The first leg of the REC season was held at Moscow Raceway

On Sunday, May 14, a 4-hour race was held on the Moscow Raceway circuit near Moscow – the first leg of the REC 2023 Moscow Grand Prix season. There were 22 crews and 57 drivers at the start in six classes: CN Pro CN, CN, GT Pro, GT, GT light and a special GT Am class for road-ready vehicles.

Of the 23 teams admitted to the competition, only 22 started, as Marussia GT (crew 7, IY engineering & Mospolytech team) suffered significant bodywork damage the day before during the training session, but the driver Vitaly Larionov did not hit injured . The team promises to fully repair the car in the second stage.

However, Sunday’s race was the debut of yet another Marussia – crew number 27 (NRG Motorsport team) started for the first time. The team has gained useful experience, which they will take into account when preparing for the next stage, but for now Marussia B2 occupies the last line.

Not only this team had technical problems that prevented some participants from reaching their full potential. The problem occurred with the class leader in the GT Pro class of crew 63 (Team Spora GT) in a Lamborghini Gallardo. In the first hour of the race, the car was blown off the track into the gravel. The electronics failure prevented the rider from returning to the fight immediately, but after being pushed onto the track, he continued his movement without entering the pits.

Crew 71 on the KTM X-BOW (Team KTM Racing) also experienced serious transmission issues, leading to a retirement, although they placed second among all qualifying competitors, behind only the G-Drive Racing team on the G – 01 sports prototype.

The fiercest duel unfolded in the third hour of the race between the participants in the GT class, speaking on the BMW M4. Oleg Semenov (crew 98, time4bmw) and Stepan Krumilov (crew 126, APRTeam) demonstrated a beautiful battle between two equals and kept the spectators on their toes for many rounds. Despite the faster pace of BMW number 98, Stepan Krumilov was able to overtake the opponent and hold the position.

After the pilot change, the fight continued and Vladimir Atoev (crew 98, time4bmw) took the lead, but unlike Marat Khairov (crew 126, APRTeam), who cleared his segment, Vladimir Atoev received two penalty points at once (for overtaking under yellow flags and for an error while serving), which earned the APRTeam crew second place in the GT class.

Crew 48 (Sergey Stolyarov, Maksim Kizilov, YADRO MOTORSPORT) took first place in the GT class, driving the Mercedes AMG GT4 this season. The expected result after 3rd place in qualifying and even a minor racing incident could not prevent the team from completing the race successfully.

In the GT light class, Mazda took first place at number 53 (Mazda Karting Academy). It is noteworthy that this time the experienced Evgeny Baldin joined the crew, who last season, speaking on another car, could not get on the podium, but in this race he immediately took the lead.

The second crew of the same team, number 29, was less fortunate due to gearbox problems. Two “classic” BMWs also encountered technical problems, although they showed good times along the way.

In the special GT Am class, where they compete in road-trained cars, and the drivers switch with the cars, the winner was the No. 77 double crew, the Iskra Motorsport team (Konstantin Zdorovy, Ilya Gorin).

Crew 21 (BALCHUG RACING TEAM, Mikhail Loboda, Kirill Kirakozov) won in the CN class. After the engine explosion at their main rivals (crew 44, the Race and Point teams), the fate of the top step of the podium was decided ahead of schedule.

Crew 26 (G-Drive Racing team, pilots Roman Rusinov, Vadim Meshcheryakov) became the winner of the race. They showed great pace and well-thought-out tactics throughout the race, securing victory in the CN Pro class and overall.

Many racing hours are always full of challenges, according to the team. For example, this time there was an engine change on the eve of the race and during the races there was a loss of communication with the pits, but neither this nor the fine for crossing the entrance line to the pit lane could deprive them of victory.

This year, the spectators of the autodrome were not only waiting for an exciting race with powerful sports cars, but the organizers also prepared an extensive entertainment program for visitors of all ages: a race taxi, guided tours of the team boxes and along the race track, a car slalom for children, a wheelie car, a sky lift on a hot air balloon and even helicopter rides. The atmosphere of a sports festival prevailed all day long at the autodrome.

Anastasia Bendikova, director of the general organizer of REC, ANO Sportclub ASPAS: “The first leg of REC 2023 went without any problems. We all worked as one team! It turned out to be a real holiday, both for the participants and for the spectators of the race.

Separately, I want to say something about the spectators, because the first leg, according to our estimates, gathered about 4,000 spectators on the circuit and hundreds of thousands of viewers thanks to online and TV broadcasts. In the 2023 season there are already more participants and crews than last year, so the competitions are becoming more and more spectacular. Interest from the sporting community and partners is growing and we are pleased to announce that the next stage will be called Grand Prix Auto Mail.ru.”

Final result of the first leg of the REC 2023 Moscow Grand Prix

General/leader: G-Drive Racing team, crew 26, drivers: Roman Rusinov, Vadim Meshcheryakov

CN PRO class

1st Place – Crew No. 26, G-Drive Racing team (Roman Rusinov, Vadim Meshcheryakov)

2nd Place – Crew No. 18, Zub&Ko Team (Konstantin Zakharevsky, Vitaliy Zubenko, Stanislav Sidoruk)

CN class

1st Place – Crew No. 21, BALCHUG RACING TEAM (Mikhail Loboda, Kirill Kirakozov)

2nd place – crew No. 57, team OUR PLACE (Vladimir Shaposhnikov, Alexander Galakhov, Damir Idiyatulin)

3rd place – crew No. 44, Race and Point team (Vadim Vereshchagin, Tatiana Dobrynina, Ivan Pugachev, Sergey Borisov)

GT class

1st Place – Crew No. 48, Yadro Motorsport Team (Sergey Stolyarov, Maxim Kizilo)

2nd Place – Crew No. 126, APR Racing Team (Marat Khairov, Stepan Krumilov)

3rd Place – Crew No. 98, Time4BMW Team (Oleg Semenov, Vladimir Atoev)

GT PRO class

1st Place – Crew No. 63, SPORA GT Team (Alexander Vartanyan, Michael Belov, Stanislav Aksenov)

2nd Place – Crew No. 23, SPORA GT Team (Ernst Taronishvili, Anton Devyakovich, Elena Aladyeva, Alexey Rybin)

3rd Place – Crew No. 71, KTM Racing Team (Aleksey Goncharov, Alexander Maslennikov)

GT Light class

1st Place – Crew No. 53, Mazda Karting Academy Team (Valery Smirnov, Alexey Gribanov, Sergey Baldin)

2nd Place – Crew No. 36 OBAGRA Racing Team (Vladislav Agnivin, Rustam Ramazonov, Dmitry Obraztsov)

3rd Place – Crew No. 92, Classic Car Racing Team (Maxim Gordyushkin, Konstantin Kvashnin, Roman Ovsienko, Evgeny Volodin)

GT Am class

1st place – crew No. 77, Iskra Motorsport team (Konstantin Zdorovy, Ilya Gorin)

2nd Place – Crew No. 5, Sportcar Racing Team (Nikita Silaev, Shcherbakov Ivan)