The second stage of REC took place at the Moscow Raceway

Last Saturday, the second stage of the Russian REC endurance racing series – the Grand Prix of Moscow – took place at Moscow Raceway.

The four-hour marathon started in the evening, the fight took place at sunset, and the last part took place at dusk under the light of headlights. For the time being, 23 teams were registered for the stage, but due to the equipment and especially the logistics of spare parts, four of them could not start.

Two more teams participating in the race were forced to retire from racing early due to problems that occurred during qualifying: team No. 63 SPORA GT in a Lamborghini Huracan and crew No. 19 RCS in an Audi R8 LMS GT4. As a result, 16 cars entered the start of the marathon.

The main favorite for the start was the Black Thorn team, which achieved a crushing victory on the first stage in May and confirmed the speed of its new Norma M20 prototype in qualifying for the Moscow Grand Prix. The crew of Georgy Efrosinin and Igor Mukhin showed the best lap time and secured pole position.

From the start, Efrosinin confidently began to increase his lead over his pursuers, but 15 minutes into the race the Black Thorn prototype suddenly stopped on the track. The car was towed to the pits, where after some time the team was forced to fix the derailment – electrical problems proved insoluble under racing conditions.

After this drama, first place went to the crew of the Yadro Motorsport team, where this time Maxim Kizilov was paired with the eminent driver Roman Rusinov, who drove a Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the first time in his career. This duo drove the race confidently, all three mandatory pit stops went smoothly and there were no problems with the equipment – as a result, Rusinov and Kizilov not only won the Moscow Grand Prix in the GT Pro class, but also won an unconditional victory in the general classification.

This success allowed Maskim Kizilov, who, by the way, spent about two and a half hours behind the wheel in total, to become a contender for the title of Moscow Long Race Champion 2024 based on the sum of the first two REC stages. But the result has yet to be confirmed by the Moscow Motorsport Federation.

The situation in the GT class is similar. At the debut of the marathon, the lead was taken by the crew of the RSCar Motorsport team in a Mercedes-AMG GT4. But after the first pit stop, the car refused to start – the repair took a long time, more than an hour, after which Vladimir Dragunov, Renat Ibragimov and Vladimir Gurevich lost their chances not only to win in the class, but also to win the class . stage.

Vitaly Larionov and Ivan Shcherbakov celebrated their success in GT in the Porsche Cayman GT4 RS of the Sportcar Racing Team. They managed to complete the entire race without any serious problems and showed a steady pace, allowing them to leave behind two teams in the Toyota Supra GT4: Team Garis and Spora GT.

In GT Pro Touring, a dramatic outcome occurred in the final hour of the marathon, when the confidently leading Audi RS3 LMS of the Kamenskiy Racing team got its right front wheel stuck on the track. Dmitry Gomelkov and Vsevolod Prakhov managed to return to the track after repairs – but already behind the crew of Ilya Larionov and Vladislav Perfilyev in the Seat Leon TCR of the Real Performance team, which won this competition.

The trio of ObAgRa team drivers – Dmitry Obraztsov, Vladislav Agnivin and Rustam Ramazonov – once again drove a near-perfect race behind the wheel of the BMW M3, taking a second consecutive victory in the GT Light class this season.

In the CN class returning to the REC class, Shortcut was the only one competing, so without competition the crew of the Ratata Racing team, consisting of Efim Gantmakher, Alexander Galakhov and Roman Lebedev, celebrated the victory. Despite problems with the brakes that arose during the race, they managed to complete the entire marathon distance.

A class in REC is considered valid if at least three teams participate in the series. Participation in the second stage gave Ratata Racing an advantage over two more teams from the Lap Time team, who already took part in stage III of the REC on Igora Drive on July 27.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the return to REC of two cars that traditionally attract the attention of spectators: the Marussia GT of the IYEngineering&Mospolytech team and the Chevrolet Corvette of the Thug Ranch team. Both teams encountered technical problems, but the crowd was satisfied with their participation in the race, which covered more than half the distance. The Corvette’s return to the track after a breakdown was greeted with applause by the spectators.

On the Marussia GT, the rear right drive connection failed. The car uses a hub and joint from a Ferrari 430 racing car, which has more than 3,600 km on the odometer and is nearing its parts replacement limit. For most sports car parts, the mileage before a scheduled replacement is 4000-6000 km.

The exhaust wave of a Chevrolet Corvette burned out and the escaping fire hit the car’s wiring, causing it to stop on the highway and start smoking.

The third of five stages of the REC will take place on July 27 at the Igora Drive circuit near St. Petersburg – for the second year in a row, the competition of the Russian endurance racing series will be held in the Leningrad region as part of the major festival of speed and music Garage Fest. REC returns to Moscow Raceway in the fall to host the final two rounds of the 2024 season.

Results of the second stage of REC 2024 – Grand Prix of Moscow

Absolute classification

No. 33 YADRO MOTORSPORT (Roman Rusinov, Maxim Kizilov)

Moscow Cup

1. No. 33 YADRO MOTORSPORT (Roman Rusinov, Maxim Kizilov)

2. No. 5 Sportcar Racing Team (Vitaly Larionov, Ivan Shcherbakov)

3. No. 34 Team Garris (Stanislav Aksenov, Eduard Islamov)

GT PRO class

1. No. 33 YADRO MOTORSPORT (Roman Rusinov, Maxim Kizilov)

2. No. 24 Real Performances (Ilya Larionov, Vladislav Perfilyev)

3. No. 55 Kamenskiy Racing (Dmitry Gomelkov, Vsevolod Prakhov, Ivan Stanchin)

GT PRO Touring class

1. No. 24 Real Performances (Ilya Larionov, Vladislav Perfilyev)

2. No. 55 Kamenskiy Racing (Dmitry Gomelkov, Vsevolod Prakhov, Ivan Stanchin)

GT class

1. No. 5 Sportcar Racing Team (Vitaly Larionov, Ivan Shcherbakov)

2. No. 34 Team Garris (Stanislav Aksenov, Eduard Islamov)

3. No. 51 Spora GT (Ernest Taronishvili, Elena Aladeva, Anton Devyakovich, Dmitry Gvazava)

GT Light class

1. No. 36 OPAGRA Racing (Dmitry Obraztsov, Vladislav Agnivin, Rustam Ramazonov)

2. No. 12 Classic Car Racing (Evgeny Freer, Alexey Kutyaev, Alexander Titov, Konstantin Kvashnin)

3. ARENA RACING TEAM No. 93 (Andrey Bimokanov, Artem Sidorets)

Class CN

1. No. 46 RATATA Racing (Efim Gantmakher, Alexander Galakhov, Roman Lebedev)