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”.
Nikita’s teammate, Sergey Trofimov, was seventh on the starting grid. “Right after the start of the first race I moved to the sixth place and then later advanced to the fifth place after a penalty given to one of the competitors. Closer to the end of the race I found myself in comfortable conditions, I picked up a good speed and was able to demonstrate great results”. Nikita Zlobin was last on the starting line due to running off to gravel. A change in positions did not prevent Zlobin from attacking his competitors. In the course of the race Nikita managed to go up to the fifth position and kept it till the finish line. “My second race began with the last position on the starting grid. I was sixth for a while, dropped down a little, but then I moved to the fifth position and held it confidently till the finish line. What concerns that drop-down, new car adjustments led to oversteering with bad consequences in one of the turns when I had to “go straight” and bent the suspension making it really difficult to drive”.
Sergey Trofimov started second Saturday’s race wearing the new tyres from the fourth starting position. “I made a slight false start. During the race I made a lot of attacks and went up to the second position but went off the track in the same place as Nikita. After that I had a reasonable early start penalty. Eventually, I came in eighth”.
Sunday’s race was held in the atmosphere of keen struggle and constant change of positions. Both pilots were a bit slow on the start but were demonstrating great results in the course of the race. All in all, the overall results of the weekend are not bad. Apart from getting experience and showing good performance throughout the race, the SMP Racing-supported drivers were able to score championship points.
“Generally, the race went off very well, we are glad with the results. What concerns Nikita, both Saturday’s races turned out to be rich in keen struggle and action. We were doing our best to get on the podium. Nikita is now twice as fast as he used to be. And that is really encouraging. He is eager to climb the podium now and that is why we can forgive some of his mistakes. Sergey Trofimov is growing fast and managed to set his personal record. He lacks some experience so far. No podium today but it’s just a matter of time. The overall series picture looks great. We’ve got the speed and we’ll find a way for everything else”, Victor Shaitar made his comment on the results demonstrated by his teammates.
