No. 4, 2004
Alexander Seleznyov
MAKING STEEP TURNS
LUKOIL-Racing, Russia's strongest motor racing team, is a worthy representative of JSC LUKOIL in sports
LUKOIL-Racing was first entered on the list of competitors in circuit motor races in 1997 soon after the LUKOIL Board of Directors approved the idea of organizing a car racing team that would be taking part in national competitions.
Conquering distance and time
During its debut season LUKOIL-Racing took part it Russia's three top-speed circuit races: Tourism-1600, Supertourism and Formula-3. That same year the team's drivers won the title of champion in the Formula-3 individual standings, while in the team standings LUKOIL-Racing was named the best in all of the categories in which it had competed. The team's technical equipment produced a deep impression on one and all: cooperation with manufacturers of high-tech components both in Russia and some European countries had made it possible to utilize, in the construction of racing cars, their superior experience and expertise. This caused other competitors to regard the LUKOIL racers with considerable amount of respect.
Aside from its high technological standards, in all the subsequent years the team featured efficient management, a well-calculated choice of racing car drivers, a professional attitude of its mechanics and engineers, and employment of advanced technologies in designing and constructing racing cars. This had enabled LUKOIL-Racing, during the entire period of its existence, to win victories in the individual and team standings in all the categories in which its cars were entered and to win a record number of titles in the Russian motor racing sport. Such members of the team as Vladimir Cherevan, Nikolay Mezentsev, Alberto Pedemonte, Sergey Uspensky, Alexey Shchukin, Alberto Scilla, Andrea Belicchi, Nikolay Bolshikh, Alexey Dudukalo and Yury Bayborodov have become national champions.
In 1998 LUKOIL-Racing continued its triumphal march, winning the title of the best team, as well as taking first and second places in the individual standings in the Formula-3, Supertourism and Cup-1600 (Tourism-1600) categories as well as the Russian Championship-NGSA circuit races. The team also won the titles of Moscow and LUKOIL Cup champions in the same categories.
In 1999 the team's racers again won the title of national champions in Formula-3 and Tourism-1600, becoming absolute leaders in their categories.
The year 2000 brought LUKOIL-Racing the title of Russia's champion in Formula-3 and runner-up in Tourism-1600. The team's star racer Alberto Pedemonte again became national champion (in Formula-3) and Nikolay Mezentsev – the silver medallist in the individual standings.
In 2001 LUKOIL-Racing won Russia's championship in Formula-3 and Supertourism, while the team's racer Alberto Scilla became national champion in the Supertourism category, Alberto Pedemonte – the silver medallist in Formula-3, and Alexey Dudukalo – the silver prize winner in the Supertourism category.
In the 2002 season the team repeated its success, winning Russia's championship in Formula-3 and Supertourism. The racer Alberto Scilla won the national championship in the Supertourism category, while Alexey Dudukalo became the silver prize winner of that championship. Another racer, Andrea Belicchi, won the title of champion in the Formula-3 category. The bronze award of the championship went to yet another racer – Alexey Pavlovsky.
The year 2003 was one of the most strenuous for LUKOIL-Racing: the team took part in five championship tournaments of six European countries. At the same time, it was one of the most successful years: in the team standings of three of the tournaments the LUKOIL racers were second to none. They also won four titles of champion and cup-winner in the individual standings. The titles of Russia's champions went to Alexey Dudukalo (in Supertourism) and Yury Bayborodov (in Formula Rus). Furthermore, Alexey Dudukalo was the winner in the Supertourism category in the Cup of Russia competition, and Alberto Scilla was the runner-up. That year Andrea Belicchi won the title of Finland's champion, and Alexey Pavlovsky was the silver medallist of that championship. All told, in 2003 the LUKOIL racers took part in 55 competitions, winning 22 victories and mounting the honors podium 53 times.
Young replacements
Sponsoring and promoting budding racers is one of the high-priority tasks of the LUKOIL team. In addressing this task LUKOIL-Racing emulates the leading European teams which for many years have had programs for training young replacements. These teams include Toyota, McLaren, Renault, Marlboro and Red Bull. Last year, competing in the Formula Rus national championship, two young sportsmen, 17-year-old Yury Bayborodov and 15-year-old Sergey Afanasyev, broke all the stereotypes established by experienced racers. And the outcome of the Formula Rus championship was truly sensational: the winner of the selection part of the season Yury Bayborodov, a member of the LUKOIL junior team, won two out of the four final races and took the champion's title, far ahead of the field in points total. After the first two final races Sergey Afanasyev, the youngest member of LUKOIL-Racing, was in the second place, but eventually he yielded his supremacy to his more experienced rivals and finished fifth. The next stage on the program of sponsoring budding racers was the training of Mikhail Alyoshin, a talented young sportsman. The program of his training included participation in many European contests as well as in Russia's Formula-3. One of his achievements was winning the prestigious Scandinavia Cup karting contest. He was given his prize at an official presentation ceremony in Monte Carlo which he attended together with celebrated Michael Schumacher.
During the 2003 season Mikhail Alyoshin took part in the ten rounds of the German national championship and in the European competition called Formula Renault-2000. His overall achievement was winning 12th place among the 34 competitors in the championship. Mikhail is a promising sportsman with a vast car racing potential.
He has greatly surprised and impressed car racing specialists, being the youngest participant in the German national championship and in the European competition Formula Renault-2000. Right from the start, Mikhail attacked the positions of far more experienced pilots who had been taking part in this kind of competitions for two or three years. Journalists described Mikhail's attacks as “Russian shock therapy,” and all agreed that now Russia had a very promising racer. Designed for a five-year period, his training program will culminate in his test racing as a member of one of the Formula One teams.
Mikhail Alyoshin has made a brilliant start this year. In May, at his very first contest in Germany, he won the qualification race and placed third in the final competition, becoming the first-ever Russian racer in the history of Formula Renault-2000 championships to mount the honors stand. Yury Bayborodov, too, was quite successful: after placing 21st in the qualification race he eventually took 13th place. Although the results scored by these Russian racers in subsequent competitions were not so spectacular, they have undoubtedly made good progress.
For LUKOIL-Racing, Russia's most successful car racing team, the present season has been marked by a massive expansion into European formula championships held in France, Italy, Germany, Britain, Czech Republic, Spain, Austria, Holland, Belgium and Russia. Three LUKOIL racers are now competing in international formula-type contests: Yury Bayborodov and Mikhail Alyoshin – in Formula Renault-2000, and Sergey Afanasyev – in Formula Renault Monza (combining this with his appearances in the Formula Rus competitions). Besides, another LUKOIL racer, Ivan Samarin, has already taken part in the Renault Monza competitions. He will be the team's second racer in the Formula Rus championship. LUKOIL-Racing has long-term and rather ambitious goals, and it is up to yesterday's schoolboys to attain them: the oldest of them, Yury Bayborodov, has recently turned 18, and the youngest, Ivan Samarin, is only 15 years old.
The most important thing is that by their victories the boys have shown that LUKOIL-Racing has got its own school, professional management and coordination of sports activity, and that a gifted young racer can count on LUKOIL to help him achieve good results in the motor racing sport.
Freedom born racers
This year, in the very first contests of the Formula Lada competitions, two members of LUKOIL-Racing, Alexey Pavlovsky and Alexey Dudukalo, took the lead and are firmly holding it. Scientific research and experimental design work conducted between seasons have enabled the team to capture leading positions in what was for it a new racing car category. Retaining this leadership is an important motivation to the entire collective.
Owing to efficiently organized and well conducted work, such a situation is observed in all the racing car categories, in which the team is competing in Russia. In slightly more than a month after the start of the 2004 car racing season the LUKOIL racers had eight victories to their credit scored in such competitions as Formula Lada, Formula Rus and the Honda Civic Cup. This accounted for 87.5% of the aggregate of first places in those three racing contests. The victory scored by Alexey Pavlovsky, a member of LUKOIL-Racing mentioned earlier, was a spectacular conclusion of the first round of the 2004 Russian championship in circuit motor racing in the Formula Lada category.
In the qualification race the pole position was taken up by Alexey Dudukalo; on his best circuit he clocked 59.299 seconds. The runner-up was Alexey Pavlovsky who had lost only 0.306 seconds to his teammate. At the start of the first race Dudukalo managed to retain his position, but soon, in a steep turn, he made a braking error that threw him off the course, which eventually set him four places back.
The team's second racer, Alexey Pavlovsky, had tarried slightly at the start and was only in fourth place when he entered the first turn. By the end of the first lap he was already racing in second place, and in the fourth lap he was leading the race. After that Pavlovsky began breaking away from the rest, and he crossed the finishing line 16 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.
As for Alexey Dudukalo, he was back on course soon enough and quickly outpaced his opponents until he was in second position. He even began gaining on Alexey Pavlovsky, but, as ill luck would have it, his engine packed in, bursting into flame, and he was forced to drop out of the race.
In the second race the two LUKOIL sportsmen got off to a good start, retained their positions and quickly broke away from the other competitors. After that they only raced against each other. Alexey Pavlovsky was the first to cross the finishing line with Alexey Dudukalo close on his heels.
It should be noted that for his first-stage results Alexey Pavlovsky leads in the individual standings of the national championship. On the eve of the second stage of Russia's championship, LUKOIL-Racing occupies its accustomed first place in the team standings. Meanwhile, the car racing fans have every reason to believe that the LUKOIL team will retain its lead right up to the end of the current motor racing season.
