NRing Circuit, May 18-19, 2019 — GTE Racing Team sent two racing cars in S1600 and Super Production classes to compete on the short, but full of difficult and skill-requiring corners NRing track.
The main pilot of the team, Philipp Tuponosov, drove LADA Granta FL S1600 prepared by Lada Sport company, and Andrey Yemelin drove Mazda 3, specially prepared for the Super Production class.
The qualification for the first race in S1600 class ended for Philipp Tuponosov just after the start because of technical issues, and Philipp had to start Saturday's race only from the last 17th place on the starting grid.
This time the weather favored the drivers, no rain was expected and by the beginning of the race the track warmed up well, promising an intense race for all competitors. Philipp started excellently and after a few corners of the first lap, he won back 4 positions. Philipp did not intend to stop there, giving the fans a whole series of spectacular overtakes and pure wheel-to-wheel fights. Philipp saw the checkered flag in 7th place while overtaking ten competitors in a short race!
Thanks to the traditional inverted grid, Philipp started Sunday's race from the first position. Philipp managed to keep first place after the run to the first corner, but later the stewards again recorded a false start of the GTE Racing Team main driver, which led to a drive-through the pit lane penalty. Philipp returned to the track at the very tail of the peloton and by lap 17 battled his way up to 9th place, hoping to win back a few more positions during the remaining laps before the finish, but unfortunately, a malfunction in the camshaft position sensor forced Philipp to withdraw.
After the first two stages, Philipp is 8th in the S1600 class individual classification with 29 points.
In the Super Production class, GTE Racing Team pilot Andrey Yemelin finished the qualification in 6th place.
Andrey started well and managed to hold the starting position, but after a few corners the pilot of the Lada Sport Rosneft team, Vladislav Nezvankin, lost control of his car, hit the safety barrier, and bounced into Andrey's Mazda 3. Andrey had no time to react, so the incident ended with a serious collision which resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Mazda 3 front, and Andrey Yemelin had to withdraw from Saturday's race on its first lap.
GTE Racing Team mechanics worked till late at night to restore Andrey's car for Sunday's race, and thanks to their expertise and efforts Andrey Yemelin was able to start from the last position on the starting grid.
Andrey started calmly, and after several overtakes the GTE Racing Team driver bumped up against Alexander Garmash’s VW Scirocco. As a result of the fierce struggle, where the drivers repeatedly changed positions during almost 20 laps of the race, Andrey managed to get ahead and finish in 5th place.
After the first two stages, Andrey Yemelin took 10th place in the individual classification of the Super Production class with 21 points.
Stage 3 of the 2019 SMP RCRS Championship will be held on June 22-23 at Smolensk Ring Circuit.