Smashed supercars, splashes of prize champagne and delight of the audience – the SMP RCRS Speed Festival at the Igora Drive circuit will be remembered for a long time.
The final day of the super stage of the G-Drive series of the SMP RSKG Touring marked the equator of the season. Races at the Igora Drive circuit turned out to be combative: the pilots have less and less opportunities to change their position in the championship and the Russian Cup. None of the six races on Sunday were without contacts – and some had to be suspended due to massive accidents.
Oleg PETRIKOV, head of the Russian motorsport development program SMP Racing:
«About 5,000 spectators visited the Speed Festival of the SMP RSKG on the track in the Leningrad Region. A show program, a tuning car competition, entertainment for children, and a series of dynamic races performed by 103 pilots in 8-class cars were waiting for them.
On Saturday, almost all the races were rained, on Sunday it was dry – there were enough bright events in each race. The broadcasts were conducted by the channels of the Match TV group, the recordings are available on the VK Video platform. And next week, Match TV will show review programs – don't miss it!“.
SMP GT4 RUSSIA
On Sunday, two supercar races took place at once. Daytime check-in made me remember the drama that unfolded here a year ago. Like last time, Ilya Gorbatsky on the Porsche 718 Cayman and Andrey Solukovtsev on the KTM X-Bow collided. And the third car that suffered in the accident was again the Mercedes-AMG GT4, this time driven by Maxim Kizilov.
p>Rinat Salikhov became the winner of the race, Vadim Meshcheryakov won silver (both in Mercedes-AMG GT4). And the third result of Denis Remenyako was annulled by the judges due to the low landing of his Mercedes – and the bronze went to Sergey Titarenko, who drives a Toyota Supra.
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The evening race in this class passed without serious accidents – even Denis Remenyako and Vadim Meshcheryakov, who fought for the highest places, after the collision were able to continue the fight, although at the end of the back of the field. Anton Nemkin was also able to complete the race in a damaged car. But the main characters of the race were Danila Ivanov, who won, Sergei Stolyarov, who made an equally impressive breakthrough, and the same Sergei Titarenko, whose Toyota again joined the rivals' Mercedes.
SMP TCR RUSSIA (Touring)
Here the main stars were the pilots who started from the end of the back of the field. Dmitry Bragin (Cupra Leon) had enough first lap to break from eighth place to third – and a couple more to take the lead and secure another victory. Alexander Smolyar (Hyundai i30 N) won the same number of positions: starting ninth, he finished the race with a silver medal. The top three winners were closed by the owner of the reverse pole Pavel Kalmanovich, who due to tire wear by the end of the race was forced to slow down and let his rivals go ahead. The best of the Ladakh pilots this time is Vladimir Sheshenin: at the finish line he kept his starting fourth position. But Rustam Fatkhutdinov, who finished the race in fifth place, lost points: his Audi RS3 was 4 kilograms lighter than it should be, and Vladimir Atoev (Hyundai Elantra) closed the top five.
SPORTPROTOTYPE CN
On the very first lap of the Sunday race, a mass accident occurs, in which 3 Shortkats, Mitjet and Legend were injured at once! After the restart of the race, the struggle of the leaders resumes – and Andrey Gromov is the first to cross the finish line. But the judges take away the victory from him for a false start – and Kirill Kirakozov becomes the victor, who is ahead of the silver medalist Alexei Khairov by hundredths of a second. Alexander Dudarev – bronze medalist.
These same Shortcut pilots were honored in the G-Drive Cup Partner Score, the brand of high-tech fuel that everyone runs on auto races, however, in a different sequence: Alexander Dudarev became the best in the sum of two races, Kirill Kirakozov took the second place, and Alexei Khairov took the third.
Of the pilots on the Mitjet, this time only Semyon Kharchenko reached the finish line. The top three winners in the Legends 600 standings look like this: Sergey Lapitsky, Vladimir Gorlach, Efim Lev.
SUPER-PRODUCTION
Maxim Turiev (LADA Vesta) took the lead, taking advantage of the struggle of his rivals. Roman Golikov (Honda Civic) was able to defend the second position from the attacks of Leonid Panfilov (LADA Vesta), who became the bronze medalist.
TOURING-LIGHT
The start of the Sunday race was remembered by Alexey Savin's turn, after which the pilots could claim the leadership exclusively on cars with turbo engines. Nikolai Karamyshev on the Audi A1 was able to break into first place. Andrey Petukhov (Skoda Fabia), who was in the lead for most of the race, could not repel the decisive attack and was content with the silver medal. Stas Novikov won bronze in the latest Audi A1.
S1600
The top three winners changed after the finish. Nobody disputed the victory of Daniil Kharashun, but Artem Antonov (both on Kia Rio X) lost the second place due to a false start – and the silver went to Timofey Buyanov (Kia Rio), and the bronze went to Mikhail Dralin (LADA Granta).
SMP HISTORIC CUP
The leaders of the fastest group 2000+ started from the end of the back of the field – however, this did not prevent Vladimir Cherevanyan from VAZ-2101 from winning the race, and Dmitry Kozlov from Moskvich-408IE becoming the second. The third this time was Andrey Artyushin on the VAZ-2101.In the Zhiguli1600 category Andrey Kozlov (VAZ-2105) beat Igor Shunailov (VAZ-2101) with a minimal advantage. The bronze medal went to Denis Kirillov (VAZ-2105).
Regardless of the class, all racing vehicles are filled with high-tech G-Drive fuel from the Gazpromneft filling station network. And its quality control is provided by an independent mobile laboratory. Before the race, the guests could watch how experts take fuel samples from the cars of the participants. Moreover, there was an opportunity to look inside the laboratory and find out how the gasoline testing process takes place – in less than half an hour, an employee analyzes 10 important fuel quality indicators using modern equipment.
Also, together with the Gazprom Neft gas station network, a collection of tires was organized – used tires were sent for recycling as part of the Green is the New Black project. And this means that the collected tires will not harm the environment and will be used in the creation of coatings for playgrounds.
G-Drive The Russian circuit racing series is entering the finish line. The next of the four remaining stages will take place at the circuit Nizhny Novgorod Ring” on July 29-30 and will bring together drivers of all classifications – with the exception of SMP GT4 Russia.
You can learn more and buy a ticket on the website of the Festival of Speed G-Drive SMP RSKG. Children under 14 accompanied by an adult are admitted free.
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