After each stop to recharge, the leaders changed, and with one hour left to the finish, any of the 5 leading teams could have won.
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In the overall classification, the winners were the „Renault R4-Lithuania“ team. Last year they were second, only 6 seconds behind the coveted victory. This year, after the third attempt, they climbed to the highest step of the podium, overtaking their rivals by as many as 5 laps of the track. The winners completed 703 laps on the 1,424 km long track and for the first time in the history of the competition drove more than a thousand kilometers, to be exact – 1001 km.
Last year’s drama in the fight for first place was repeated this year one position lower. The „Porsche Lithuania“ team with the „Porsche Taycan“ hoped to maintain second place when, with 3 laps remaining until the end of the race, they overtook the „Renault R4 – Latvia Racing“ rivals. However, the Latvians had a bit more energy left and reclaimed second position in the last corner before the finish. The „Porsche Lithuania“ team finished third, repeating last year’s result.
In the „Renault media“ classification, where only „Renault 4“ cars competed, the Lithuanian team won, Latvian racers took second place, and the third place went to the neighboring media representatives.
In the first class, for electric cars covering the greatest distance on a single charge, „Porsche Lithuania“ celebrated victory for the first time, „Autobrava Motors“ with „MG S6“ took second place, and the race debutants „Ladies Go Racing Team powered by BYD“ with „BYD Seal“ finished third.
In the second most powerful class, the newcomers „Kroso takas“ with „Renault Megane“ unexpectedly triumphed. „Mini x Autofanai“ with „Mini Aceman SE“ finished second, and the third place was taken by guests from Estonia with „Nissan Micra“.
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The last two teams competed for a very long time even for the overall victory. However, „Mini x Autofanai“ slightly miscalculated their charging strategy, and a blown tire on the „Nissan Micra“ dashed all their hopes just as the night was beginning.
In the third class, the entire race was as fierce a battle as for the overall classification. The leaders changed many times, and the victory went to „Spark“ with „Hyundai Inster“, which at one point even led the overall classification.
„Aibera“ with the small „Dongfeng Box“ finished second, and the „Elinta SiC OF Xi“ team with the experimental Subaru BRZ reached the finish in third place.
„Ligier Racing Team by Rimo“ finished fourth, but that place was predetermined even before the race started. The „Ligier“ car is intended for underage drivers. It was raced by karting champion Linas Volungevičius and motorcyclist Gerardas Viskantas. The young racers simply enjoyed the drive, and when the car’s battery ran out, they switched to the „Dongfeng Box“ steering wheel.
Although it rained on the track for a long time, the race passed without accidents or major incidents. Twice the referees had to announce a virtual safety car phase when it was necessary to safely remove the „Nissan Micra“ with a flat tire from the track and to fix the plastic barriers marking the track that were hit by the „Ladies Go“ girls.
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