Openkart Makes Third Visit to Šiauliai This Season

On Sunday, the amateur karting series Openkart will hold its next round in Šiauliai, Lithuania, marking the third visit to the city this season. The event will be the 520th Openkart race and the 336th championship round in the series' history.

Since August 2020, Openkart competitors have traveled to Šiauliai 24 times. The upcoming race will be the 13th held at the Bačiūnai kartodrome, the venue where the series' story in Šiauliai originally began. This season, the semifinal format will be used for only the second time. In addition, the track layout will be a new one, as the start-finish straight will feature a shortcut, creating an unprecedented configuration.

The standings ahead of round 13 are available on the official Openkart website, openkart.lv, which serves as the home of these amateur karting competitions.

Sunday's race will be the 57th Openkart championship round held outside Latvia. The tradition of travelling abroad, however, goes back further than Openkart itself. It started in 2003, when the then F1 fan club held its first championship round in Tallinn at the FK Keskus track. Counting the B league and the Traveling Cup competitions, this will be the 71st away Openkart race. When the 36 F1 fan club events are added, the total number of away races for the community over 27 seasons reaches 107.

Andrejs Laipnieks holds the record for most wins in overseas rounds with 13 victories. Krišs Jaunzemis has won five times, while Ivar Strencis, Uldis Galdiņš and Edgars Sproģis have three victories each. Eight drivers have two away-round wins: Dāvis Tobiass, Lauris Rozenvalds, Raivis Kirilovs, Kristaps Grīnieks, Nils Trapāns, Rūdolfs Šmits, Orests Burgailis and Dāvis Zalmanis. A further 13 drivers have each won once.