Records and Premieres: The Great Race on Igora Drive

More than forty cars will line up at the start of the third leg of the Russian Endurance Racing Series (REC), which will take place on July 27 at the Igora Drive circuit near St. Petersburg.

The third stage of the 2024 season will be held as part of the GARAGE FEST festival of speed and music. The race will not only be central because of its position on the calendar, which marks the equator of the championship, but also because of its historical significance for national motorsport: around forty-five teams are expected to start the four-hour marathon. This has never happened before in domestic endurance racing.

The race will be attended by teams running a wide range of vehicles – from modified cars in the GT Light class, where bodies from Mazda 3 to Mini Cooper are presented, and relatively simply designed domestic Shortcuts, to powerful GT cars and fast sports prototypes.

The main premiere of the podium will be the debut of the new domestic sports car Rossa LM GT. The mid-engined car with a carbon monocoque was assembled in Russia and will debut in the race. The driver will be the pilot and head of the G-Drive Rossa Racing team, champion and winner of many international endurance races Roman Rusinov, who recently celebrated his victory in the Silk Way rally raid.

For the first time, the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 will compete in Russian competitions. The British sports car will be displayed alongside Mercedes-AMG by the Yadro Motorsport team, which won the previous REC round at Moscow Raceway.

The Capital Racing Team squad, which won last year’s marathon at the Igora Drive circuit in a stubborn and dramatic battle with G-Drive Racing, will be at the start in Mercedes AMG with two teams from two different classes: GT Pro and GT (GT3 and GT4 cars).

Of course, the Marussia GT will start again. The team of IYengineering & Mospolytech expects further progress with technical updates to the machine, which showed themselves well in the previous phase.

The increase in the number of participants in the fastest class of prototypes, CN Pro, which was promised at the beginning of the season, is expected: three French Ligiers, the English Norma, which won the first race of the season, and the Mitjet which has joined them, are expected to compete. The confrontation between fast prototypes and powerful GT3 cars will once again be the main intrigue of the marathon in the battle for victory in the general classification. However, a stubborn and uncompromising battle is expected in all classes.

In the domestic endurance races, teams from Moscow dominate, but a crew from the Novorossiysk ARENA Racing Team is also represented, and in the third stage of the series there will be a noticeable increase in teams from St. Petersburg. The powerful #15 Chevrolet Corvette of Thug Ranch is also on the entry list.

In addition to Roman Rusinov, it is worth noting that Russian pilots who have repeatedly participated and stood on the podium of international series, such as Denis Remenyako, Rinat Salikhov, Marat Khayrov and others, are taking part in the race.

Igor Ermilinfounder of the Russian Endurance Racing Series: “In the upcoming stage, we face a challenge related to the fact that there are more crews than boxes on the track. The organizers of the most prestigious and popular marathons in the world are forced to solve the same problem – and in this sense it is an honor for us to be in a similar position.

Of course, we are still a long way off from the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, where the organisers place four teams in each box, but at Igora Drive, more than twice as many teams are expected as there are boxes on the circuit, and the number of participants is already close to the track limit of forty-eight cars on the starting grid.”

Roman Rusinovracing driver and project director of G-Drive Rossa Racing: “My entire career I have driven foreign-made racing cars, but at the same time I have been actively involved in the process of refining and improving them. This experience has helped me enormously in creating a racing car that will take to the grid for the first time on the REC stage as part of the GARAGE FEST festival.

Over the years, this event has become a very important event for Russian motorsport. Going to the start of the marathon with our brand new car is a serious challenge. There is very little time left for the race, but I am sure that we will succeed and the Rossa GT LM will become a real decoration of GARAGE FEST.”

The upcoming race will be a real challenge for the participants and the spectators will be guaranteed a beautiful, lively and exciting action during the four hours of the marathon. This will be a very big race! Start – July 27 at 15:00. Tickets for the third stage of REC and the GARAGE FEST festival can be purchased on the Rosgonok website.