The Baltic Touring Car series kicked off at Pärnu

The circuit of Pärnu, in Estonia, was the stage for a late opening of the Baltic Touring Car championships.
TCR cars competed in two series, the BaTCC that featured two sprint races on Sunday and Saturday’s 6-hour race that counted towards the BEC6H.
Seven teams fought for the TCR class in the long-distance race, with the DHL Racing Team CUPRA eliminated by a gearbox failure in the early stages. The Noker Racing Team Volkswagen Golf GTI led for a few laps before retiring with an overheating engine. This paved the way for the LV Racing Audi RS 3 LMS that Martin Rump had placed on pole position; Rump and co-drivers Antti Rantala and Konstantīns Calko claimed victory by a margin of four laps over the Igoriolankai Team’s CUPRA (Igoris Ivanovas/Sigitas Ambrazevičius/Arūnas Gečiauskas/Dainius Kablys); the podium was completed by the Golf GTI racing under the banner of Energizer Racing (Rokas Kvedaras/Rimvydas Savickas/Rolandas Salys).
The BaTCC sprint races saw Peter Peek in the Hartman Racing Honda Civic FK2 and Ģirts Krūzmanis in the same LV Racing Audi that had won the six hours, taking one win apiece. In the first race, Peek led for the whole distance, followed by Krūzmanis and Rokas Kvedaras, while the other VW cars of Ernesta Globytė and Kęstutis Stasionis were eliminated in an incident after the start. With Peek sidelined by a technical issue, Krūzmanis dominated the second race ahead of Globytė who grabbed second from Stasionis during the final lap.
The second and final event of the Baltic series will be at Riga Bikernieki on October 10/11.
The BaTCC sprint races saw Peter Peek in the Hartman Racing Honda Civic FK2 and Ģirts Krūzmanis in the same LV Racing Audi that had won the six hours, taking one win apiece.
In the first race, Peek led for the whole distance, followed by Krūzmanis and Rokas Kvedaras’ Energizer Racing Golf GTI, while the other VW cars of Ernesta Globytė and Kęstutis Stasionis were eliminated in an incident after the start.
With Peek sidelined by a technical issue, Krūzmanis dominated the second race ahead of Globytė who stole second from Stasionis during the final lap.
The second and final event of the Baltic series will be at Riga Bikernieki on October 10/11.

Picture: BaTCC/Egidijus Babelis