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]

Russia G-Drive Racing
Founded2012
BaseMoscow, Russia
Team principal(s)
  • Alexander Krylov
Former seriesFIA World Endurance Championship
European Le Mans Series
Asian Le Mans Series
IMSA SportsCar Championship
Blancpain GT Series
Noted driversUnited Kingdom Mike Conway
France Olivier Pla
United Kingdom Sam Bird
Brazil Pipo Derani
Netherlands Giedo van der Garde
Germany René Rast
Japan Ryō Hirakawa
Denmark Mikkel Jensen
Netherlands Nyck de Vries
Russia Roman Rusinov
Websitehttps://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]

G-Drive Racing at the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Racing record

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24 Hours of Le Mans results

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Year Entrant Team No. Car Drivers Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2012   Signatech-Nissan Signatech 26 Oreca 03-Nissan   Nelson Panciatici
  Pierre Ragues
  Roman Rusinov
LMP2 351 10th 4th
2013   Delta-ADR Delta-ADR 25 Oreca 03-Nissan   Tor Graves
  Archie Hamilton
  Shinji Nakano
LMP2 101 DNF DNF
  G-Drive Racing 26   Mike Conway
  John Martin
  Roman Rusinov
327 DSQ DSQ
2014   G-Drive Racing OAK Racing 26 Morgan LMP2-Nissan   Julien Canal
  Olivier Pla
  Roman Rusinov
LMP2 120 DNF DNF
  OAK Racing 35 Ligier JS P2-Nissan   Alex Brundle
  Jann Mardenborough
  Mark Shulzhitskiy
354 9th 5th
2015   G-Drive Racing OAK Racing 26 Ligier JS P2-Nissan   Sam Bird
  Julien Canal
  Roman Rusinov
LMP2 358 11th 3rd
28   Pipo Derani
  Ricardo González
  Gustavo Yacamán
354 12th 4th
2016   G-Drive Racing Jota Sport 26 Oreca 05-Nissan   René Rast
  Roman Rusinov
  Will Stevens
LMP2 357 6th 2nd
38 Gibson 015S-Nissan   Jake Dennis
  Simon Dolan
  Giedo van der Garde
222 DNF DNF
2017   G-Drive Racing DragonSpeed 22 Oreca 07-Gibson   José Gutiérrez
  Ryō Hirakawa
  Memo Rojas
LMP2 327 39th 17th
TDS Racing 26   Alex Lynn
  Roman Rusinov
  Pierre Thiriet
20 DNF DNF
2018   G-Drive Racing TDS Racing 26 Oreca 07-Gibson   Andrea Pizzitola
  Roman Rusinov
  Jean-Éric Vergne
LMP2 369 DSQ DSQ
Graff Racing 40   James Allen
  Enzo Guibbert
  José Gutierrez
197 DNF DNF
2019   G-Drive Racing TDS Racing 26 Aurus 01-Gibson   Roman Rusinov
  Job van Uitert
  Jean-Éric Vergne
LMP2 364 11th 6th
2020   G-Drive Racing by Algarve Algarve Pro Racing 16 Aurus 01-Gibson   Ryan Cullen
  Oliver Jarvis
  Nick Tandy
LMP2 105 DNF DNF
  G-Drive Racing TDS Racing 26   Mikkel Jensen
  Roman Rusinov
  Jean-Éric Vergne
367 9th 5th
2021   G-Drive Racing[a] Algarve Pro Racing 25 Aurus 01-Gibson   Rui Andrade
  John Falb
  Roberto Merhi
LMP2 (Pro-Am) 108 DNF DNF
26   Franco Colapinto
  Roman Rusinov[a]
  Nyck de Vries
LMP2 358 12th 7th

European Le Mans Series

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Year Entrant Team Class No Chassis Engine Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pos. Pts
2016   G-Drive Racing Jota Sport LMP2 38 Gibson 015S Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8   Simon Dolan
  Giedo van der Garde
  Harry Tincknell
SIL
1
IMO
2
RBR
3
LEC
5
SPA
5
EST
1
1st 103
2017   G-Drive Racing DragonSpeed LMP2 22 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2L V8   Memo Rojas
  Léo Roussel
  Ryō Hirakawa (rounds 1–2, 5–6)
  Nicolas Minassian (rounds 3–4)
SIL
2
MNZ
1
RBR
2
LEC
2
SPA
2
ALG
4
1st 110
2018   G-Drive Racing TDS Racing LMP2 26 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2L V8   Andrea Pizzitola
  Roman Rusinov
  Alexandre Imperatori (round 1)
  Jean-Éric Vergne (rounds 2–6)
LEC
4
MNZ
1
RBR
1
SIL
1
SPA
12‡
ALG
4
1st 100.25
Graff 40   James Allen
  José Gutiérrez (rounds 1–4)
  Enzo Guibbert (rounds 1–2)
  Garry Findlay (round 4)
  Henning Enqvist (rounds 5–6)
  Julien Falchero (rounds 5–6)
LEC
6
MNZ
Ret
RBR
13
SIL
12
SPA
11‡
ALG
7
12th 15.25
2019   G-Drive Racing TDS Racing LMP2 26 Aurus 01 Gibson GK428 4.2L V8   Roman Rusinov
  Job van Uitert
  Norman Nato (round 1–2)
  Jean-Éric Vergne (rounds 3–6)
LEC
4
MNZ
1
CAT
1
SIL
2
SPA
4
ALG
6
2nd 101
2020   G-Drive Racing TDS Racing LMP2 26 Aurus 01 Gibson GK428 4.2L V8   Mikkel Jensen
  Roman Rusinov
  Nyck de Vries (rounds 1, 4–5)
  Jean-Éric Vergne (round 3)
LEC
2
SPA
Ret
LEC
2
MNZ
Ret
ALG
1
3rd 61
2021   G-Drive Racing Algarve Pro Racing LMP2 25 Aurus 01 Gibson GK428 4.2L V8   Rui Andrade
  John Falb
  Pietro Fittipaldi (round 1)
  Roberto Merhi (rounds 2–4)
  Gustavo Menezes (rounds 5–6)
CAT
7
RBR
3
LEC
10
MNZ
6
SPA
7
ALG
8
6th 42
26   Franco Colapinto
  Roman Rusinov
  Nyck de Vries (rounds 1–3, 5–6)
  Mikkel Jensen (round 4)
CAT
4
RBR
2
LEC
1
MNZ
8
SPA
NC
ALG
5
4th 74

Notes

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  1. ^ 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

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  1. ^ "G-Drive withdraws from WEC, Le Mans over FIA's Russia code of conduct". www.motorsport.com. 6 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  2. ^ G-Drive by Signatech-Nissan
  3. ^ "G-Drive Racing". NIS Petrol i Gazprom. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  4. ^ Kilshaw, Jake (14 March 2016). "Hignett (Jota): "The Team is Now Branded as G-Drive Racing" – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  5. ^ Dagys, John (8 February 2018). "TDS, Graff to Run G-Drive Cars; Rusinov Lineup Receives Dispensation – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  6. ^ Emma (16 February 2023). "Alexander Krylov: "G-Drive Arena has become a new attraction for Omsk"". Athletistic. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  7. ^ Nguyen, Justin (26 April 2023). "Roman Rusinov, G-Drive Racing expand into rally raid". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  8. ^ "«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.
  9. ^ Lloyd, Daniel; Dagys, John (13 August 2021). "Le Mans Friday Notebook". SportsCar365. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
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