РСКГ

After the qualifying, Alexander Vartanian had 26th position on the starting grid. He demonstrated great results in elimination runs and the semi-final race. Alexander was sixth on the start of the final race but confidently converted this position to the final third place being just one second behind the leader.

The second race of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 was held at the Spanish racetrack MotorLand Aragón. After having a contact with the one of the competitors’ cars the Russian pilot Egor Orudzhev had to go to boxes and finished in the end of the peloton as a result. The series rookie Matevos Isaakyan was 15th to finish the race.

Another round of the competitions was held on the last weekend of April. Nikita Zlobin had secured fifth position before the start of the first Saturday’s race. “All other teams used new tyres in the first race but we had chosen a different tactics and stuck to the old tyres which were in good condition thus saving the new ones for the race on Sunday. It was a rough start and I managed to overtake two competitors straight away. The struggle was keen and rather aggressive. Later, in the course of the race, when I was competing for the second place, I went off the track — I ran into gravel and, unfortunately, got stuck there”.

Silk Way Rally — a famous annual rally raid (Russian Dakar), very popular among racing drivers — will not be held in 2014. This decision made by the organising committee was published on the official site of this event. The race was held with government support but due to considerable expenses and efforts spent for hosting Olympic Games and the preparations for the upcoming Formula 1 Grand Prix, which will be held at the newly built track in Sochi, the international rally raid had to be cancelled.

Last week-end, on March 29–30, the 25th Andrea Margutti Trophy in memory of the young karting driver was held in Lonato (Italy). This competition traditionally attracts a lot of participants from all over the world. Five pilots in the KF Junior class took part in the race under the Russian flag with two of them supported by the SMP Racing programme — Alexander Vartanian and Matvey Maslov.

The Russian Touring Car Series united the “Touring” and “Touring-light” classes to be part of the Russian championship together with “Super-Production” and “National” to define the country cup winner. In the end of 2013 the Russian Automobile Federation (RAF) and the SMP Racing signed the partnership agreement for conducting the Russian Touring Car Championship. One of key goals of the strategic cooperation between the RAF and the SMP Racing is promotion of national motor sports and joint project implementation aimed at raising the level of Russian sports competitions, including their organising and technical aspects. According to the signed agreement, SMP Racing is the official promoter of the Russian Touring Car Championship. Master of sports, director of the “Smolenskoye koltso” (Smolensk ring) racing track, organiser of the Russian rounds of the World Truck Championship Oleg Petrikov is appointed the supervisor of the Series.

Earlier we have told you about selling the legendary Nürburgring track to the new owner due to financial problems experienced by its managing company Nürburgring Automotive. American private equity company H.I.G. Capital was named as the buyer. However, according to updated information, the final owner of the circuit and the near-by territory became the Düsseldorf-based company Capricorn.

Some time ago we invited you to take part in the event dedicated to setting speed records on the ice of Baikal Lake. And now it’s time to give a brief description of the event hoping we can spark the interest of new participants. No doubt, this pastime is not cheap, but on the other hand, it’s a possibility to get a truly unique experience.

The pilots of the SMP Racing Russian Bears team began the season of the International GT Open by clinching victory in the Winter Series. Last week-end two crews of the team secured double victories and stepped on the podium twice following the results of two races. The first round of the International GT Open Winter Series was held on March 1–2 on the Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Castellet, France. The SMP Racing Russian Bears team entered two vehicles for participation in this series — Ferrari 458 Italia with the number 58 (Roman Mavlanov/Daniel Zampieri) and number 59 (Vyacheslav Maleev/José Manuel Pérez-Aicart).

Matvey Maslov, the young participant of the SMR Racing programme which supports and develops the Russian motor sports, stepped on the podium in the new karting season of the European WSK Champions Cup. The first round of the WSK Champions Cup was held on March 1–2 in the south of Italy on the International Circuit La Conca. 66 participants from 22 countries lined up in the KF Junior class. Russia was represented by 12 drivers with two of them participating in the SMP Racing programme — Alexander Vartanyan and Matvey Maslov.

At the northern French port of Le Havre, a transit point for the major part of service vehicles of the most famous rally raid, one of the service Dakar trucks, which was on its way back from the South America to Europe, found to be carrying a huge batch of cocaine. It was here in the port of Le Havre where this detective story unfolded.

You might have guessed that this article refers to the German People's Car and you are probably surprised to see its name side by side to supercars described in our news as it is rather unremarkable from the power-producing point of view. Volkswagen fitted the special version of Beetle hatchback with a turbocharged 560-hp engine and all-wheel drive. The super turbo Beetle is aiming at the American RallyCross Championship.

With an increasing frequency one can see the photos of the first Russian Formula 1 pilot dressed in a suit with the name of the Mercedes-Benz DTM team on it. As it usually happens, there are a lot of rumours and snatches stirred up by mass media before the contract had been signed. While the actual participants of the events give rather weasel answers. But as they say, there is no smoke without fire. Here is what was noted by the Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff.

In 2014 Formula 1 cars will be equipped not only with the new engines but also with the new clamshell. Design is not the major feature here, everything is done for the sake of aerodynamics and speed. For your attention is the Spring/Summer 2014 presentation of the Formula 1 teams.

Rolex 24 at Daytona — one of the most famous races in the world held in Florida (USA) — came to an end. For the first time in its history the Russian SMP Racing team lined up on its starting line. The team entered Ferrari 458 Italia in GTD (GT Daytona) category in cooperation with the American ESM Racing. The crew of the car no. 72 included Mikhail Aleshin, Mika Salo, Maurizio Mediani, Sergey Zlobin, and Boris Rotenberg.