Triumph in Parnu
18/08/2022
Champion of 2022
28/09/2022Triumph, but drama in Kaunas Grand Prix
Photo by BATCC and Egidijus Babelis
06.09.2022
On Sunday, 4 September, in Lithuania, the fourth stage of the Baltic Touring Car Championship was held on the “Nemuno Žiedas” track in several qualifying classes. In difficult competition conditions, Latvian pilot Valters Zviedris, representing the team LV Racing, celebrated his victory in the “BMW 325 CUP” class, for which the second race was stopped due to a massive accident.
Lithuanian athlete Karolis Jovaiša won the qualifying race and was joined by Leo Messenger from France on the first row of the starting line. Valters Zviedris was in the sixth position.
In the first race, Zviedris had a great start and after the first corner from sixth place he was fourth, and in the second corner, he also overtook the Estonian driver Romets Reisin. Messenger was in second place until the last lap when he was overtaken by Zviedris and several other competitors due to engine problems. After the finish, the judges decided to give a 10-second penalty to Jovais, as a result of which the first is Zviedris, the second Reisin, and the third, another Estonian racing driver, Stan Pentus.
In the second race, Valters Zviedris started from the first starting position and kept it until the finish line, repelling Reisin’s attempts to overtake. An exciting race lasted seven laps when one of the biggest crashes in the history of the Baltic Touring Car Championship took place. The last corner of the Kaunas track consists of a tire speed damper, often knocked out of place in competition mode, which causes a two-yellow flag situation. As the leaders quickly slowed down, the following peloton could not slow down in time. A crash involving more than 10 cars resulted in the race being halted after seven laps, awarding half the expected points for places won. As a result, in the second race, the first place was for Zviedris, followed by Reisins, Messenger, Pentus, Lapiņš and Šubeckis.
Valters Zviedris won in the overall race ranking, Reisin second, Pentus third.
After four stages of the competition, Valters Zviedris leads the championship with 352 points, followed by Karolis Jovaiša with 287 and Reisins with 255. Krišjānis Oskerko, Ričards Šubeckis and Matīss Mežaks are respectively in the sixth, seventh and ninth place in the overall standings of the Baltic Championship.
The final stage of the Baltic Highway Championship is taking place soon – on September 24 and 25 in Riga, Latvia on the Biķernieku track.
Valters expresses thanks to Jurmala City Council for sponsoring participation costs for many years, and to other supporters – SIA “Optibet”, “Gatorz Eyewear Europe”, “Blue Shock Race”, “Joker Klubs”, ”I-Con”, “Rosenso Marketing”, “IAuto.lv” and others.
In Latvian –
