{"id":4305,"date":"2025-07-18T22:51:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T22:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/4305\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T22:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T22:51:10","slug":"aurum-1006km-freeway-motorway-exchange-gt3-race-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/4305\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurum 1006km freeway motorway exchange GT3 race track"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTRALIA has Mount Panorama and a 1,000km race, while Lithuania\u2019s preeminent motorsport event covers 1,006km, and like Bathurst, the race takes place on a public road course \u2013 except this one is hosted on a remarkable layout covering a motorway junction.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/superstore.v8sleuth.com.au\/products\/bathurst-going-global-10-years-of-australias-international-enduro-2011-2020-book?utm_source=SRBuyButton&amp;utm_medium=website\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Bathurst_12_Hour-cover_1024x1024.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Magnussen returns to the field this weekend, as well as Alpine F1 reserve and Sauber test driver Paul Aron.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>This weekend, he will line up in a Porsche GT3 Cup car.<\/p>\n<p>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!<\/p>\n<p>Supports to the event include one-make Porsches, a women\u2019s only race, drag racing, and a mechanic\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>For the record, Aurum is a brand of ice cream, and that\u2019s a sponsorship we could get behind!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/superstore.v8sleuth.com.au\/products\/classic-australian-motorsport-bathurst-12-hour-the-beginning-1992-1994?utm_source=SRBuyButton&amp;utm_medium=website\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cam-12hour_1024x1024.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Wild Touring Car Masters race start as the field converges on Turn 1<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a wild and willing start! This classic Touring Car Masters action from 2012 in Darwin goes all the way to the first corner &#8211; and on it goes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTRALIA has Mount Panorama and a 1,000km race, while Lithuania\u2019s preeminent motorsport event covers 1,006km, and like Bathurst,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-4305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}