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2021 Aurum 1006 km powered by Hankook race: facts and figures

2021-07-21

2021 Aurum 1006 km powered by Hankook race: facts and figures

We offer a set of numbers and facts to help you better understand and feel the pulse of this year's Aurum 1006 km powered by Hankook race.

Participants, countries, cars

  • 14 - 17 July 2021 Palanga hosted the 22nd long-distance car race in the event's history, organised by Promo Events since the very first race in 2000.
  • For the fourth time, 41 teams from Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain took part in the international competition entitled "Aurum 1006 km powered by Hankook".
  • The teams that participated in the race consisted of 142 athletes and 41 team leaders from seven countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, and Great Britain.
  • The absolute majority of racers - 138 men and only 4 women: Indrė Senkutė-Gedgaudienė, Ernesta Globytė, Joana Survilaitė, and Aistė Antanaitytė-Matukaitė.
  • The leaders of two teams - "Parnasas veža" and "Lesta Racing Team" - were women - Katažina Šeinauskienė and Inga Kačinskienė.
  • The eldest participant of the race is the athlete of the British "DHR-Ignera- Autovesta" team, 66-year-old Dave Holland.
  • The youngest, 15-year-old "Baltic Karting Academy" team member Justas Kasperiūnas.
  • The most popular race car is the BMW (17).
  • Porsche - 6 cars (maximum over 22 years).
  • Third in popularity - Volkswagen - 5, fourth Audi - 3, fifth Cupra - 2.
  • One car was driven by the following brands: Mercedes AMG GT3, Ford Mustang, Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO, Ford Shelby GT 350, Ginetta GT4 G55, Honda, Renault, and LADA. (By the way, the first four made their debut in Lithuania).
  • For the fifth year in a row, all teams used the same Hankook tires provided to them by the manufacturers.

Records and record holders

  • The Circle K MilesPlus Racing Team won the TOP 10 qualifier with the Porsche GT3 Cup II, reaching a track speed record that now belongs to Ralf Aron, who ran the fastest 2682-meter lap in 1 minute 08.396 sec.
  • The previous record of Latvian Konstantinas Calko in 2019 1 minute 08,973 sec. was also improved by the second-place winner, "Gera dovana - Šiauliai by RD Signs Reimpex" team representative Paulius Paškevičius, who drove one lap with Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo in 1 minute 08.865 sec.
  • The 22nd race was won by the "Circle K MilesPlus Racing Team" - Jonas and Ignas Gelžiniai, Ralf Aron and Julius Adomavičius, within the maximum allowed 10 hours, a time limit after driving 352 laps.
  • For J. Gelžinis it was the tenth victory in Palanga (record among racers), for his brother Ignas - the fifth, and for the team friends R. Aron and J. Adomavičius - the third.
  • It is also a quadruple-double of this team: the selection and the main race were won, the track record was reached, the fastest lap was recorded during the competition - the 106th lap, which J. Gelžinis drove in 1 minute. 09.108 sec. and was awarded The Lithuanian Automobile Sport Federation (LASF) Cup.
  • The second-place winner - the "Balpol by SPS automotive performance" team, brothers Nemunas and Nerijus Dagiliai and Deividas Jocius - also covered 352 laps with the Mercedes AMG GT3.
  • The record-breaking achievement also belongs to the Porsche brand: out of 22 races that have already taken place, as many as fifteen have won with this brand of cars.
  • Representatives of "Porsche Club by LG Oled" team Mantas Janavičius, Arūnas Tuma, Marius Bartkus and Aurelijus Rusteika won the third place with Porsche 911.
  • Only the winners and second place winners ran the most laps - 352 each, and the lowest - 19 laps or 50.1 km - "Antėja.lt racing Team".

Champions by class

  • GT3 class champions became "Balpol by SPS automotive performance" team.
  • In the GT Open class, the winners of the absolute standings "Circle K MilesPlus Racing Team" won. J. Gelžinis drove 106th lap in 1 minute 09.108 sec. This is a new track record during the race. The previous one was reached last year by R. Aron - 1 min. 09.553 sec.
  • In the GT4 class, "DHR-Ignera-Autovesta" team won - Dave, Mick, and Drew Holland with the Ginetta GT4 G55.
  • Last year's TCR class champions - "Noker Racing Team" - Kęstutis Stasionis, Sten Piirimagi, Marius Slaboševičius, and Justas Grendelis, who drove the VW Golf GTI, celebrated the victory in the TCR class again.
  • The SP4 class champions became foreigners - the Dutch "JR Motorsport" team, BMW E92 M3 driver Ted van Vliet, Bas Schouten, and Steve Van Bellingen.
  • Remigijus Devainis, Klaudas Bučinskas, and Mindaugas Vanagas, the "Citus Racing team", won in the diesel car class with VW Golf.
  • Tomas Urbonavičius, Henrikas Statkus, Andrejus Teras, and Andrius Baublys from the "Intrans racing by Meatbusters" team won the TC3 competition with the Audi A4.
  • TC4 was defeated by "Dock by 222" team athletes Igor Sidunovas, Martynas Sidunovas and Adomas Petrovas, who drove a VW Scirocco.
  • In the TC5 class, the victory was won by the "RC Cola racing by 8000RPM motorsport" team Darius Biesevičius, Vilmantas Pupius, Eugenijus Sladkevičius, and Aurimas Eidžiūnas, who drove the Ford Shelby GT 350.
  • "Kauno technikos kolegija - KTK" team Augustas Skiedra, Pranas Sasnauskas and Mantas Brazdeikis celebrated the victory in the 325 Cup class with the BMW E90 325.
  • 145 journalists are accredited at the race press centre. This is the record number of journalists during all 22 races that have already taken place. Some journalists came from the Netherlands and even from Spain.