SMP Racing became the first Russian team to win a class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015 with a Ferrari 458 Italia thanks to Andrea Bertolini, Viktor Shaytar and Aleksey Basov. At the same time, in LM P2 the Russian outfit had entered two BR01s (BR for Boris Rotenberg, owner of the Russian bank SMP with his brother Arkady) designed by Paolo Catone, who worked on the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP winner at the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans.
This year, the driver line-up with Vitaly Petrov (former F1 driver), Viktor Shaytar (winner in LM GTE Am last year) and Kirill Ladygin claimed the third step on the podium in the LM P2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, his best result in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) this year.
Meanwhile, after the new LM P2 technical regulations go into effect in 2017, the BR01s will no longer be eligible at the 24 Hours, nor in the WEC as of 2018 since next year will be a transition year with both older and new cars.
Boris Rotenberg, President of BR Engineering: "We raised a challenge to ourselves. It was possible to buy a chassis of one of the four manufacturers of LM P2 for a season, also it was possible to leave for good, but we have always chosen our own path. Not necessarily, and not always the easiest, but [this way] is for sure the most interesting and promising. The aim of the project was and remains the development of Russian motorsport, including the technology sector. We invest a lot in support of the Russian drivers to help talented children to start a career in karting and successfully continue it in the GT, prototypes or single-seaters. Our prototype LM P2 BR01 is the first Russian car on the Le Mans podium."
The development of a private LM P1 prototype for 2018 makes sense since Russian engineers will be participating in the program. Indeed, BR Engineering will have its own offices within the headquarters of Dallara, a company led by Andrea Pontremoli, in Parma. The ART Grand Prix outfit, competing in the GP2 and GP3 Series and in DTM, German super-touring championship, will also be involved in the development of the car as it will be responsible for the running of the car, a role filled until now by AF Corse.
While Rebellion Racing has chosen to leave the LM P1 class and move to LM P2, SMP Racing has decided to do the opposite but has not released its plans for the 2017 season.
Quotation from team press release.
Photo: The #37 BR01, entered by Russian team SMP Racing, claimed the third step on the podium in the LM P2 class at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans.