This year’s FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC) came to a close on 21 November with car 26, driven by the Russian G-Drive Racing team and sponsored by the Gazprom Neft G-Drive premium fuels brand, winning the final race of the season, “Six Hours of Bahrain”, and taking Roman Rusinov, Sam Bird and Julien Canal to the top of the rankings for the LMP2 class across all stages of the competition. The company’s other car, number 28, took bronze.
The team has shown consistently good results throughout the season, with car 26 taking first place four times — in Great Britain, the USA, Japan and Bahrain — and car 28 taking gold in Belgium.
By the final round in Bahrain, with the G-Drive Racing team having a sixteen-point lead on their nearest rivals, they needed only to finish with points in order to make their claim on the trophy. The race was held over a difficult track, designed by German Formula One architect Hermann Tilke. With Russia taking the first half of the race in power-saving mode, the G-Drive team launched a series of attacks as night fell, with car 26 taking the lead. The car won through a total 183 circuits — almost 1,000 kilometres at an average speed of around 173 kilometres per hour.
Roman Rusinov, racing driver of the G-Drive Racing team recalled: “The engineers advised us, very strongly, not to take any risks, and to take care in attacking. I understood we needed to look after the car, and to just finish — even if that were in fifth place. But you have to admit, it’s brilliant to win the final race of the season and take the world championship in such an intense contest!”
Gazprom Neft Regional Sales Director Alexander Krylov commented: “This is our third year competing in the title, having taken bronze in 2013 and silver in 2014. And, at the start of this season, we resolved to win. Now, finally, the G-Drive Racing team have a well-deserved gold! We’ve had some pretty intense moments, running the gamut of emotions at races all over the world — taking victories and consolidating our lead, seeing the Russian flag above the podium, and winning trophies! This year’s WEC season was far from easy, but it was precisely our perseverance that has taken us to victory”.
The Gazprom Neft G-Drive Racing initiative, directed at supporting motor racing in Russia, sponsors the G-Drive Racing team, competing in the LMP2 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
New-generation G-Drive fuels are sold throughout the Gazprom Neft filling station network. The key advantage of these premium fuels, which contain an active complex of additives, include increased engine capacity (of up to 12 percent), better acceleration (of up to 1.8 seconds), and professional protection for engine fuel systems.
The Gazprom Neft filling station network totals approximately 1,400 filling stations throughout Russia and the CIS. The network’s extensive geographic range, coupled with the highly advantageous location of the company’s Omsk, Moscow and Yaroslavl refineries, continue to ensure Gazprom Neft’s leading position in the wholesale and retail markets of western Siberia and central Russia.
The FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) is an international competition and one of the world’s most significant world series, held under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) together with Formula One. The championship in 2015 comprised eight stages, held across three continents: Austin (USA), Spa (Belgium), Le Mans (France), Silverstone (UK), Nürburgring (Germany), the Kingdom of Bahrain, Fuji (Japan), and Shanghai (China). The 24 Hours Le Mans marathon (also included in the WEF calendar) is one of the most prestigious races in the world, together with the Indianapolis 500-mile Race and the Monaco Grand Prix. The 24 Hours LE Mans race attracts more than 310,000 spectators every year.
