On the first weekend of May, the Baltic Circuit Championship BaTCC will start on the Riga Bikernieki track. Along with it, the intriguing BMW Turbo CUP race series.
Five stages of the competition will be held in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. As announced by the LIK Racing team, which actively participates in the development of the BMW Turbo CUP class, Markas Šilkūnas, a young Lithuanian talent, is joining the team this season, racing in the Formula 4 European Championship.
According to LIK Racing manager Povilas Bonkevičius, Markas Šilkūnas is a great example of how to reach the heights in autosport:
“After a successful start in karting and victories in international competitions, a historic victory at the FIA Motorsport games, and then stepping into the world of Formula 4, Mark will step on the starting line with us in the BMW Turbo CUP class this year. A lot of speed, fights and emotions await – we can’t wait to start the season together!”.
Missing race weekends? Will fly with BMW
Father Mindaugas Šilkūnas, who bought Mark a racing BMW, speaks frankly:
“Last year, Mark raced 44 weekends on the track (as he competed in both karting championships and Formula 4). This year – only 11. So that they don’t go crazy and think of other activities, we prepared a BMW for the competitive competition.”
M. Šilkūnas says that participating in the BaTCC championship is useful (in terms of experience) and inexpensive, compared to Porsche CUP-type competitions. And the competition is high – 10 fast BMWs piloted by pilots hungry for victories fight for every centimeter on the track.
“We wanted to buy a BMW Turbo CUP so that we could both train with it and take part in competitions. It is true that we will have to miss one stage of the BaTCC because it conflicts with the Formula 4 competition,” said Mark’s father.
It is easy to predict that the BMW of Marko Šilkūnas, which has just arrived in the team’s garage, will stand out on the track in the same way as his bright “Formula 4”.
