Ring Challenge races at Nemunas Ring during the storm
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Changeable weather during the race weekend – like spices adding even more intrigue to the track. This delighted both the participants of the “Ring Challenge” circuit races and the spectators on Saturday at Kačerginė’s Nemunas Ring. However, as the track became covered with layers of leaves, branches, and soil, and trees began to fall near the judges’ posts and the track infrastructure started collapsing, the race was canceled by the race director and organizers for safety reasons.
A falling tree narrowly missed the newly renovated “alytniam” – the administrative building of Nemunas Ring. There were no people around; the tree warned of its fall by cracking beforehand. No one was walking nearby, participants were packing up their tents, and the organizers’ staff were clearing the fallen arch.
The rain that sparked real intrigue on the track ended, and a squall that overturned everything in its path began. Part of the race infrastructure was damaged, the track looked like after an off-road competition, and cleaning and preparing it for racing was a half-day job. The wind was destroying the judges’ towers, trees were falling around, there was no electricity, and the situation was tense. As evening approached, the judges and organizers decided to stop the competition.
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“We made the decision for safety reasons; the weather conditions were dangerous both for those working on the track and those driving on it. Moreover, the storm damaged the track so badly that we wouldn’t have been able to fix it by evening. You can’t order the weather, but the racing community was very encouraging. After stopping the competition, they understood everything and even helped to remove the consequences of the disaster. Many thanks to them,” said “Ring Challenge” organizer Ugnė Rukšėnaitė.
Managed to race
However, not the entire event was blown away: in the first half of the day, “Time Attack” championship participants managed to compete in several sessions, and two sprint race runs took place, so the battle happened. And it took place under constantly changing conditions: sometimes it rained, sometimes it stopped, the track began to dry, then it started raining again. Tire choice that day was a real lottery. For example, in the PRO group sprint race, it started raining during the warm-up lap.
Ramūnas Čapkauskas, who was supposed to start from the first position with a Lamborghini Huracan ST Evo, went into the service lane before the formation lap to “change shoes” – to put on rain tires, and when the green light came on, he started last. The rain intensified, and the experienced driver quickly took first place in the GT class.
Behind him was Karolis Blėdis driving an all-wheel-drive Audi, and in third place was Aurimas Urbonavičius with a Ginetta. In the RB3000 class, Agnius Narbutas triumphed with a Honda S2000, and in the BMW2500 class – Laimonas Starkevičius.
In the first sprint race group, a real show was put on by Gintaras Čepulis, Paulius Noreika, Arnoldas Pukys, Jordanas Kubilius, Mykolas Paulius, and Alanas Azikejev driving BMW cars.
The first four changed positions several times each lap, Jordanas Kubilius only fell behind slightly after briefly going off the track, and Arnoldas Pukys, who held the lead position in the last laps, also made a mistake, allowing Gintaras Čepulis to take the victory, who drove half the race in fifth gear.
“I prayed that the gear wouldn’t be knocked out, but apparently, it stabilized my situation; I had to think more about driving, and with changing conditions, that actually helped rather than harmed. Now I need to try to repair it before the second sprint start,” said Gintaras Čepulis immediately after the finish.
Unfortunately, or conversely – successfully, the second race was canceled due to weather conditions, and Gintaras became the winner of this stage, having enough time to fix the gearbox before the next stage on October 17.
Conditions changeable – results surprisingly good
In the “Time Attack” sessions, the fastest time on the drying track was shown by Ramūnas Čapkauskas with a Lamborghini. The PRO GT class winner completed the 3.335 km Nemunas Ring lap in 1:08.049. He tested the car after repairs at the “Ring Challenge” event.
Agnius Narbutas won the PRO2000 class. He recorded a time of 1:16.759 with a Honda S2000. In the PRO3000 class, the fastest was Artūras Kliobavičius with a BMW. His time was 1:14.409.
Representatives of the PRO classes competed on the usual track configuration, while other classes, where driving with completely standard cars is allowed, raced on a slower track configuration with two additional speed reduction zones in the most dangerous places.
Among them, the fastest was Darius Vasiliauskas with a Chevrolet Corvette, demonstrating a time of 1:20.441 and winning the SGC4 class. In the SGC3 classification, the fastest lap of 1:22.201 was made by Darius Kliaudaitis with a Toyota GR Yaris. The SGC2 winner was Saulius Bučius with a Peugeot 206 RC. His time was 1:27.944.
In the lightly modified cars OC3 category, Grantas Mackevičius won with a BMW, his result was 1:21.317. In the OC4 class, Augustė Rupšytė achieved her first victory in “Time Attack” competitions with a Volkswagen Golf, completing the fastest lap in 1:27.851. In the historic cars classification, the fastest was Vėjūnas Toleikis with a fifth-generation Honda Civic, completing the lap in 1:32.326.
The final “Ring Challenge” stage of this year will take place on October 17 at the same place, Nemunas Ring, which will delight with the yellow-orange autumn nature background and night “Endurance” races.
