The French team of Jérémy Brisset, Quentin Dailly and Romuald Kauffmann had arrived in Augustów, Poland with the intention of retaining their UIM World Championship title and that was precisely what they achieved.

Day two of the 2022 Orlen Necko UIM World Circuit Endurance Championship still saw some of the teams facing technical issues. The Polish-Lithuanian team of Toma Racing Team started the second six-hour stint well and maintained second position during the first two hours of the race, much to the delight of the Polish fans. Unfortunately, later in the day though they dropped out because of an engine cooling issue.

The Phoenix Racing Team also struggled when they lost their powered trim. This time the podium was beyond their reach.

Also struggling to finish the day were the Viking Inshore Team who crashed out half an hour before the end.

Out in front from the very first hour though were the Latvian-Estonian team of Nils Slakteris and Stefan Árand. When Slakteris got behind the wheel his first task was putting the misfortune of the previous day’s crash behind him. Now his goal was to drive confidently and calmly while maintaining first position lead that Árand had built up. The pair who raced flawlessly and deservedly took the top step on the podium. With the points they had earned from the second six-hour race added to those they collected the previous day it meant that they would collect the bronze medal.

The competition was not easy because to keep the first place I had to fight until the very last second. Even until the chequered flag I had to keep my attention and fight for positions on the track. I’m disappointed for the failure of the first day, but I am sure that it will give us as a team an impetus to compete next year.

When Árand spoke to PRW he said

I am incredibly grateful that I was invited to participate in this competition because the team works very professionally, and I feel a lot of support. This was the first time that a driver from Estonia has participated in the endurance race, and I am incredibly proud that I could stand on the podium with my Latvian colleague in this competition. It was definitely a challenge but an experience I am thankful I got to have, plus with just the two of us out there both of us got a lot more valuable seat time.

Following the detailed UIM technical inspection at the conclusion of the event, which all boats passed, second place for Team Boat 99 gave them enough points to regain their world title. The Arion Racing Team secured the silver medal, reaching the podium for a fourth successive season.

A delighted Jérémy Brisset from Team Boat 99 told PRW

This year it wasn’t easy because the competitors have made a lot of progress and the level is now high. We were able to win the first race on Saturday which allowed us to master the Sunday race more easily for the general classification. All the strategies put in place went as planned in particular the team did a great job on the refuelling part, which allowed us drivers to save a lot of time on the circuit.

He concluded by saying

We are happy to keep our title and will continue to work for 2023.

Images by Arek Rejs and Marcin Kociucki