REC Stage 2 Results – All Formula 1 News 2023

On July 24, a 4-hour race was held at the Moscow Raceway circuit near Moscow – the second leg of REC 2023. This year, the first two legs of the four-hour marathon were run in the status of a two-stage Moscow Championship. This time 21 crews (53 pilots) went to the start. The race became spectacular with contact battles in the GT class, new entrants and the return of last season’s leaders to the track.

The second leg of the four-hour marathon Russian Endurance Challenge on the Moscow Raceway circuit near Moscow was held this year in the status of the Moscow Grand Prix, and the auto portal AUTO MAIL.RU became the title partner of this leg. A little rain during qualifying couldn’t hurt either the teams or the spectators. Of the 21 teams admitted to the race, all of them started, but unfortunately the spectators did not wait for Marussia B2 number 27 (NRG Motorsport team), who made his debut in the first leg. The crew withdrew the application before the administrative check due to the technical unavailability of the car for the race. But the “favorite” of all spectators returned to service, the updated Marussia GT (crew 7, IYengineering & Mospolytech team).

This race was the debut for several teams in GT Pro and GT class simultaneously: ThugRanch (Chevrolet Corvette crew of 16), Virga Racing (Toyota Supra 34), TeamGaris (Toyota Supra 74), Iskra Motorsport and Balchug Racing (Toyota Supra 37) combined crew.

The main intrigue in the GT Pro class was the rivalry between the two Mercedes GT3 teams of Capital RT (number 13) and Yadro Motorsport (number 48). Despite the “star” crew of 48 (Viktor Shaitar, Alexander Skryabin, Rinat Salikhov), they only finished third on the podium in class due to receiving numerous penalties during the race. Crew 13 (Denis Remenyako, Ivan Samarin) became the class and overall category leader. The only one she could challenge was the Spora GT team (number 63) in a Lamborghini Gallardo, but they only finished second.

Crew 71 on the KTM X-BOW failed again. After slipping on an oil slick, the car skidded into the guardrail. They were able to return to the race, but the podium chances were lost.

According to Alexander Maslennikov, they plan to move from GT Pro to the GT class for the next stage, which technically suits them better.

Marussia GT (crew 7, IYengineering & Mospolytech team) received a number of minor updates, after successfully testing them on the eve of the podium, which together should have significantly improved driving performance. However, already in qualifying, a “floating” error began to appear again, which led to a loss of power, so that only thanks to the professionalism of the pilots (Vitaly Larionov and Georgy Efrosinin) and the efforts of the mechanics, she was able to reach 13th place in the overall standings.

In the most numerous class, GT, it was very hot. Many battles that came about, offensive retirements and returns … In the second half of the race, spectators watched the fight between BMW 98 (Oleg Semenov, Vladimir Atoev) and Toyota Supra 74 (Mikhail Loboda and David Pogosyan), but Mercedes 10 unexpectedly intervened in this dispute (Evgeny Chikinev, Alexey Denisov). Eugene, who was circular, shifted while overtaking and collided with a BMW 98.

Oleg Semyonov’s car suffered significant damage and the crew of 74 took charge. Before they had time to load the BMW onto a tow truck, the “perpetrator” at number 10 took off on the same bend. Viewers of the broadcast could witness an emotional conversation between the two pilots.

After a while, both teams returned to the track, but could no longer claim high places. The GT class winners were Ivan Lukashevich and Anton Nemkin (Motorsharks, Mercedes 83), who returned to the championship after a short break and clearly showed their superiority.

Change of leader in the GT Light class. Unexpectedly, two teams in classic BMWs (OBAGRA Racing Team No. 36 and CLASSIC CAR Racing No. 92) took the lead, pushing the Mazda 53 squad to third place. The race was not very successful for the teams of CLASSIC CAR Racing No. 9 (BMW) and MazdahighPower No. 29 (Mazda) – 19 and 21 respectively in the final protocol.

There were only two participants in the CN class this time. The first place was taken by the already experienced crew 44 (Race and points). 2nd place was taken by Shortcut #43 (Alex Racing Team). There were also technical problems in this class, but it is worth noting that for the 43 crew members it was also a debut in long races and the team gained valuable experience for future competitions.

This year, an extensive entertainment program has been organized for the spectators of the autodrome: a race taxi, track sessions on charged sports cars, guided tours of the team boxes and the race track, a children’s car slalom, a wheelie car, a sky lift in a balloon, a skate zone, a children’s play complex, helicopter rides, as well as a food court and sale of souvenirs. The atmosphere of a sports festival prevailed all day long on the autodrome, many guests did not leave until the award ceremony.

Anastasia Bendikova, director of REC’s general organizer, ANO Sports Club ASPAS: “We were pleasantly surprised by the success of REC’s second leg. According to the competition holding experience, July is not the best month in terms of spectator attention due to the holidays. However, there were no fewer spectators than at the first stage in May, around 4000. In addition, thanks to the Saturday format, the spectators were on average longer than usual on the circuit. We were also pleased with the figures of the online broadcast of the stage – more than 800 thousand views! Now we have the most anticipated stage of the season – the 3rd REC stage at the Igora Drive autodrome as part of the GARAGE FEST festival.

Results of Stage II REC / GRAND PRIX Auto Mail.ru

Overall Leaders

Crew No. 13, Capital Racing Team
Denis Remenyako, Ivan Samarin, Mercedes AMG GT3
(600 hp / max speed 270 km.h)

CLASS CN

1st place #44, Racing and Point
Vereshchagin Vadim, Dobrynina Tatiana, Pugachev Ivan, Sololovov Dmitry, shortcut
(195 hp / max speed 210 km.h)

2nd place #43 Alex Racing Team
Shutemov Alexander, Zhuchkov Daniil, Shortcut (190 hp / max speed 195 km.h)

GT Pro class

1st place Capital Racing Team №13
Denis Remenyako, Ivan Samarin, Mercedes AMG GT3
(600 hp / max speed 270 km.h)

2nd place SPORA GT №63
Simonov Mikhail, Vartanyan Alexander, Borisov Sergey, Lamborghini Gallardo GT3
(560 hp, 280 km/h)

3rd place YADRO Motorsport №48
Rinat Salikhov, Victor Shaitar, Alexander Skryabin, Mercedes AMG GT3
(600 hp / max speed 270 km.h)

GT class

1st place MOTOR SHARKS №83
Nemkin Anton, Lukashevich Ivan, Mercedes AMG GT4
(350 hp / max speed 235 km/h)

2nd place TeamGaris №74
Pogosyan David, Loboda Mikhail, Toyota Supra GT4
(430 hp / max speed 250 km/h)

3rd place Iskra Motorsport №37
Kirill Kirakozov, Andrey Solukovtsev, Toyota RG Supra GT4
(420 hp/max. speed 250 km/h)

GT Light class

1st place OBAGRA Racing Team №36
Agnivin Vladislav, Ramazonov Rustam, Obraztsov Dmitry, BMW M3 E36
(286 hp / max 220 speed 220 km/h)

2nd place CLASSIC CAR Racing №92
Maxim Gordyushkin, Konstantin Kvashnin, Roman Ovsienko, Evgeny Volodin,
BMW E92 (235 hp / max. speed 250 km/h)

3rd place Mazda Karting Academy №53
Smirnov Valery, Baldin Sergey, Gribanov Alexey, MAZDA 3
(200 hp/max 200 km/h)

The next leg will take place on August 5 at the Igora Drive autodrome as part of the GARAGE FEST festival of music and speed.