Russian team SMP Racing has completed a third full season of endurance racing with yet another title to add to the ever growing trophy cabinet. At the end of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship Andrea Bertolini, Victor Shaytar and Alexsey Basov lifted the FIA Endurance Drivers’ Trophy for LMGTE Am and SMP Racing the Teams trophy.
SMP Racing first appeared on the international endurance racing scene in the 2013 European Le Mans Series and won the GTC title at the first attempt. In 2014 the team defended the GTC title and added the LMGTE ELMS crown with Andrea Bertolini, Victor Shaytar and Sergey Zlobin.
SMP Racing also tasted championship success on the world stage in 2014 with Sergey Zlobin adding the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers and SMP Racing the Team’s trophy in the World Endurance Championship last year.
The team entered the ELMS title winning Ferrari F458 Italia in the LMGTE Am category of the FIA WEC with reigning ELMS champions Bertolini and Shaytar being joined by Alexsey Basov. The season got off to a steady start with two third places at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps but it was at Le Mans the season suddenly looked as if the title would be possible.
To win the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the dream of almost all racing drivers and the double championship points on offer at the end of the world’s greatest race can make all the difference for the world title aspirations. The SMP Ferrari was running well up the order for the entire 24 hours race and looked to be on course to finish second behind the runaway no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8.
However with just 30-minutes of the race remaining the Aston Martin went off at the last corner and hit the barriers, putting the SMP Ferrari into the lead and they duly took the chequered flag. The drivers were the first to admit they didn’t expect to finish on the top step of the podium but the old racing maxim is true in this case – to finish first, first you have to finish!
The no72 SMP Racing Ferrari also finished ahead of the two AF Corse works 458s and added 50 points towards the FIA World Endurance Cup for GT Manufacturers for the Italian marque.
The Russo-Italian trio then took control of the class by claiming their first WEC pole position in Germany and followed it up with their first 6-hour victory. In Texas they only qualified in 5th but stormed through the field to take their third win in a row.
In Japan the team’s second pole position followed but a disappointing race in tricky weather conditions saw the SMP Ferrari take the chequered flag in 6th place, two laps behind the winning Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche. However the team bounced back with their sixth podium finish of 2015 by finishing third in China. With a 19 point advantage, SMP only need to finish the race in Bahrain to claim the title and they duly did by finishing 5th under the desert stars.
At the end of the season Alexsey Basov, Andrea Bertolini and Victor Shaytar and the SMP Racing team accumulated 165 points, 17 points ahead of their nearest rivals, Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo in the no83 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia.
Alexsey Basov: "I am very happy with the title for myself, my teammates and my team SMP Racing. I am doubly happy because it was my son's birthday on the same day we won the title in Bahrain. It is a fantastic feeling!"
Andrea Bertolini: "In Bahrain it was important to win the championship and we did that. Our race was not very good, we had some problems with the tyres and our pace was not the same as the previous race in China. But the whole team worked very hard to make sure we had enough points to take the title. When we think about the championship I am really proud of my two teammates. We started last year in the ELMS, my boss at Ferrari gave me the project to take care of these two guys, and now we are here in the WEC and we won the crown. But we are already looking forward; we are already testing with the new car, the F488, which should be competitive next season. However we will enjoy the world title for now."
Victor Shaytar: "I am so happy to win this title with Alexsey and Andrea. Andrea is my teacher and my brother and we have achieved a lot together. It is very good for us and the team. This year I have a lot of good fights on the track with the other competitors. It was very hard but very fair on all the circuits and I really enjoyed it. Now we will celebrate our victory in the WEC and I look forward to 2016."
