Alexei Vasiliev, 32, and Nikolai Fomnko, 42, of Yukos-Freisinger team have secured the title in the N-GT class of the FIA GT championship on a Porsche 969 RSR with two races still remaining to the end of the championship. Individually, the Russian racers are put at 6th and 10th places. They are first Russians to enter the Top 10 N-GT racers. N-GT is a series lasting from April till November at 11 tracks.
"Finally the Russian flag has waved at the international motor racing scene. We have written a Russian page in the history of world motor racing," said Vasiliev who has had over 30,000 kilometers behind his back this season, "the basic thing is that we have overcome the loser complex; we now have confidence and desire to fight for victory now, to which second place in Belgian Spa and a good Le Mans 24-hour race," the Russian pilot told RIA Novosti.
Nikolai Fomenko said FIA GT championship was growing more and more competitive each season and could challenge the Formula 1 as the top motor race.
"In the GT championship, any team can break through, unlike the Formula 1 where everything is fixed," he said. However, Fomenko repeatedly said he would be happy to try the world-best motor race.
Younger Russian pilots have done no worse this season, though.
September 12, 2004 will be a historic date for world motor racing since on this day Russian Roman Rusinov, 23, won the legendary 1,000-km Le Mans Endurance Series for the first time ever.
Rusinov is no stranger to European races, though he is young enough. He was the first Russian to take the title in the Formula Renault international finals. Formula Renault is a series where many future Formula 1 pilots, like Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, have come from. The Russian was also close to the Formula Palmer Audi title, regularly winning races and setting several best-lap records. He also accounts for the ever-first Russian pole position in the F3000.
Driving a sport prototype, Rusinov had won the thrilling 1,000-km Le Mans race, making his latest Le Mans Endurance Series title a next step on the ladder that must lead, Rusinov said, to the Formula 1.
Still younger racers are to enter the ranks in the coming years, who are desperate to outdo their senior fellow countrymen as well as Michael Schumacher himself.
The freshest example is Oscar Paegle, 15, who first has become the first Russian to win Czech Open ICA Intercontinental A carting championship, and then won the Mid-European Cup in this class of vehicles, getting the trophy from the hands of Max Mosley, FIA president and a living legend of world motor racing.
However, progress has been scarce in advancing the Formula 1 track project in this country.
Earlier this autumn, there were reports Ukrainian authorities had approved the plan to build an F1 track near the border with Russia. The Russian city of Belgorod will host a large international conference on the matter, involving Russian and Ukrainian businessmen, as well as Ferrari and Fiat presidents.
A couple of years ago the issue of holding Formula 1 races in Russia was perceived as all but sealed. Setting Russia as the host for one of the Grand Prix 2004 races was even discussed, and this summer the track was considered all but built as Moscow region governor Boris Gromov estimated its cost at $2 billion. The area of 400 hectares was allocated to the north of Moscow in the Dmitrov district but the project lacked investors, without which no contract could be signed.
A couple of years ago a Formula 1 track, called Northern Monaco, was bound for the Nagatino bottomland near the Moskva River (in the southeast part of the Russian capital). The cost of the whole project, including the track itself, and hotels, supermarkets, cafes, and restaurants nearby, was estimated at nearly $600 million. The track was to be over 4 kilometers long, with the speed limit of 311kmph. It was to host the first rate this year but Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov failed to come to agreement with Formula 1 owner Bernie Ecclestone.
For the first time Russians moved to host the F1 was under Leonid Brezhnev's rule because he was fond of motor racing. This was a tall order for those times, and the project was dismissed as Brezhnev died.
The latest Russian-Ukrainian project might well follow in the footsteps of all its predecessors. The most important thing, though, is to ensure that all Russian pilots do not lose their affection for racing in the red-tape swamp. If they don't they will certainly enter the F1 ranks some day.
