2025-07-19
At the 26th edition of the “Aurum 1006 km powered by Hankook” endurance race, competitors have now covered more than half of the total distance, and the battle for the lead remains fierce. The “RIMO & LKU by EQUPAY.CH” and “Bio-Circle & HSG by SWAG” teams continue to race just seconds apart.
Nearly five hours into the race, there have been no major incidents on track, and the leaderboard has seen no significant surprises. However, one of the frontrunners, “Stokex Circle K Miles Plus,” was forced to retire after completing 93 laps.
Following what seemed to be a minor contact with the “RIMO & LKU by EQUPAY.CH” team’s Porsche, the Audi driven by Eimantas Navikauskas sustained damage that ultimately prevented the car from continuing. Upon returning to the paddock, Navikauskas admitted that it was a driving error on his part.
Before the race, last year’s second-place finisher had openly expressed his ambitions to claim the title this year.
“Skaylink Racing Team,” which has drawn attention for its unconventional vehicle choice, also faced technical setbacks. After completing 128 laps and making a fuel stop, the car failed to restart and had to be towed back to the pitlane. The team representatives commented that there was a fuel system failure, and after nearly 40 minutes, they returned to the track.
The “BMW KESTAUTO – TELŠIŲ STATYBA” team’s BMW M3 could be seen on track with quite a bit of duct tape, but team manager Andrius Ramanauskas assured that these are just typical racing scars: “We had a bit of contact with another car once, and the second time it was due to the tires — we slid a little and tapped the barrier. But everything’s fine — we haven’t lost any positions in our class.”
After 150 laps, the class leaders are as follows: – GTO: “RIMO & LKU by EQUPAY.CH” – TC4: “Statomenas by DMK Racing Team” – GT3: “Bio-Circle & HSG by SWAG” – GT4: “Porsche Latvia Racing Team” and “Baltic Karting Academy” are running very close together.
Although forecasts had predicted afternoon rain, so far the dark clouds have only hovered near the circuit. If there are no further incidents, the race is expected to finish around 9:00 PM.
Photos by Vytautas Pilkauskas