On September 18–19, the “Eldrive 24H EV Race” will take place at the Panevėžys autodrome – the only 24-hour electric car race in the Baltic region – which will be an important step in the sporting career of Lithuanian racer Linas Volungevičius, who will celebrate his 17th birthday later this month. After eight years on karting tracks, he will take the start of official car races for the first time.
“I have already driven on a race track with a formula car – in 2025 in Valencia, I had my first Formula 4 car tests with Juta Racing. There were plans to start with the team in several F4 Winter Series stages, but due to budget constraints, they could not be realized. In the same year, I also participated in the international F4 Global Shootout Program for young drivers in France. But all of that was testing and selection – I have not yet started in official car races. Therefore, in Panevėžys, I will take the start of car races for the first time in my life. And immediately – in a 24-hour race,” Linas smiles.
This time, the opportunity came unexpectedly. Linas was invited to participate in the race as a representative of the LIGIER youth car category. Moreover, Linas will also join another team, so during the 24-hour race he will represent two teams.
Opportunity for youth to experience speed on the track
In his first car race start, Linas will represent the company Altas, the official representative of the LIGIER car brand in Lithuania. The team specially assembled for these 24-hour races will start under the name LIGIER Racing Team by RIMO. The project is supported by the Lithuanian Youth Driving Academy. Linas will drive on the track with the LIGIER JS60 Ultimate – an AM category car, which can currently be driven in Lithuania from the age of 15. From November 1, 2026, the minimum age for this category will increase to 16 years.
Linas will share this car with another young athlete from a different motorsport discipline – 15-year-old motorcycle racer Gerard Viskantas. His motorsport journey began at the age of nine, and in 2025 Gerard became the Pitbike Junior supermoto class champion. This season, he also stepped into road circuit motorcycle racing, competing in the Supersport 300 class with a CFMOTO 450SR.
In his first season, Gerard won the Lithuanian road circuit vice-champion title in his class.
So, behind one car’s wheel will be two ambitious athletes from different disciplines – karting and motorcycle sport. This project also aims to draw young drivers’ attention to the fact that the desire to try speed can be transferred from the street to the track, where there are suitable conditions, safety measures, and the opportunity to learn and better understand both the technology and their own limits.
At the same time, it is a reminder to other road users about greater tolerance towards small cars and young drivers. A small car or a young person behind the wheel does not necessarily mean
an inexperienced or poor driver. On the road, it is important not to pressure weaker or slower participants but to give them space, behave respectfully, and remember that safe traffic depends on everyone.
While the LIGIER, equipped with a small 11 kWh battery and capable of traveling up to 160 km, is being charged, Linas and Gerard will continue the race with the Sun & Sky team, where together with Ričardas Savickas and Mantas Klupšas they will compete for results in their class.
This invitation is especially important to Linas for a very simple reason – in professional car racing, almost every opportunity to sit behind the wheel of a race car requires a large budget.
“When you get such an invitation, you don’t have to think long. Every opportunity to sit behind the wheel, learn, and get to know another side of motorsport is very valuable to me. Especially when I simply couldn’t buy such an opportunity myself at the moment,” says Linas.
A choice that meant giving up the karting championship fight
The invitation to Panevėžys also meant a difficult choice for Linas. On the same weekend of September 18–19, the final joint stages of the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian Rotax Max karting championships will take place. Linas still had a real chance to fight for season prize places in the Lithuanian and Latvian standings, so the decision to miss the final karting weekend was not easy.
After a whole season of battles, it is natural to want to finish it to the last lap and see your name as high as possible in the final standings. But this time, Linas decided to look not only at one season’s result but also at which opportunity could give more for his further path.
“It was definitely not easy to decide. You race all season, collect points, fight, and naturally want to finish what you started. I still had a real chance to fight for a prize place in the combined season standings of the Lithuanian and Latvian championships, so the decision to miss the last stage was difficult.
But karting has been part of my life for many years, and I know it won’t go anywhere. There will be more races, championships, and opportunities to fight for podiums. And I might never get such an invitation to a 24-hour car race again. So I thought sometimes you have to choose not what could bring another trophy today, but what can give a completely new experience.”
The most important argument was precisely the opportunity to race a car for the first time, not just test it.
“Of course, I don’t know what this opportunity will bring in the future. Maybe it will just be a very interesting weekend and my first car race. But if it can bring new experience, new acquaintances, or open another door, I think I have to try. I wouldn’t want to think a year later – why didn’t I go then?”
A different race format
The Eldrive 24H EV Race differs from usual sprint or circuit races in the very logic of the competition. Different classes of electric cars start here, and the final result is determined not only by speed – energy management, charging strategy, consistency, driver changes, and the ability to complete as many laps as possible with the team in 24 hours are important. The feeling on the track will also be different. Linas is used to the sound of a kart engine, vibration, and the atmosphere created by dozens of racing engines starting simultaneously. In electric car races, everything will be different.
But that is exactly one of the reasons why this start is interesting to him – to try a completely different technology and race format in competition mode for the first time.
“Give me the wheel – I’ll adapt”
The Eldrive 24H EV Race brings together drivers with very different experiences – from professional athletes to car enthusiasts. This does not diminish the value of these races for Linas.
“When you live with cars and motorsport from childhood, it doesn’t matter much to me what car I will start my racing career with. Of course, as a racer, I like speed, engine sound, and sports technology. But the technology, power, sound, or race format can change – the desire to race does not change. Give me the wheel – I’ll adapt,” Linas smiles.
The first start is still the first
Linas does not hide that he has dream starts and cars he would like to try one day.
But he understands that the path to them consists of many different opportunities and experiences.
“In the future, I would most like to race GT cars – I am very attracted to starts like Aurum 1006 km or even Le Mans. But because of that, this opportunity is no less valuable to me.
Every new start is an important part of that path. Until now, I have only tested a car on the track. Now, for the first time, I will put on a helmet knowing that it is not a test but real car racing – team, opponents, strategy, and 24 hours until the finish.
This will be my first official start in car racing, and you can’t repeat first times in your career.”
Linas says he looks at this weekend not as a statement that he is already switching from karting to cars, but as another opportunity to learn and get to know another side of motorsport.
“I know which cars and starts interest me the most, but the road to them is still long. I think it would be a mistake to evaluate only those opportunities that exactly match your biggest dream.
Sometimes you learn the most precisely when you find yourself in a completely new situation. Here, it will be new technology, new teams, and a completely different race format. I want to adapt to everything as quickly as possible, do my job well, and learn as much as possible during this weekend. I really appreciate that I got such an opportunity.”
24 hours is not completely unfamiliar to him
Although this will be a debut in car racing, the endurance format itself is not new to Linas.
Since 2024, he has been participating in international Sodi World Series endurance races organized at the Bačiūnai MANDE kartodrome. Over three years, he has started in 9- and 12-hour races, and this spring – in the first 24-hour endurance karting race in the Baltic States, Bačiūnai 24 HRS 2026 Sodi World Series. On September 26, Linas plans to return to Šiauliai and again take the start of the same series’ 12-hour endurance race with a youth team.
“I really like endurance races. In regular karting competitions, everything happens very quickly – qualifying, a few races, the final. In endurance races, you start to understand much better how much more than speed matters. You have to be consistent, avoid mistakes, think about the team, and strategize. You can drive your stint perfectly, but the result will still depend on everyone.”
In Eldrive 24H EV Race, another important factor will be added to the already familiar elements of endurance racing – energy management.
“This will be a completely new experience for me. In karting, you also have to think about tires – when to save them, how not to overheat them, and how to maintain the pace until the finish. But here, a completely different part of the strategy appears – energy use and charging.
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The goal is not to complete one lap as fast as possible, but to complete as many laps as possible with the team in 24 hours. You will need to understand when to push, when to save, and how each of your laps contributes to the overall result.”
About speed – and his generation
Linas does not hide – speed fascinates him. Otherwise, it probably could not be for a person who spent most of his childhood and adolescence on race tracks.
But precisely because of that, he wants to talk about speed with his peers. “I myself do not yet drive a car on the street, so I definitely do not want to teach anyone how to drive.
I still have a lot to learn myself. But I have been racing with sports karts since I was nine, and during that time I saw how quickly everything can change even on a race track where everyone drives in the same direction, there are referees, safety measures, medical assistance, and everyone knows they are participating in a race.”
One of the strongest such lessons Linas received this July in Finland. During the Rotax Nordic Challenge stage in Kouvola, it started to rain heavily, but the race was not stopped, so the athletes had to continue driving on dry track tires. As grip rapidly worsened, participants began to slide off the track one after another, some collided with each other. Although the speed was reduced, Linas’s kart also became uncontrollable and flipped, and Linas was thrown out of it.
Fortunately, both he and other athletes involved in the incidents avoided more serious consequences. Everyone was driving with kart safety equipment – helmets, protective suits, neck braces, and there were referees and medical staff ready to respond immediately near the track. It was one of the most serious accidents during Linas’s eight years in karting.
“When people say I was unlucky, I always say the opposite – I was lucky. The kart was heavily damaged, luckily I was thrown out and landed a few meters away and could get up. In such moments, you clearly understand that the result, position, or damaged equipment become secondary things.
And once again, you understand that speed always has its price. You can have a lot of experience, feel confident, but sometimes other weather conditions, changed grip, or one moment can make the situation completely different. And if this can happen on a race track where there are safety zones, referees, medics, and people ready to respond, then the risk on the street is even greater. There are other road users, pedestrians, trees, poles, curbs, and help may not be nearby. Therefore, I think if you want to understand what speed means and test your limits, there is a track for that, not the street.”
I like speed and definitely do not want to tell a young person not to like it. On the contrary – if cars, karts, or motorcycles attract you, try it. There are autodromes, kartodromes, tracks, simulators, and various events where you can learn, improve, and understand what it really means to drive fast.”
This is exactly the message Linas would like to convey to younger people – not to forbid, but to show another way.
“One of my personal missions has always been to interest more children and youth in motorsport. It is not necessary to dream of becoming a professional racer. Maybe someone will come to the kartodrome once, someone will start driving a simulator, and someone will discover a sport that will become part of their life. If my story can encourage at least one young person to try their desire to drive fast on the track, not on the street, I think that is already good.”
This fits with Linas’s broader communication. He has repeatedly spoken about the desire to encourage other young people with his experience to pursue their goals, even when the path is not easy.
First start – but not a statement about leaving karting
Besides the already mentioned Formula 4 tests and youth selection program, all of Linas’s real racing experience so far has been accumulated in karting.
Over eight years, he became a multiple Lithuanian vice-champion, won bronze medals in Lithuanian and Baltic championships, and also became a winner and prize-winner of other series in Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian karting championships several times. In 2024, Linas represented Lithuania at the FIA Motorsport Games, where together with Meda Mickeliūnaitė in the karting slalom event they took 9th place among 21 countries, and in 2025, at the first FIA Karting Arrive & Drive World Cup in Malaysia, he finished fourth in his category among 52 participants from various countries.
“Therefore, I do not want to turn this start into a statement that I am now switching to cars. I don’t know where I will race next season – in motorsport, a lot depends on budget, partners, and emerging opportunities. But I know one thing – I want to race cars. So when there is an opportunity to learn something, I try to accept it. This time, I will be able to say for the first time not only that I tested a car but also that I participated in car races. It means a lot to me.”
Already 13 teams and very different technology in Panevėžys
The Eldrive 24H EV Race, which will take place on September 18–19 at the Panevėžys autodrome, will be the fifth 24-hour electric car race in Lithuania.
The essence is not maximum speed or one fast lap. In 24 hours, teams must complete as many laps as possible, so the result depends on the car’s efficiency, energy use, charging strategy, consistency, and the work of the entire team.
This year, 13 teams out of a possible 18 have already registered for the start, and the list of participants promises very different technology and team compositions. On the tracks, you will be able to see everything from the already mentioned small LIGIER JS60 Ultimate, Renault 4, Nissan Micra, Hyundai Inster, and MINI Aceman SE to the Porsche Lithuania team’s Porsche Taycan and an electric sports car built in Lithuania based on the Subaru BRZ platform.
Guests from neighboring countries will also arrive in Panevėžys – a team of journalists from major Estonian media portals and newspapers, a Latvian journalists’ team, and a team of Latvian motorsport representatives. For the first time in the history of these races, a women-only team, Ladies Go Racing Team powered by BYD, will take the start.
Different cars, different experience, and different strategies, but the task is the same for everyone – to complete as many laps as possible in 24 hours. Therefore, in Panevėžys, not only the pace on the track will be important but also who best manages to use the available energy, plan charges, avoid mistakes, and keep the team fighting for the result around the clock.
