The Nizhny Novgorod tower will be remembered for several reasons. This is where the SMP GT4 Russia drivers’ season began, and the new three-race format turned out to be spectacular. A new SMP Time Attack Unlim rating debuted here – and thanks to it, a new record for the Nizhny Novgorod ring was set. Finally, the races of the traditional SMP RCRS G-Drive classes proved to be extremely combative – and around 7,000 spectators who visited the circuit over the weekend witnessed numerous incidents and breakthroughs.
The program of Sunday shows, as well as races, which became part of the Festival of Speed, were not inferior to those on Saturday. Quizzes, raffles, an exhibition of tuning cars, a racing taxi, SMP Racing Esports sim racing, a playground with animators and make-up, food trucks for those who want to recharge their batteries – the arrival of the SMP RSKG G-Drive series has become a holiday for local motorsport fans.
The racing program for the final day of the Festival of Speed featured four races.
Two races took place in the SMP GT4 Russia class at once, and they developed under exciting scenarios. In the first race, Vadim Meshcheryakov (Mercedes-AMG GT4, Rscar Motorsport) started from pole position and won the race, Sergey Stolyarov (Mercedes-AMG GT4, YADRO Motorsport) took second place. Third could be Rinat Salikhov (Mercedes-AMG GT4, YADRO Motorsport) – however, reigning class champion Denis Remenyako ((Mercedes-AMG GT4, MotorSharks Capital RT) became the winner of the international marathons in the penultimate lap – for which he was instantly punished and lost what he thus won in third place. As a result, the bronze went to Anton Nemkin.
The hero of the last SMP GT4 Russia race was Denis Remenyako, who immediately led the pack and crossed the finish line first. It was not easy to do: Danila Ivanov made a similar breakthrough at the start and put serious pressure on the leader in the first part of the distance – and it was only on the last lap that he retired for technical reasons. Anton Nemkin took second place and David Poghosyan, who had just made his supercar class debut in the new Toyota Supra, took bronze.
In the Touring category, Roman Sharapov (Audi RS3 LMS) was the first to start – however, on entering the first corner between him and Zakhar Slutsky (Hyundai i30 N, Lukoil Racing) there was contact which paved the way for Zakhar to the top spot. The LADA Vesta factory drivers finished right behind him: Kirill Ladygin won silver, Mikhail Mityaev – bronze. Vladimir Sheshenin finished fourth and scored an extra point for the fastest lap in the race, but after protest from the TAIF team he dropped to fifth, past Dmitry Bragin, who drives an Audi RS3 LMS. And for that, a penalty of only 0.3 seconds was enough – the finish was incredibly tight!
In Super Production, Irina Sidorkova (Subaru BRZ, Sofit Racing) broke through to the top and outsmarted Ivan Chubarov (LADA Vesta, LADA Sport Rosneft) in the fight for leadership – and a minute later Ivan fell from the list of contenders for the podium: the wheel studs have been cut. Second place went to his teammate Leonid Panfilov, Nikolai Vikhansky (Honda Civic, MEPhI RHHCC RT) took the third step of the podium.
Artem Fridman (Volkswagen Polo, FAS Motorsport) led the pack from the second lap of the Touring Light, starting only eighth! None of the rivals could compare to him: the fastest lap in the race belongs to him. Thus, Artem won the first victory in the G-Drive of the SMP RSKG. The performance of Pyotr Plotnikov (Volkswagen Polo, Lukoil Racing – Rally Academy) was almost as successful – starting side by side with Fridman, he came second and got silver at the finish line. Vladimir Cherevan (Volkswagen Polo, Rally Academy) also made up several places – however, at the end of the race he could not resist Nikolai Karamyshev (Volkswagen Polo, Rally Academy), who gained momentum, and left his teammate move up to the third step of the podium.
The results of Sunday’s S1600 race are preliminary: appeals against the judges’ decisions will be considered. In any case, this should not affect the distribution of prizes: Artem Antonov (Kia Rio X-Line, Innostage – AG Team) and Vasily Vladykin (LADA Granta, GTE RT) started from the third row, but quickly won – Antonov in As a result, he won gold, Vladykin – silver. And Mikhail Dralin (LADA Granta), who started from pole position, didn’t let anyone else advance and stayed in the top three.
Races of all classes were broadcast live on the Match! Country”, “Match Planet” and “”, moreover, Dmitry Guberniev commented on the Sunday races of the Touring and Super-production events on the federal television channel.
The next stage of the G-Drive SMP RSKG will take place at the Kazan Ring Canyon circuit in the capital of Tatarstan. On July 31, Touring, Super Production, S1600 and CN Sport Prototype riders will have 6 races.
Source : MatchTV
