s history.
· This year’s winners’ time was only 1.472 seconds better than the 2018 result, when the race lasted 8 hours, 41 minutes, 59.272 seconds. · During the competition, the “Code 60” regime was applied three times. In total, leaders drove 23 laps at a reduced pace, and these periods lasted 1 hour, 13 minutes, 44 seconds.
· This year, neither a safety car nor a full-track yellow flag regime was needed on the track.
· BMW cars were the most numerous in the starting grid – seven of them competed. Six Porsches, two Audis, two Volkswagens, and one Lamborghini, Ginetta, and Lada also started.
· Six teams led at least one lap in the race. “RIMO Adero & LKU.LT” spent the most time in the leading position – as many as 272 laps.
· “Energija by RD Signs Racing” with a “Lamborghini Huracan GT3” led for 75 laps – this is the second best result among all teams. However, after completing the 123rd lap and leading at that time, the crew was forced to withdraw after an accident.
· “RINVEST by Juta Racing” led for 12 laps, “PPF by Dream 2 Drive” – seven, “OVOKO Dream 2 Drive” – six, and last year’s champions “Bio-Circle & HSG by SWAG” – one lap.
Winners and fastest
· The absolute overall winner was the “RIMO Adero & LKU.LT” team. Their “Porsche GT3 Cup” was driven by Mantas Janavičius, Marius Bartkus, and British representative Benjamin Barker, and the team was led by Ignas Abečiūnas.
· For all three drivers of the winning team, this was their first victory in the absolute overall classification of the Palanga race.
· “RIMO Adero & LKU.LT” spent almost three-quarters of the entire distance in first place – the team led 272 out of 373 laps.
· This year, a “Porsche” car won the Palanga race for the sixteenth time. This is the manufacturer’s first victory since 2021.
· Second place was taken by “RINVEST by Juta Racing”. Simas Juodviršis, Jonas Karklys, Leonardas Diržys, and Oskaras Naujokaitis with an “Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II” completed 371 laps – two less than the winners.
· “Porsche Lietuva Racing” finished in third place. Robertas Kupčikas, Tautvydas Rudokas, and Audrius Piktys with a “Porsche 911 GT3 Cup” completed 368 laps.
· The fastest lap of the race was recorded for the second year in a row by Karolis Jovaiša from “Bio-Circle & HSG by SWAG”. He completed the 280th lap in 1 minute, 6.794 seconds, driving at an average speed of 144.55 km/h. For this, he was awarded a trophy established by the Lithuanian Automobile Sports Federation. · K. Jovaiša was only 0.157 seconds ahead of Simas Juodviršis, a representative of “RINVEST by Juta Racing”, whose best result was 1 minute, 6.951 seconds.
· The fastest GT Open class lap was completed by Benjamin Barker – 1 minute, 7.892 seconds. In the GT4 class, Vilius Reškevičius was the fastest – 1 minute, 14.092 seconds, in the TC4 class Tomas Rudokas – 1 minute, 20.550 seconds, and in the SP3 class Max Tubben – 1 minute, 9.522 seconds.
Class champions
· In the GT3 class, “RINVEST by Juta Racing”, which took second place in the overall standings, won. “Bio-Circle & HSG by SWAG” finished second, and “Energija by RD Signs Racing” third.
· In the GT Open class, the absolute overall winners “RIMO Adero & LKU.LT” triumphed. “Porsche Lietuva Racing” took second place, and “LIK Racing by KTK” third.
· In the GT4 class, “Baltic Karting Academy” won, whose crew completed 328 laps. “DHR Racing” took second place, and “BMW KESTAUTO–TELŠIŲ STATYBA” third.
· In the most numerous TC4 class, all three prize-winning places were won by teams driving identical “BMW G20 Turbo Cup” cars. “Anjesė by Route67” won, “Contribee.com Racing” finished second, and “LIK Racing by Delphi” third.
· In the SP3 class, “ConnectPay-BMW Kestauto Powered by Sonax” was the fastest. “KADO AUTO–EGPX.LT” took second place, and “STATOMENAS by KAUNO ASK” third.
