On June 1 and 2, spectators will enjoy more than 10 races and a sea of entertainment at the Nizhny Novgorod Ring.
On the first weekend of summer, the Nizhny Novgorod Ring will become a battleground for a hundred of the country's best pilots. Participants in the SMP RCRS Touring series will hold more than a dozen dynamic races at the circuit near Bogorodsk.
Powerful supercars, unique sports prototypes and nostalgic Zhiguli – the Nizhny Novgorod stage of the Russian Championship and Cup will bring together all 7 racing classes.
In addition, spectators will be able to try their hand at driving racing simulators, recharge their batteries at a food truck festival, chat with drivers during an autograph session, and see the teams at work during a walk along the pit lane.
SMP GT4
Supercars Mercedes-AMG GT4 and Toyota Supra can be seen in the world's most prestigious competitions. And in the SMP RSKG Touring series, two dozen 500-horsepower coupes are creating a real sensation! This season, the pilots who take racing as a serious hobby have been joined by athletes with international achievements.
The leader of the tournament at the Nizhny Novgorod stage will be SMP Racing program participant Alexey Nesov (Mercedes-AMG GT4, SMP Motor Sharks), his closest rival Sergey Titarenko (Toyota Supra, X Motorsport Team Garis) also from the professional category. It is all the more interesting that the gentleman driver Sergei Stolyarov (Mercedes-AMG GT4, YADRO Motorsport) not only closes the top three in the overall standings, but is also ahead of the most famous driver of the Russian circuit, Irina Sidorkova (Mercedes-AMG GT4, SMP Racing), albeit by one point. .
SMP TCR RUSSIA
350-horsepower LADA Vesta sedans? There are also such: pilots of the AVTOVAZ factory team successfully fight in them against the best models of the world touring car championship. These include the Audi RS3, Hyundai Elantra and i30, as well as the world new Cupra Leon VZ, which debuted in the Russian circuit racing series.
Vladimir Atoev (Hyundai Elantra, LUKOIL Racing SMP Team) will come to the Nizhny Novgorod Ring as the leader of the championship. Also in the top three most successful drivers are Mikhail Simonov (Cupra Leon, TAIF Motorsport) and Alexander Smolyar (Hyundai i30, LUKOIL Racing SMP Team).
Nizhny Novgorod resident Maxim Turiev (LADA Vesta, LADA Sport ROSNEFT) made his debut in the premier class of the Russian “ring” this year and currently occupies 11th place. The support of his fellow countrymen will come in handy: after the stage at his native circuit, he has a chance to lead the tournament!
SUPER-PRODUCTION
The pilots of the legendary Nizhny Novgorod Sofit Racing Team also have the opportunity to prove themselves. All three traditionally compete in 250-horsepower Subaru BRZ coupes, but so far the best of the “soffits” representatives, Ivan Ovsienko, occupies only 6th place in the tournament table.
And it is headed by Vladimir Sheshenin (LADA Vesta, LECAR), Roman Golikov (Honda Civic, NEVA Motorsport) and Kirill Ladygin (LADA Vesta, LADA Sport ROSNEFT). The leaders' cars are loaded for previous successes, so the drivers of the Nizhny Novgorod team have all the cards in their hands.
SPORTPROTOTYPE CN
The most popular competition of the Russian circuit racing series brings together four dozen sports prototypes – cars built specifically for racing and having no production analogues. Not every track can accommodate such a number of participants at the start at the same time. And if everyone comes to the Nizhny Novgorod Ring, then the pilots on different models will start separately, and the number of races at the stage will increase from 11 to 13!
In any case, the most popular car in this class – Shortcut 527, created by Russian engineers based on the legendary Lotus 7 half a century ago. A quarter of a hundred fast prototypes constantly change places during the race, and five cars enter the turns at once!
Legends cars also attract attention with an unusual look, imitating American racing cars of the 30s and 40s of the last century. And the composition of pilots here is international: pilots perform not only with Russian licenses, but also with Belarusian and Kazakh licenses.
And the French Mitjet 2L prototypes are piloted by young students of the SMP Racing program. In 2022, Konstantin Sugrobov became the winner of the “SMP Racing/Gazprom for Children” project, an all-Russian karting tournament for rental karting fans, and is now in the CN Sportprototype class for the second season. Maria Tyrina also distinguished herself in the karting tournament and last year competed in the NLS touring series, the stages of which take place at the Nizhny Novgorod Ring. Now she has at her disposal the Mitjet prototype, which is more difficult to pilot, but the young pilot is familiar with the track.
SMP HISTORIC CUP
The most sincere class of the SMP RSKG Touring series gathers at the start “Zhiguli” and “Muscovites” of two categories. More powerful 2000+ training cars are capable of challenging modern racing technology, but the best representatives of the democratic Zhiguli 1600 group are also able to impose a fight on them.
In any case, the classic models of the Soviet automobile industry are capable of giving pleasure to both adults and for children – both when they go out on the track and when they stand in the paddock at arm’s length. And the leaders of their competitions will be able to tell about them: Andrei Kozlov and one of the most outrageous pilots of the Russian “ring” Vladimir Cherevan.
TOURING-LITE
Vladimir Cherevan is also a leader in another class, where 200-horsepower modern hatchbacks of popular models are presented. Here he plays for the Nizhny Novgorod team Kuzma’s Mother RT, along with one of the founders of the Nizhny Novgorod Ring, Dmitry Dudarev. So all the attention of local fans in this class will be focused on the two sky-colored Kia Rio X, which are opposed by pilots in the Audi A1, Skoda Fabia, Hyundai Solaris and Volkswagen Polo. And it is at this stage that the premiere of the spectacular MINI Cooper hatchback is expected, which will take to the start of the country’s main races for the first time.
S1600
LADA Granta is better than foreign cars – this conclusion can be made after the first races of the season. After all, the leaders of the class at the Nizhny Novgorod stage will be Nikolai Kalinin and Philip Tuponosov, competing on domestic hatchbacks with a power of about 170 hp. The pilots of the KIA Rio and Hyundai Solaris found themselves in the role of catching up, but will clearly try to take revenge on the first weekend of the summer.
Details about the racing and entertainment program can be found on the racing website.
Three categories of tickets are available: “Standard”, “Comfort” and “Premium”. Children under 14 years of age are admitted to the circuit free of charge, accompanied by adults.
The competitions are broadcast live on TV channels Match TV, Match! Country and Match! Planet.
You can also follow the events at the Nizhny Novgorod Ring on June 1 and 2 on the VK Video platform.
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