G-Drive Racing is a Russian sports car racing team. It is named after the commercial fuel distributed by Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of oil giant Gazprom.[1] They made their debut in the LMP2 class of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship in a partnership with Signatech, before quickly rising to prominence, winning three titles in the European Le Mans Series, taking the 2015 WEC title, as well as winning the Asian Le Mans Series twice.[2][3] Over the years, G-Drive ran in conjunction with multiple race teams, including Jota Sport, TDS Racing, Graff Racing, and Algarve Pro Racing.[4][5]
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| Founded | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Base | Moscow, Russia |
| Team principal(s) |
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| Former series | FIA World Endurance Championship European Le Mans Series Asian Le Mans Series IMSA SportsCar Championship Blancpain GT Series |
| Noted drivers |  Mike Conway Olivier Pla Sam Bird Pipo Derani Giedo van der Garde René Rast Ryō Hirakawa Mikkel Jensen Nyck de Vries Roman Rusinov |
| Website | https://www.gdriveracing.com/ |
As a result of regulations imposed by the FIA on Russian competitors in the aftermath of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, G-Drive withdrew from international competition. They currently organise multiple sporting events in Russia.[6] The team opened a rally raid division in 2023 for Roman Rusinov and Anastasiya Nifontova, and the former won the Silk Way Rally in the T3 category the following year.[7][8]
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Racing record
edit24 Hours of Le Mans results
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European Le Mans Series
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Notes
edit- ^ a b G-Drive Racing and Roman Rusinov are Russian, but both competed as neutral competitors using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.[9]
References
edit- ^ "G-Drive withdraws from WEC, Le Mans over FIA's Russia code of conduct". www.motorsport.com. 6 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ G-Drive by Signatech-Nissan
- ^ "G-Drive Racing". NIS Petrol i Gazprom. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ Kilshaw, Jake (14 March 2016). "Hignett (Jota): "The Team is Now Branded as G-Drive Racing" – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ Dagys, John (8 February 2018). "TDS, Graff to Run G-Drive Cars; Rusinov Lineup Receives Dispensation – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ Emma (16 February 2023). "Alexander Krylov: "G-Drive Arena has become a new attraction for Omsk"". Athletistic. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ Nguyen, Justin (26 April 2023). "Roman Rusinov, G-Drive Racing expand into rally raid". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- ^ "«Для меня как специалиста по кольцевым гонкам на «Шелковом Пути» сложность была в том, чтобы не сломать автомобиль» — Русинов" ["For me, as a circuit driver racing on the Silk Way, the difficulty was in not breaking the car" - Rusinov]. Match TV (in Russian). 18 July 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- ^ Lloyd, Daniel; Dagys, John (13 August 2021). "Le Mans Friday Notebook". SportsCar365. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
External links
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