Porsche Ring: how the Sauga triangle near Pärnu became a race circuit

In spring 1959 an excavator was working by one of the corners of the Sauga triangle, a road loop near Pärnu. Motorcyclist Hugo Teppand was watching it. A year earlier he had heard from a judge from Tallinn that the course was “too simple”, so together with former racer Ants Martinson, by then an excavator operator, he decided to build an embankment by the new S-shaped corner with their own hands. Three decades later his son Enn turned the same triangle into a circuit on which the Estonian championship was decided in 1992, and in April 2013 a rebuilt complex opened in the village of Papsaare, called Porsche Ring since 2021. The history of the circuit near Pärnu is above all the history of a piece of public road that several generations of drivers stubbornly turned into a racing circuit.

Location	village of Papsaare near Pärnu, Pärnu County (Pärnumaa), Estonia; about 8 km from the town
Type	racing circuit for cars and motorcycles; the complex also includes a rallycross track and an off-road course
Length	3.172 km (rounded to 3.2 km in the operator's description of its offer)
Width	12–14 m
Corners	15, of which 10 left and 5 right
Designers of the current loop	according to the operator, Tarmo Sulger, Andres Hall and Tõnu Soomer
Opened	races on the roads of the Sauga triangle in 1947; first official competition on a loop marked out within the triangle in 1992; rebuilt circuit opened on 27 April 2013
Licence	the operator states an FIA Grade 4 licence; the venue is not on the list of FIA licensed circuits dated 31 March 2026
Fastest lap	1:05.775, Ralf Aron, Kalana, record attempt during the Estonian Grand Prix, 8 August 2026
Operator	Rada OÜ, chairman of the management board Andres Hall
Main events	Estonian Grand Prix; rounds of the Estonian and Baltic championships in car and motorcycle racing
Status	active; season from April to October, in winter events and, when the weather is favourable, driving at weekends

The loop between Audru and Sauga

The circuit's operator traces its tradition back to the 1930s, when races near Pärnu were held on public roads. The press of the period describes one such race on 14 August 1938. The Pärnu branch of the Estonian Motor Club then organised a national motorcycle competition on a loop of roads between Pärnu, Audru and Sauga. The road was closed to traffic for the race, spectators could watch near Sauga manor and partly at the Vana-Pärnu bend, and only those who had first ridden five practice laps were allowed to start. The prizes included 140 kg of petrol. The winner was Eduard Johanson on a BSA, who covered 20 laps of the 2.65 km loop with its sharp corner in 44 minutes and 5 seconds, at an average of 72 km/h.

In reports from July 1947 the course is called the “Sauga triangle” (Sauga kolmnurk). A preview described it as a stretch of the road to Kuressaare, the Sauga bridge and a return to the same road, and the motorcycle competition was prepared by the Pärnu branch of the republic's automobile and motorcycle club, which then had 40 members. A reporter for “Noorte Hääl” reproached the organisers: rain delayed the start, and then another hour was spent looking for the doctor on duty; he admitted, however, that for the Pärnu officials this was their first competition of this kind. The fastest of the seniors, Oskar Kullerkupp from Tallinn, rode at an average of 78.84 km/h.

In 1958 road builders surfaced about 800 m of a sandy and in places dangerous section with asphalt, and improved the corners at the same time. “Spordileht” wrote that races on the triangle had always been watched by thousands of Pärnu residents, and after the competition of 13 and 14 September “Pärnu Kommunist” called the triangle one of the most popular courses, alongside the Pirita–Kose–Kloostrimetsa loop in Tallinn. Over those two days 11 course records fell, and master of sport Vambola Helm covered the lap of 2 km and 715.37 m on a 350 cc motorcycle in 1 minute and 38 seconds, at an average of 99.74 km/h. In June 1959 the programme of the all-Union championship in multi-day car driving, starting and finishing in Pärnu, included speed tests on the triangle at the beginning and at the end of a 2500-kilometre route over the roads of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Cars raced here too. In July 1965 the triangle hosted the final round of the Estonian SSR championship in car and motorcycle racing. Eight riders entered in the 500 cc motorcycle class, all from Pärnu, and Hugo Teppand won; in the class of formula cars up to 1.5 litres the best was Jaan Küünemäe in a racing Wartburg from the GDR. The winner among the 500 cc sidecar outfits, master of sport Valdur Ploom, complained in the same newspaper that the course was better suited to figure driving than to racing, and that the surface was not in order.

Mopeds, a minister and the “Turbo” cooperative

In May 1977 the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Estonian SSR, Bruno Saul, told a republic-wide conference in Tallinn that the Sauga triangle, like the Vana-Võidu circuit in Viljandi, needed improvements, and that the “first need” of racing drivers was a closed circuit. There was no such circuit. In 1983 children and teenagers raced mopeds on the triangle, and two years later the press wrote that this former venue of moped races was being rebuilt. As was explained in 1990, the roads of the triangle were rebuilt in 1986 on the basis of a major repair design, with the consent of the Council of Ministers, with the intention that motor sport competitions could also be held on them; the repair of 1.4 km of the road to Papsaare alone cost about 600,000 roubles.

In September 1989 the triangle got new asphalt, and Estonia got its first circuit car races since 1978. “Pärnu Ring 89” was an exhibition event outside the calendar, but with high prize money and a whole table of special prizes. “What the «relevant authorities» could not cope with in three decades, four people from the «Turbo» cooperative coped with in three weeks,” wrote “Maaleht” correspondent Tõnu Kann. The prize pool, 28,000 roubles, provoked one of the Estonian drivers to remark that for that kind of money he could race even in a potato field. The idea had been in the head of Enn Teppand, Hugo's son, for years, and he founded the “Pärnu Ring” cooperative for the cause. Before the second exhibition, in August 1990, a special section was added to the triangle; thousands of spectators watched the competition, and Toivo Asmer won the Formula 1600 class. In the same year the county governor handed state land over to the Audru municipality for use as a circuit.

Not everyone was pleased. In September 1990, 21 families from the village of Papsaare protested against the races: during competitions they could not drive out of their homes, fans parked in their yards, and the noise added to the noise that already carried from the runway of the nearby airport. During the dispute it came to light that the “Sauga circuit” did not formally exist, because on paper it was still public roads. The village council in Audru nevertheless upheld its consent to the competitions.

By September 1992 a loop 2.3 km long was already in operation within the triangle, completed on the Wednesday before the competition. A round of the Estonian championship for cars and motorcycles was held on it, the first official competition on this loop; Urmas Uusneem took the title in Formula 1600, and Toivo Asmer went off the track and came to a stop just short of a power line pole. The winner of the superbike class, Jüri Raudsik, counted on it now being possible to train at home: an hour on the circuit in Riga cost 60 dollars, “and that's too expensive”.

Estring and the bypass

In 2001 the circuit changed its appearance, and in the following years it went by the name Estring; Enn Teppand, as chief organiser, brought races of the Baltic states and Eastern Europe here. There was no money for major investment, and the biggest worry in 2002 was the Nurme road, churned up in winter by timber lorries. The circuit, which gradually grew out of the Sauga triangle, was designed and built by Enn Teppand, and from 1995 to 2009 the venue was managed by Eiki Eriste's company Erki Sport.

In autumn 2009 the Audru municipality announced a competition for a 50-year building right to the circuit grounds. It was won by the A2 Racing club, headed by 31-year-old Andres Hall, previously a driver in the Super 1600 class for six years. The committee included, among others, Toivo Asmer, and the outcome was decided by A2 Racing's rent offer, which was more favourable to the municipality. Hall later explained that two things made the project possible: a new bypass, thanks to which the road running through the circuit could be incorporated into a closed loop, and a development plan prepared earlier by Erki Sport. In February 2011 the Ettevõtluse Arendamise Sihtasutus (EAS) foundation granted more than 3.19 million euros of EU funds for the rebuild, with an own contribution of 27.5 per cent, or about 1.4 million euros.

The excavators of Lemminkäinen Eesti moved onto the site in November 2011. At the time a loop 3.3 km long meeting FIA Grade 2 safety requirements was planned. Enn Teppand presented his own ideas for changes, but Hall replied that with a budget close to five million euros they could not be carried out, whereas with an amount ten times larger there would be no problem. The fast corner of the old circuit was from then on to bear the name of motorcyclist Hanno Velt.

Old corners, new asphalt

At the end of August 2012 about 50 sports cars from Sweden, Finland, Russia, Latvia and Estonia drove round the almost finished circuit; nobody measured times. Olari Vokk from the management board of Auto 100, the organiser's Estonian partner, said these were enthusiasts who use their cars mainly on circuits, because on public roads the rules do not allow it. Estonian formula racing driver Sten Pentus called Audru “an ideal short circuit 3.2 km long”. The first official competition on the rebuilt venue, a round of the Estonian motorcycle championship, took place on 1 and 2 September 2012. Hanno Velt, one of the first to ride the new circuit on a motorcycle, praised the fact that the lines through the old corners had stayed similar, while speeds in them had risen markedly. About the new section he spoke more cautiously:

“The corner after the start is blind and a bit frightening, probably difficult for many at first; you have to get used to when to lift off the throttle.”

The official opening took place on 27 April 2013. According to ERR the rebuild cost almost six million euros. The president of the Estonian Autosport Union, Ari Vatanen, said he was “truly proud” that Estonia had the most modern circuit in this part of Europe, and Andres Hall admitted that the difficulties had turned out to be “an order of magnitude more” than he had assumed. From 8 March 2013 the venue was called auto24ring, under a ten-year sponsorship agreement with the motoring classifieds portal auto24.ee. ERR wrote at the time that by FIA parameters it was a Grade 3 circuit, and Hall explained that Formula 1 cars and LMP prototypes would not be able to race here, but GT cars and Formula 3 cars would.

According to the operator, today's loop is 3,172 m long and has 15 corners, of which the first and the last have negative camber; the operator names the Velt Motocentri corner as the fastest. In 2014 a round of the Finnish championship was held here, as well as races of the Renault Clio and Formula Renault 1.6 classes supporting the Swedish STCC series; the STCC touring cars themselves were not brought to Estonia. In 2017 the Audru municipality put the circuit land up for sale. For the building right it was receiving 13,500 euros a year, and the starting price, 260,000 euros, was set so as to recover 20 years of rent at once. The highest bid, 521,000 euros, came from the company Inkasso24, but A2 Racing exercised its right of first refusal and bought the venue. After the agreement with auto24 expired, Porsche's representative in Estonia, the company Auto 100, signed a five-year naming agreement for the circuit on 9 August 2021: since that day it has been Porsche Ring.

On 8 August 2026, during the Estonian Grand Prix, Ralf Aron completed a lap in 1:05.775 at the wheel of the Kalana, a car built by Tõnis Vanaselja with his team of Estonian engineers; “Postimees” called it a new lap record. The operator lists the result as a record attempt, separately from race records.

Noise, petitions and corner number 6

Complaints about noise returned after the new circuit opened. As early as 2014 the municipality acknowledged that noise complaints were coming in, and the municipal mayor Siim Suursild wondered whether the starts of 1200 cc motorcycles could be spread out over time or moved to other times of day. In 2020 two initiatives appeared on a petition website at once. Opponents of the circuit wrote that Pärnu, the “summer capital”, had become the “noise capital”. Supporters argued that there was no other circuit in the country where an ordinary road-legal car or motorcycle could reach the speed permitted on the highway and practise braking from it. From the 2020 season the operator lowered the static test limit from 108 to 105 dB(A) and added about 5,000 m³ of soil to the noise protection embankments. In 2021 the Chancellor of Justice, Ülle Madise, reprimanded the Pärnu authorities for not having answered, within a reasonable time and on the substance, a resident who had asked for an explanation of the results of noise measurements from the circuit.

On 1 June 2024, during a practice day organised by the Lithuanian company CR Moto before a round of the Estonian and Baltic championships, 39-year-old Latvian motorcyclist Juris Apinis was killed. He went off the track near corner number 6 and onto a grass area that ended in a drainage ditch, behind which stood a concrete wall and a stack of tyres. Andres Hall, chairman of Rada OÜ, the company that runs the circuit, said it was the first fatal accident in its history, and the Estonian Motorcycling Federation considered it a coincidence of several unfavourable circumstances. The ditch was removed, and in July rider Raido Leenpalu described the run-off areas of the corners as now covered with soft, loosened fine gravel instead of turf.

In your own car at Porsche Ring

An amateur needs neither an organiser nor a booking here. The operator lets private cars and motorcycles onto the circuit on every opening day without an event; apart from special evenings, the day is divided into 30-minute sessions, separately for motorcycles and for cars, and drifting is prohibited. You have to register as a customer, turn up and pay. On the access date a session cost 25 euros, a day ticket from Monday to Friday 75 euros, and at weekends and on public holidays 120 euros; quieter cars, up to 98 dB in the static test, paid 75 euros at weekends. The prices include VAT. The 2026 season started on 18 April; from 28 September to 25 October the circuit is open only on Saturdays and Sundays, and in winter for events and, when the weather allows, at weekends.

The rules in force since 2013 require a road-legal car or one that meets the technical regulations of the Estonian car and motorcycle sport federations, a driving licence or a racing licence, helmets and fastened seatbelts for everyone in the car (there may be one passenger), clothing with long sleeves and long trouser legs, a front towing eye, working lights and two mirrors. Studded tyres are prohibited, as is driving onto the circuit with quads, lorries and vans. A car's noise is measured 0.5 m from the exhaust outlet, at an angle of 45°, at 6000 rpm: the limit is 105 dB(A), and 113 dB(A) during a pass-by; anyone who exceeds it gets the black flag. According to the operator's website, during the season, from June to November, Thursday evenings from 17:00 to 20:00 are reserved for customers' cars, unless the circuit has been hired out.

Open Track began right here in Audru: the first one took place here in autumn 2002. It is a non-profit undertaking run by Avo Elme and Peep Pihotalo, in which lap times are measured only so that the driver knows what works. For the 76th edition, on 16 August 2026, at most 60 cars could take to the track, and the fee for early registration was 220 euros. Since 2020 there has been the amateur Best Lap cup, in which the lap time counts; in 2026 two of its four rounds were held at Porsche Ring. The least serious-looking is Mannergute Mõõduvõtt, a team endurance drive in cars under 1500 kg, won by the most even pace, in which a lap faster than 1:27.000 on the dry configuration called Mannerguring means exceeding the permitted speed.

The operator begins its crib sheet for drivers with the sentence that on the first laps there is no need to try to break the lap record; instead, start calmly and raise the pace gradually. It ends with a request to read everything once more, “because life has shown that this is often necessary. Otherwise it does not stick in the memory”.

Timeline

• 1938: on 14 August a motorcycle race on the Pärnu–Audru–Sauga loop, won by Eduard Johanson.
• 1947: motorcycle competition on the so-called Sauga triangle.
• 1958: asphalt on the sandy section of the triangle; 11 course records in September.
• 1959: Hugo Teppand begins building an S-shaped corner with his own hands.
• 1965: the Estonian SSR championship in car and motorcycle racing ends on the triangle.
• 1986: the roads of the triangle rebuilt with competitions in mind.
• 1989: the “Pärnu Ring 89” exhibition, the first circuit car races in Estonia since 1978.
• 1992: a 2.3 km loop and the first official Estonian championship competition.
• 2002: the first Open Track in Audru.
• 2009: Andres Hall's A2 Racing wins the competition for a 50-year building right.
• 2011: EAS grant and start of the rebuild.
• 2012: on 1–2 September the first competition on the rebuilt circuit.
• 2013: on 8 March the name auto24ring, on 27 April the official opening.
• 2017: A2 Racing buys the circuit land from the Audru municipality.
• 2020: a lower noise limit and two petitions, for closing and for keeping the circuit.
• 2021: on 9 August the name Porsche Ring.
• 2024: on 1 June the death of Juris Apinis; the run-off areas rebuilt.
• 2026: on 8 August Ralf Aron completes a lap in 1:05.775.