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.
He has already announced the plans for the current year. The major development thrust is to make touring car competitions more spectacular and more open both to the audience and mass media. It will have a positive impact on the popularity of the competitions.
The Russian Touring Car Series (RTCS) is the official name of the touring car competitions in the year 2014. The contract with the new promoter has been signed for the term of three years with possible further extension. The RTCS will continue developing touring sports in Russia. The Russian Racing Championship (RRC) was created in 2012 and followed the Russian Touring Car Championship (RTCC), which was founded back in 2004.
Victor Kiryanov, the President of the RAF, noted that Russian pilots demonstrate excellent results in foreign competitions and it should be supported in every possible way. But it’s the national championship which should become the framework for the development of motor sports. It concerns the touring competitions in particular.
The Touring Car Series will be headed by the young and energetic Oleg Petrikov. Together with being the racing driver, the holder of a master's degree in sports and numerous awards in various Russian and foreign competitions, Oleg has vast managerial experience. Starting from 2009 he has been the chief of the “Smolensk ring” racing track. From 2010 to 2013 he was organising the Russian rounds of the European Truck Racing Championship there. The team of professionals built by Oleg should attain a definite goal — make the RTCS a large-scale, popular, well-organised and open series for the audience and mass media.
What should the audience expect in the 2014 season? First of all, it’s a possibility to visit the RTCS racing week-ends free of charge. It will also be possible to follow the results of the races with the help of live Internet broadcasting. A lot of interesting articles and reviews will be available on the official RTCS web site and its accounts in social networks. Real-time news and interviews from the events will be available.
During some of the racing week-ends, Formula-Russia, MitJet and Legends race cars will join the RTCS. On one of its rounds, the RTCS will become a supporting series of the World Touring Car Championship. This year the Series consists of eight rounds which will be held in five regions of the Russian Federation.
2014 RTCS Calendar:
1 round — May 23–25 —Smolensk ring
2 round — June 6–8 — Moscow Raceway (together with the WTCC)
3 round — June 20–22 — NRING Circuit (Nizhnegorodskoye koltso)
4 round — July 4–6 — Kazanring
5 round — August 1–3 — Kazanring
6 round — August 22–24 — Smolensk ring
7 round — September 5–7 — NRING Circuit
8 round — September 26–28 — Sochi*
*- the final decision will be made when the track is ready. Reserved date and venue — September 19–21 Smolensk ring.
Special attention will be paid to two events. The second RTCS round will be held in the beginning of June on the Moscow Raceway track together with one of the WTCC rounds. The final RTCS round is planned to be held on the autodrome in Sochi during the last September week-end — a few weeks before the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
“The Russian Touring Car Series should become as professional and popular as other global scale competitions. It’s important to inform about the touring racing as many people as possible and turn them to motor sports. In our part, we shall do our best to make the competitions open and spectacular for everyone. We guarantee objective judging to the sportsmen and formed the new jury to take part in all rounds. We shall provide mass media representatives with access to the latest information and press-tours during the rounds. What concerns the audience, the shows will be organised at the highest level”, stated Oleg Petrikov, the supervisor of the RTCS.
