24h Le Mans
This year’s race sees 60 teams divided into four classes: two for prototypes (LM P1 and LM P2) and two for GT (LM GTE Pro et LM GTE Am). In the run-up to the start of the 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans on 17 June, we will be presenting each team in detail.
SMP RACING (RUS) #27 Dallara P217 - Gibson (LM P2)
Team Principal: Boris Rotenberg
Team Manager: Farida Zadi
Competing since: 2008
Technical director: Olivier Picquenot
Website: www.SMPracing.ru
2016 FIA WEC classification 6th and 8th LM P2 Teams’ Championship (71 and 62 points)
2016 ELMS classification: 3th and 13th LM P2 Teams’ Championship (83 and 10 points)
SMP Racing returned to the World Endurance Championship in 2016 with two BR01s, the #27 for Nicolas Minassian, Maurizio Mediani and David Markozov and the #37 for ex-F1 driver Vitaly Petrov, Kirill Ladygin and Victor Shaytar.
The #27 finished eighth and the #37 was classed sixth thanks to an impressive performance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the crew took third place in LM P2, the first Russian team ever to do so.
SMP Racing also entered the 2016 European Le Mans Series. Two BR01s were present at Silverstone, the #32 for Andrea Wirth, Stefano Coletti and Julien Leal and the #44 for Antonio Giovinazzi, Mitch Evans and Sean Gelael.
The #44 only ran at Silverstone, while the #32 went on to complete a successful season, with two second places at Silverstone and Le Castellet which earned them third place in the championship (83 points). The team also fielded a Ferrari 488 GT3 in the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup, with Aleksey Basov and Viktor Shaytar at the wheel.
It turned out to be a good move as the team was runner-up in the Teams Championship. The Russian outfit also spread its wings beyond endurance, with entries in the GP2 Series, the Auto GP, Formula Renault 3.5 and Formula Renault 2.0.
In 2017, SMP Racing ran a Ferrari 488 GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series for Victor Shaytar, Miguel Molinar and Davide Rigon who drives for AF Corse in the WEC. The team continued in ELMS with a Dallara P217 but skipped the first two rounds, meaning the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be its first outing of the season. The crew will be composed of IndyCar Series driver Mikhaïl Aleshin, Victor Shaytar and Sergey Sirotkin, the third Renault F1 driver.
This will be the fourth Le Mans 24 Hours for the Russian team.
Photo: Frederic TIMORES - esprit-racing.com
