The first leg of the national four-hour marathon of endurance racing Russian Endurance Challenge (REC) will be held at Moscow Raceway on July 24. The most famous pilots take part in the competition: Vitaly Petrov, Sergey Sirotkin, Mikhail Aleshin, Viktor Shaitar, Konstantin Tereshchenko, Alexei Dudukalo, Alexei Basov… Also among the participants is the winner and prizewinner of the 24-hour international endurance race Gabriele Piana.
More than twenty crews and almost fifty pilots have already been called out (the crew is 2-4 people), including female pilots – Tatyana Dobrynina, Arina Sukhanova, Olga Zinchenko. Registrations for entry are still coming in, so the race lineup is sure to expand with new names and teams.
“Endurance racing is a tough competition that requires maximum professionalism from the teams and exceptional skills, physical health and mental stamina from the pilots. In Endurance, many things have to be taken into account to win: each driver’s time on the track, pit runs, wheel changes, local weather forecast, speed. Mathematical calculation is very important: the fastest in such a competition is not necessarily the leader,” says REC General Organizer Igor Ermilin.
The equipment is also expected to be the most diverse: according to the technical regulations, all cars of Russian track sports are allowed, except “formulas”, open-wheel cars. In particular, the debut of two Russian-made BR03 sports prototypes (in the first photo) from the BR Engineering team, as well as the Marussia GT sports car (second photo), is expected to debut. And of course, sports cars, supercars and prototypes from the world’s most famous manufacturers are announced.
The race will take place in one day – starting at 6:30 pm, it will end at 10:30 pm, that is, for almost an hour the pilots will fight for leadership in the dark, with headlights on. Each of the crew members can drive continuously for a minimum of 45 minutes, and no more than two hours in total. During the race, drivers are changed, refueled and tires changed. The struggle is waged for leadership in the classes as well as in the “absolute”.
You can follow the race on the TV Start TV channel, in the Russian Endurance Challenge accounts on social networks – in particular a live broadcast will be organized on the REC Youtube channel – or directly on Moscow Raceway, access is free!
Organizers say the REC Russian Endurance Series continues the best traditions of the World Endurance Series, in which Russia was represented at the highest level until 2022 – the Russians repeatedly climbed the WEC and ELMS podiums. The REC calendar for the 2022 season includes four stages in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and Sochi.
- The marathon Niva Legend, prepared by the Lada Sport Rosleft team, did not reach the podium of the Silk Road, but made its debut with great success, winning several stages.
- “Driving” can now be viewed on RuTube.
The equipment is expected to be the most diverse: according to the regulations, all cars of Russian track sports are allowed, except for the “formulas” …
