All routes lead to Palanga for the Aurum 1006 km

Street circuits come in the most different shapes possible, like the luxurious streets of Monte Carlo, the narrow roads of Macau, the high paced thrill of Bangsaen… And oddities like Palanga, which will host the 25th edition of the Aurum 1006 km, one of the endurance racing classics of the Baltic region.

The circuit received minimal changes since the first edition in 2000, which actually made the lap faster over the years, along with the fact that modern machinery started joining the race on a regular basis, making it a lap of slightly over 60 seconds despite a ban of any form of protoypes being in place.

What makes it special is how rough it looks, as it isn't a track fully covered in walls, with the guard rails that compose the A11 and A13 highways being the first thing you'll meet in case of a crash, with modular concrete walls and some Tecpro barriers doing the rest of the job. Also, the track width varies incredibly during the lap, with straight that can have four cars wide comfortably to corners as narrow as to allow a single car between the white lines.

The refueling in the weekend also falls in the uncommon side of things, as a single petrol station alongside the road receives all cars, so the correct timing is incredibly important for the pit strategy, since there will be around 10 hours of racing.

Here is a virtual lap to show a bit or two of this challenge:

The Aurum 1006 km has this curious fact that over the years the 1000 km standard distance was changed according to the national broadcaster of the race, which is TV6, and this followed the changes of allowed categories in the race, as it started as a touring car only race, then allowed prototypes until the early 2010s and consolidated itself as a GT and touring car race, following similar rules to the Baltic Touring Car Championship, with GT3 as the top class and GT Cup, TCR and specific touring cars completing the list of specs allowed.

The variety of cars goes from the stuff you see in every circuit around the World, like GT3s, Porsche Cup cars, GT4s and TCRs to absolutely unique machines like the Kauno ASK LADA 2104 powered by Mustang, which is a long time competitor that is for this race what the foxtail Opel Manta from Kissling Motorsport is for the NLS and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.

While the Aurum 1006 km is majorly composed by Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian drivers, international presence outside the Baltic region has been a thing since the 2000s when GT cars were accepted. Names like Peter Dumbreck, Ralf Kelleners and Michael Vergers took part or even won the race, and Anders Fjordbach and Jan Magnussen are the current champions as they partnered Eimantas Navikauskas and Edvinas Žadeikis. The region’s star drivers also take part in the race, as was the case with Ralf Aron, Konstantins Calko and Aurelijus Rusteika, and some of them even come from vastly different backgrounds like former FIA World Rallycross Championship drivers Rokas Baciuska and Reinis Nitiss. International sportscar squads made the trip to Palanga over the years, and names like JR Motorsport, Speed Factory and even the Snorras Spyker Squadron are in the list.

This year, 20 cars split into six classes - GT3, GT Open, GT4, TCR, SP3 and TC4. Stateta BRO, which is essentially the former Euro RX1 and World RX outfit ESMotorsport, will only Fjordbach present from the 2023 lineup, but having 2022 winner Julius Adomavicius puts their Mercedes AMG GT3 as favorites, even with Juta Racing, competing as Circle K miles Plus Racing Team, appearing again with their Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, while the team’s other Audi has Eimantas Navikaukas returning after winning the 2023 with Stateta BRO

The GT Open class should also attract attention due to the LG OLED & RIMO Adero Porsche Cup entry that has not only Rusteika, but also current Ford factory driver Ben Barker, who will be back in well known Porsche machinery between his commitments in FIA WEC.

The Aurum 1006 km will start at noon on local time, with the live stream to catch all the action in the race’s YouTube channel.

PHOTO: Aurum 1006 km