In qualifying, the crew of Roman Rusinov and Sergey Afanasyev proved to be the fastest on the G-Drive G01 prototype. But at the start of the race, G-Drive Racing managed to impose a more powerful and faster right-hand Mercedes from the GT Pro class.
Thanks to good tactical decisions, faultless pace and driving, the crew of Rusinov and Afanasyev managed to get back to the leaders at the start of the second hour. Going forward, neither the safety car which drove onto the track twice due to fires from the competitors’ cars, nor the passing of a penalty for breaching the minimum mandatory pit stop time rule, nor the problems with the electricity on the prototype only prevented the G-Drive racers from bringing the four-hour marathon to a victorious end.
The crew of Rusinov and Afanasiev edged the nearest rivals by four laps. In total, the G-Drive Racing prototype covered 101 laps and 590 km of distance over the entire race. In addition to winning the REC Sochi Autodrom 4h overall classification, Rusinov and Afanasiev became the strongest in the CN Pro class and took first place in the Krasnodar Territory Championship, which was held as part of the final round of the REC. At the end of the season, the G-Drive Racing team scored the most points in its category.
Roman Rusinov, G-Drive Racing team driver:
– This victory only from the outside could seem easy. In fact, we had to overcome many difficulties on the way to this success. But in the end we won – to finish the championship in this way, of course, very well. Last season at the REC was productive for us: we won three races in a row in our category and twice became the strongest in the “absolute”. Thank you to the whole team for their work and to our fans for their support!
Alexander Krylov, G-Drive Racing Team Manager:
– In the tenth season, in addition to sports performance, we set ourselves a new task – to implement a targeted program for the development of Russian motorsport. Many years of experience in winning international competitions allow G-Drive Racing to provide all the necessary skills to our future racing engineering specialists. We relied on today’s students and talented college graduates who have spent the entire racing season with the team. Spectator interest in motorsport in Russia is growing, as evidenced by high attendance at car and motorcycle events attended by high-tech fuel brand G-Drive, popularizing motorsport as a culture and way of life . And this symbolic victory in the Russian endurance championship on the Sochi Formula 1 circuit is a great end to the season, but only the start of a major program that will continue to grow.
Source : MatchTV
