2015 ENEOS 1000 kilometrų lenktynės


2015 ENEOS 1000 kilometru lenktynes was a 16th running of ENEOS 1000 kilometrų lenktynės, a touring car and GT endurance racing event held in Lithuania, at Palanga circuit, 2 kilometers away from resort town Palanga in July 16–18, 2015.
Race was won by Jonas Gelžinis, Ignas Gelžinis and Tautvydas Barštys who drove for Juta-KG Group team. Nerijus Dagilis, Nemunas Dagilis and Robertas Kupčikas finished second for Balpol-15 min powered by Oktanas Racing and Steve Vanbellingen, Erik Qvick, Dirk Vanrompuy and Tom Vanrompuy took final podium position for Belgian Qvick Motors team.

Background

For the first practice session, all teams were divided into two groups. 2013 ENEOS 1000 kilometrų lenktynės winners General Financing-Autopaslauga by Pitlane confirmed their favourite status, as Jeroen Bleekemolen went fastest in first practice session with a laptime of 1:12.796. Juta-KG Group and MOPTRANS-Club PORT by JR Motorsport also impressed with their speed, as they completed top three.
Algirdai Racing Team with Aquila CR1 was fastest in other group, but slower than Porsche of General Financing-Autopaslauga by Pitlane. Ramūnas Čapkauskas of Algirdai Racing Team damaged his car in the first practice session, but the team managed to repair it before the start of second practice session, where he showed best lap time of 1:12.920
"Blue Ghost Racing Team" driver Modestas Jakas crashed his Toyota Celica heavily in the second practice session. Luckily, he wasn't injured, but his team was forced to withdraw from the race.

Qualifying

, who drove for General Financing - Autopaslauga by Pitlane, qualified on pole with best lap time of 1:09.679. Jonas Gelžinis from Juta Racing was second, less than half a second behind Jeroen Bleekemolen. Algirdai Racing Team's Ramūnas Čapkauskas took third position, driving Aquila CR1 prototype.
Qualifying was red-flagged several times. At the end of the first phase of qualifying, Daniel Colembie went off the track and heavily damaged his BMW M4. His JR Motorsports teammate Simas Juodviršis also crashed, this time in top 10 shootout. Team was unable to rebuild both cars before the race, therefore Daniel Colembie and his co-drivers Michael Verhagen and Ward Sluys withdrawn from the race.
Some drivers were unable to improve their lap time due to crash of Simas Juodviršis, as qualification was cancelled early. Defending race winners, Liqui Moly Racing Team Lithuania, did not advance to top 10 shootout: Kazimieras Vasiliauskas qualified in 12th position.

Qualification: Top 10 shootout results

PosClassNoTeamDriversVehicleLap time
1GT52General Financing - Autopaslauga by PitlaneJeroen BleekemolenPorsche Carrera GT3 Cup1:09.679
2GT71Juta-KG Group Jonas GelžinisPorsche Carrera GT3 Cup+0.411
3X17Algirdai Racing TeamRamūnas ČapkauskasAquila SR1+0.477
4GT15Balpol-15min powered by Oktanas Racing Robertas KupčikasPorsche Carrera GT3 Cup+2.165
5X145MOPTRANS-Club PORT by JR MotorsportSimas JuodviršisBMW M4+2.168
6GT8RaceTechMarius Slaboševičius BMW M3 GT2+2.616
7A3000+21Palanga SPA hotel by Qvick Motors Erik QvickBMW M3 GTR+5.509
8GT51Finance Group – GSR Rokas SteponavičiusGinetta G50 GT4+6.754
9D92RIMOMartynas SamuitisBMW 335D+7.462
10X119MOJO Lounge Racing by JR MotorsportDaniel ColembieBMW M4no time

Race

led early stages of the race, as Jonas Gelžinis and Robertas Kupčikas closely followed him in second and third. Ramūnas Čapkauskas retired from the race after only 50 laps due electronic failure of his Aquila CR1 prototype. 70 laps into the race unexpected heavy rain caught many fast drivers, including Dainius Matijošaitis with BMW M4, Edvinas Arkušauskas with BMW E90 EDVA, Marius Steponavičius with BMW M3 GT2 and Arūnas Mrazauskas with Lexus IS-F, who crashed heavily. Only Mrazauskas was able to continue the race after lengthy repairs in pitlane, as all other drivers retired. Due to crashes, safety car was deployed several times.
Rain stopped only 100 laps later. As the race track began to dry, two race-leading Porsches took a gamble and pitted for slick tyres. However, the risk didn't paid off as the rain started to fall again. Both cars stayed on track on slick tyres as Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ignas Gelžinis hoped that the rain will stop soon. However, this was a crucial mistake for Bleekemolen, who missed a breaking point on the wet track and crashed into the barriers. He managed to return to pitlane for repairs, but lost 14 laps and the race lead in the process.
Battle for the lead continued between Juta-KG Group and Balpol-15min powered by Oktanas Racing, as the two teams were separated by only a few seconds during majority of the second part of the race. However, 30 laps until the end of the race Nerijus Dagilis ran out of fuel and was forced to stop at the track. His Porsche was pulled back to pitlane, but after this mistake his team lost 6 laps and all chances to win a race. That left Ignas Gelžinis comfortably in front. For the final stint he handed the car over to Tautvydas Barštys, who easily crossed the finish line in first place. This was first win for Tautvydas Barštys in 1000 kilometrų lenktynės, second win for Ignas Gelžinis, and a record-breaking fifth win for Jonas Gelžinis.
Former Formula 1 drover Michael Bleekemolen and his co-driver Rene Steenmetz was running fifth as the race was coming to an end. However, after mechanical problems with his Renault Clio he was forced to retire from the race when only six laps were remaining. In the process, he dropped to sixth place, as all other drivers were six laps behind.

Race results

Class winners in bold.
PosClassNoTeamDriversVehicleLaps
1GT71Juta-KG Group Jonas Gelžinis
Ignas Gelžinis
Tautvydas Barštys		Porsche Carrera GT3 Cup373
2GT15Balpol-15min powered by Oktanas Racing Nerijus Dagilis
Nemunas Dagilis
Robertas Kupčikas		Porsche Carrera GT3 Cup369
3A3000+21Palanga SPA hotel by Qvick Motors Steve Vanbellingen
Erik Qvick
Dirk Vanrompuy
Tom Vanrompuy		BMW M3 GTR363
4GT51Finance Group – GSRArūnas Granskas
Rokas Steponavičius
Ernesta Globytė
Eugenijus Misiūra		Ginetta G50 GT4352
5A3000+27Bauer Racing Ramūnas Čapkauskas
Linas Adomavičius
Žilvinas Juršys
Tomas Šipkauskas		BMW M3350
6A300025Team Bleekemolen Michael Bleekemolen
Rene Steenmetz		Renault Clio340
7GT5Luktarna Giedrius Notkus
Remigijus Devainis
Yuri Pukhkyy		BMW M3340
8D18ALWARK-Kaukas Kęstutis Binkauskas
Karolis Šikšnelis
Marius Masiulionis
Igoris Ivanovas		Volkswagen Golf334
9GT52General Financing - Autopaslauga by Pitlane Benediktas Vanagas
Jeroen Bleekemolen
Sebastiaan Bleekemolen		Porsche Carrera GT3 Cup333
10A300054Autoverslas Racing Team Valdemaras Zakarauskas
Rimgaudas Statnickas
Andrejus Teras
Vytenis Gulbinas		Audi A4329
11A200055Autoklubas AB ALYTAUS CHEMIJA Karolis Blėdis
Arūnas Lekavičius
Tomas Isiūnas		Renault Clio Sport329
12A200014SIUSKPIGIAU.LT – ZAIBELIS Ignas Palaima
Ignas Brusokas
Mantas Gasiūnas		Honda Integra Type R328
13A200023JP Sport – Transprofus Jonas Pipiras
Mantas Morkis
Jonas Paukštė
Gintaras Morkevičius		Honda Civic Type R328
14GT1Skinest Rail KamineraArūnas Tuma
Tomas Petraitis
Oleg Ossinovski
Mikolai Sobol		BMW M3328
15D36Cor Euser RacingHal Prewitt
Jim Briody
Cor Euser		BMW M3326
16A300024Alfa Romeo klubasRimvydas Agurkis
Giedrius Čenkus
Alminas Malaiška		Alfa Romeo GT326
17A200090MK Technika RallyGintautas Šlepikas
Alfredas Griškonis
Silverijus Lapėnas
Audronis Gulbinas		Honda Civic Type R325
18A3000+53Dynam!:t EnergyMantas Matukaitis
Tadas Aganauskas
Aistė Antanaitytė
Molly Taylor		BMW M3323
19A300089Helios sport – Pirelli Key pointRedas Navalinskas
Vaidotas Mitkus
Karolis Gedgaudas
Artūras Radinis		BMW 325i321
20A3000+10Techninis ProjektasAurimas Šiaulys
Tadas Petronis
Vygandas Urbanas
Mindaugas Urbanas		Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX321
21A300099RednutRene Tunder
Kren Tunder
Kasmar Tunder		BMW 325311
22A3000+58Rotoma RacingRobertas Graudinis
Mindaugas Boguševičius
Linas Vaškys		BMW M3304
23X14Kauno automobilininkų sporto klubasDovilas Čiutelė
Aurimas Mištautas
Conrad Rüdiger
Tomas Šutinis		Lada 2104 Turbo301
24A300033Domus LuminaMantas Jančauskas
Gediminas Vilimas
Mindaugas Liatukas
Kevin Abbring		BMW E36 Compact292
25X168EBMotorsportEgidijus Bulotas
Gediminas Udras		Porsche 968EBR291
26D31AEGN Engineering-Telšių StatybaGiedrius Nomeika
Audrius Kirklys
Gvidas Aukštuolis
Artūras Ežerskis		BMW 120D275
27D81KaukasIgoris Ivanovas
Kęstutis Vilkas
Martynas Giknius
Sigitas Ambrazevičius		Volkswagen Golf253
28X179DFDSDHRAndrew Holland
Michael Holland
David Holland		Ford Zak234
29A3000+20Nero RacingNerijus Malasevičius
Tobbe Söderberg
Kent Persson
Mindaugas Varža		BMW M3224
30D11Sparti reklama Racing TeamRimas Cesiulis
Almantas Sadauskas
Karolis Staniulynas		BMW 120D219
31A3000+77EVO performanceVytas Bilinskas
Kiril Ososov
Martynas Gediminas		Porsche Cayman200
32A200088AUTOMANAIMarius Miškūnas
Mantas Miškūnas
Edvinas Mardosas		Honda Civic196
33GT12Orion Racing TeamRytis Garbaravičius
Marijus Mazuch
Gediminas Ramonas		BMW M3165
34X166Domus Lumina by Samsonasracing.comMartynas Samsonas
Kevin Abbring
Mindaugas Varža
Egidijus Valeiša		Samsonasracing Kit Car135
35A3000+22222Igoris Sidunovas
Linas Puzonas
Eugenijus Misiūra
Audrius Gricius		Volkswagen New Beelte RSI105
36D92RIMORimantas Blažulionis
Saulius Vitkauskas
Martynas Samuitis		BMW 335D104
37GT96Lexus Team LTArtūras Mrazauskas
Dainius Kablys
Darius Baltramiejūnas		Lexus IS-F90
–X145MOPTRANS-Club PORT by JR MotorsportDainius Matijošaitis
Andrius Jasionauskas
Simas Juodviršis		BMW M482
–A3000+8Liqui Moly Racing Team LithuaniaEdvinas Arkušauskas
Justas Tamašauskas
Kazimieras Vasiliauskas		BMW E90 EDVA65
–GT8RaceTechDennis de Groot
Marius Slaboševičius
Džiugas Tovilavičius
Egidijus Valeiša		 BMW M3 GT246
–X17Algirdai Racing TeamRamūnas Čapkauskas
Deividas Jocius
Vytautas Švedas		Aquila SR118
–A3000+19VIPTUNINGArtjoms Koclamazasvili
Elvis Turans
Agris Petrovskis		BMW E9012
NCX119MOJO Lounge Racing by JR MotorsportWard Sluys
Daniel Colembie
Michael Verhagen		BMW M4DNS
NCX144Blue Ghost Racing TeamBenediktas Černauskas
Virginijus Lukšas
Modestas Jakas		Toyota CelicaDNS