Two SMP Racing crews climbed the podium of the first race of the 2014 season held at the Silverstone Circuit. Two Russian SMP Racing crews won pole positions for the four-hour race of the European Le Mans Series, which was held on April 19th at the Silverstone Circuit in Great Britain. First pole-sitter in the GTE class was car number 72 in the hands of Sergey Zlobin, Viktor Shaitar, and Andrea Bertolini, while the car driven by Kirill Ladygin, Aleksey Basov, and Luca Persiani won the GTC class pole. Based on the results of qualifying, car number 71 with Anton Ladygin, David Markozov, and Olivier Beretta kept it close to their colleagues securing third position.
The start of the race was accompanied by encouraging roar of the British spectators and all four hours of it were spent in the atmosphere of constant struggle and change in positions. The race was full of highlights including a remarkable recovery from the last position and safety cars called on to the circuit at the most inappropriate time. After four hours of keen competition and excellent work of the team, two SMP Racing cars claimed two podium places in the very first race of the 2014 ELMS season. Anton Ladygin, David Markozov, and Olivier Beretta, who were driving car number 73, climbed the second step of the podium in the GTC class, while the car number 72 in the hands of Sergey Zlobin, Viktor Shaitar, and Andrea Bertolini became second in the GTE class.
“We have true fighters in our team who were able to demonstrate excellent performance and I am really proud of them! Qualifying in both classes went on in a calm, confident and professional manner. We’ve made a clear statement that the SMP Racing team was ready for the race and all we were looking for was the start of the race”, SMP Racing Sport Director Sergey Zlobin gave his comment after the race. “There are good grounds for saying that luck is an important factor in motor sports. This time we were out of it several times. One of such misfortunes happened right before the start of the race when we found a lick in the fuel tank of car number 71 which did not allow potential winners to take part in the race. Another one happened when our car, which was in the lead with a 19-second advantage at that time, was pushed off the track by the lapped car making us step down to the second position. But it’s motor racing, everything might happen here. We were out of luck in some aspects this time but let’s see what comes tomorrow. We received many congratulations and it is apparent who the potential winner is”.
World Endurance Championship starts on April 20th at 3:00 PM Moscow time. Based on the results of qualifying, two crews of the Russian SMP Racing team set off to six-hour race from high third and fourth grid positions in the LMP2 class. Kirill Ladygin, Viktor Shaitar, and Anton Ladygin earned third starting position. Right after them, lined-up fourth on the starting grid, is the car driven by their teammates Sergey Zlobin, Nicolas Minassian, and Maurizio Mediani.
