The region's largest car and motorcycle circuit race FeltCar Estonian Grand Prix, which will take place on Friday and Saturday, 9 and 10 August at the Porsche Ring in Pärnu, is the only race in Estonia where Hannes Soomer will start, in addition to 20 historic Estonia Formula cars, a Finnish car racing circuit and the Estonian supercar Kalana, which is aiming for a new track record.
"It's going to be a very exciting and varied weekend of racing," said Martin Miilberg, the main organiser of the event. "Practice starts on Thursday, qualifying will take place on Friday, and the same evening we will start with the races, which will run from 10 o'clock in the morning until 8 o'clock in the evening on Saturday. According to the new schedule, there will be no races on Sunday, because there were not many registrations for the Finnish Endurance Championship, which was the main event planned for that day."
The Estonian Grand Prix will be the fourth round of the Estonian Motorcycling Championship and the third round of the Latvian Championship. Hannes Soomer, who won the Superstock class a few weeks ago at the Suzuka 8-hour race with the TONE RT Synedge 4413 BMW team, says that due to a busy schedule, the Estonian Grand Prix is the only chance he will have to race at his home Porsche Ring this year.
"My main goal is to ride in front of the Estonian people and see the fans here. The Estonian Grand Prix is always one of the fiercest events of the season for me, and I'm sure it will be the same this year," said Soomer. He added that the technical mishap of the last IDM stage brought another commitment, however: to test on the BMW the modifications that have not yet been tested in racing conditions.
Hanno Velt, who celebrated his 50th anniversary at the beginning of July, will compete in the Superbike class with number 50 instead of his usual number 11. In addition to the royal Superbike class race, one of the most exciting races will surely be the Superstock 600 class race, where young Vihur Motosport youngsters led by Hugo-Brent Freimann will battle it out with their older counterparts. Freimann, who is competing in this class for the first time, has set the fastest lap time in all classes in several races this year.
For cars, the Estonian Grand Prix is a stage of the Finnish Championship and the Estonian Cup. The latter will bring a record number of historic Formula 1 cars from the recent past to the track. Most of the 20 participants will start with Estonia-made models.
"It's nice to see so many participants at the start of a big event at home," said Sten Suban, a member of the Estonian Motor Sports Association's circuit committee, who also drives the historic Estonian. "Estonia's Formula One cars are an important part of Estonia's technical and sporting history. In Pärnu, the public will have the opportunity to see them in their most natural environment, racing on the circuit."
Last year Tõnis Vanaselja drove his Estonian supercar Oldbac Kalana to a new Porsche Ring record of 1.09,111. This year he is aiming for a new record. The Oldbac Kalana is a two-seater prototype supercar developed by engineers who have grown out of student uniforms in Estonia.
The Finnish championship round includes an exciting Legends car race, with around 30 drivers registered. These are lightweight, motorbike-powered vehicles reminiscent of cars from the 1930s and 1940s, with an acceleration time of 0-100 km/h of around four seconds. In the V8 Thunder class, a dozen Chevrolet V-8-powered silhouette cars with more than 500 horsepower are expected to take to the track.
On Friday, qualifying at the Porsche Ring in Pärnu starts at 14.10 and the first races at 17.55. On Saturday, the races start at 10.00. There will be no races on Sunday according to the updated schedule.
