AUSTRALIA has Mount Panorama and a 1,000km race, while Lithuania’s preeminent motorsport event covers 1,006km, and like Bathurst, the race takes place on a public road course – except this one is hosted on a remarkable layout covering a motorway junction.

This weekend, the 26th running of the Aurum 1006km Race will take over a cloverleaf interchange between the A11 and A13 Motorways near the western Lithuanian city of Palanga.

Measuring 2.6 km in length, the 12-turn Armco-lined figure-eight circuit is pieced together from two off-turn ramps and a pair of straights, punctuated by chicanes, and connected by a tight hairpin.

Originally with open slather eligibility including open-top sports cars, the rules have somewhat sensibly been restricted to GT3, GT4, TCR, plus other touring and sports cars in line with the modern spirit of the event.

Interestingly, the racing pits are not built to accommodate mid-race refuelling stops, with that task taking place at an everyday petrol station just off the hairpin turn!

Past winners have included three-time Supercars race starter and former F1 ace Jan Magnussen, as well as sports car drivers Tom Coronel, Peter Dumbreck, and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen.

Magnussen returns to the field this weekend, as well as Alpine F1 reserve and Sauber test driver Paul Aron.

Also included on the entry is 2010 Australian F3 Champion Ben Barker, who has to date registered six Bathurst 12 Hour starts with the Grove family.

This weekend, he will line up in a Porsche GT3 Cup car.

While the latest and greatest GT machinery is set to face the starter, for something completely different, the entry also includes a 1996 Lada Riva!

Supports to the event include one-make Porsches, a women’s only race, drag racing, and a mechanic’s running race, with the main event slated to run from 12:00pm Saturday through to 9pm, with a crowd of 70,000 expected at the event.

For the record, Aurum is a brand of ice cream, and that’s a sponsorship we could get behind!

Wild Touring Car Masters race start as the field converges on Turn 1

It’s a wild and willing start! This classic Touring Car Masters action from 2012 in Darwin goes all the way to the first corner – and on it goes!