G-Drive Racing

G-Drive Racing
Founded2012
BaseMoscow, Russia
Team principal(s)
  • Alexander Krylov
Former seriesFIA World Endurance Championship
European Le Mans Series
Asian Le Mans Series
IMSA SportsCar Championship
Blancpain GT Series
Noted drivers Mike Conway
Olivier Pla
Sam Bird
Pipo Derani
Giedo van der Garde
René Rast
Ryō Hirakawa
Mikkel Jensen
Nyck de Vries
Roman Rusinov
Websitehttps://www.gdriveracing.com/

G-Drive Racing is a Russian sports car racing team. It is named after the commercial fuel distributed by Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of oil giant Gazprom.[1] They made their debut in the LMP2 class of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship in a partnership with Signatech, before quickly rising to prominence, winning three titles in the European Le Mans Series, taking the 2015 WEC title, as well as winning the Asian Le Mans Series twice.[2][3] Over the years, G-Drive ran in conjunction with multiple race teams, including Jota Sport, TDS Racing, Graff Racing, and Algarve Pro Racing.[4][5]

As a result of regulations imposed by the FIA on Russian competitors in the aftermath of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, G-Drive withdrew from international competition. They currently organise multiple sporting events in Russia.[6] The team opened a rally raid division in 2023 for Roman Rusinov and Anastasiya Nifontova, and the former won the Silk Way Rally in the T3 category the following year.[7][8]

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Entrant Team No. Car Drivers Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2012 Signatech-Nissan Signatech 26 Oreca 03-Nissan Nelson Panciatici
Pierre Ragues
Roman Rusinov
LMP2 351 10th 4th
2013 Delta-ADR Delta-ADR 25 Oreca 03-Nissan Tor Graves
Archie Hamilton
Shinji Nakano
LMP2 101 DNF DNF
G-Drive Racing 26 Mike Conway
John Martin
Roman Rusinov
327 DSQ DSQ
2014 G-Drive Racing OAK Racing 26 Morgan LMP2-Nissan Julien Canal
Olivier Pla
Roman Rusinov
LMP2 120 DNF DNF
OAK Racing 35 Ligier JS P2-Nissan Alex Brundle
Jann Mardenborough
Mark Shulzhitskiy
354 9th 5th
2015 G-Drive Racing OAK Racing 26 Ligier JS P2-Nissan Sam Bird
Julien Canal
Roman Rusinov
LMP2 358 11th 3rd
28 Pipo Derani
Ricardo González
Gustavo Yacamán
354 12th 4th
2016 G-Drive Racing Jota Sport 26 Oreca 05-Nissan René Rast
Roman Rusinov
Will Stevens
LMP2 357 6th 2nd
38 Gibson 015S-Nissan Jake Dennis
Simon Dolan
Giedo van der Garde
222 DNF DNF
2017 G-Drive Racing DragonSpeed 22 Oreca 07-Gibson José Gutiérrez
Ryō Hirakawa
Memo Rojas
LMP2 327 39th 17th
TDS Racing 26 Alex Lynn
Roman Rusinov
Pierre Thiriet
20 DNF DNF
2018 G-Drive Racing TDS Racing 26 Oreca 07-Gibson Andrea Pizzitola
Roman Rusinov
Jean-Éric Vergne
LMP2 369 DSQ DSQ
Graff Racing 40 James Allen
Enzo Guibbert
José Gutierrez
197 DNF DNF
2019 G-Drive Racing TDS Racing 26 Aurus 01-Gibson Roman Rusinov
Job van Uitert
Jean-Éric Vergne
LMP2 364 11th 6th
2020 G-Drive Racing by Algarve Algarve Pro Racing 16 Aurus 01-Gibson Ryan Cullen
Oliver Jarvis
Nick Tandy
LMP2 105 DNF DNF
G-Drive Racing TDS Racing 26 Mikkel Jensen
Roman Rusinov
Jean-Éric Vergne
367 9th 5th
2021 G-Drive Racing[a] Algarve Pro Racing 25 Aurus 01-Gibson Rui Andrade
John Falb
Roberto Merhi
LMP2 (Pro-Am) 108 DNF DNF
26 Franco Colapinto
Roman Rusinov[a]
Nyck de Vries
LMP2 358 12th 7th

FIA World Endurance Championship

Year Entrant Team Class No. Chassis Engine Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pos. Pts
2013 G-Drive Racing Delta-ADR LMP2 26 Oreca 03 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 Mike Conway
John Martin
Roman Rusinov
SIL
6
SPA
4
LMS
EX
SÃO
1
COA
1
FUJ
2
SHA
1
BHR
1
3rd 132
2014 G-Drive Racing OAK Racing LMP2 26 Morgan LMP2
Ligier JS P2
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 Julien Canal
Olivier Pla
Roman Rusinov
SIL
1
SPA
1
LMS
Ret
COA
3
FUJ
1
SHA
1
BHR
3
SÃO
Ret
2nd 137
2015 G-Drive Racing OAK Racing LMP2 26 Ligier JS P2 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 Sam Bird
Julien Canal
Roman Rusinov
SIL
1
SPA
9
LMS
2
NÜR
2
COA
1
FUJ
1
SHA
2
BHR
1
1st 178
28 Pipo Derani
Ricardo González
Gustavo Yacamán
SIL
2
SPA
1
LMS
3
NÜR
3
COA
3
FUJ
3
SHA
Ret
BHR
3
3rd 134
2016 G-Drive Racing Jota Sport LMP2 26 Oreca 05 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 Roman Rusinov
René Rast (rounds 1–6, 9)
Nathanaël Berthon (rounds 1–2)
Will Stevens (rounds 3, 7–8)
Alex Brundle (rounds 4–9)
SIL
3
SPA
4
LMS
2
NÜR
Ret
MEX
7
COA
3
FUJ
1
SHA
1
BHR
1
3rd 164
38 Gibson 015S Jake Dennis
Simon Dolan
Giedo van der Garde
SIL SPA
6
LMS
Ret
NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR
2017 G-Drive Racing DragonSpeed LMP2 22 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 José Gutiérrez
Ryō Hirakawa
Memo Rojas
SIL SPA LMS
17
NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR
TDS Racing 26 Roman Rusinov
Pierre Thiriet (rounds 1–7)
Alex Lynn (rounds 1–3, 5–6)
Ben Hanley (round 4)
James Rossiter (round 7)
Léo Roussel (rounds 8–9)
Nico Müller (round 8)
Loïc Duval (round 9)
SIL
5
SPA
1
LMS
Ret
NÜR
6
MEX
4
COA
8
FUJ
6
SHA
7
BHR
7
6th 82

European Le Mans Series

Year Entrant Team Class No. Chassis Engine Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pos. Pts
2016 G-Drive Racing Jota Sport LMP2 38 Gibson 015S Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 Simon Dolan
Giedo van der Garde
Harry Tincknell
SIL
1
IMO
2
RBR
3
LEC
5
SPA
5
EST
1
1st 103
2017 G-Drive Racing DragonSpeed LMP2 22 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2L V8 Memo Rojas
Léo Roussel
Ryō Hirakawa (rounds 1–2, 5–6)
Nicolas Minassian (rounds 3–4)
SIL
2
MNZ
1
RBR
2
LEC
2
SPA
2
ALG
4
1st 110
2018 G-Drive Racing TDS Racing LMP2 26 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2L V8 Andrea Pizzitola
Roman Rusinov
Alexandre Imperatori (round 1)
Jean-Éric Vergne (rounds 2–6)
LEC
4
MNZ
1
RBR
1
SIL
1
SPA
12‡
ALG
4
1st 100.25
Graff 40 James Allen
José Gutiérrez (rounds 1–4)
Enzo Guibbert (rounds 1–2)
Garry Findlay (round 4)
Henning Enqvist (rounds 5–6)
Julien Falchero (rounds 5–6)
LEC
6
MNZ
Ret
RBR
13
SIL
12
SPA
11‡
ALG
7
12th 15.25
2019 G-Drive Racing TDS Racing LMP2 26 Aurus 01 Gibson GK428 4.2L V8 Roman Rusinov
Job van Uitert
Norman Nato (round 1–2)
Jean-Éric Vergne (rounds 3–6)
LEC
4
MNZ
1
CAT
1
SIL
2
SPA
4
ALG
6
2nd 101
2020 G-Drive Racing TDS Racing LMP2 26 Aurus 01 Gibson GK428 4.2L V8 Mikkel Jensen
Roman Rusinov
Nyck de Vries (rounds 1, 4–5)
Jean-Éric Vergne (round 3)
LEC
2
SPA
Ret
LEC
2
MNZ
Ret
ALG
1
3rd 61
2021 G-Drive Racing Algarve Pro Racing LMP2 25 Aurus 01 Gibson GK428 4.2L V8 Rui Andrade
John Falb
Pietro Fittipaldi (round 1)
Roberto Merhi (rounds 2–4)
Gustavo Menezes (rounds 5–6)
CAT
7
RBR
3
LEC
10
MNZ
6
SPA
7
ALG
8
6th 42
26 Franco Colapinto
Roman Rusinov
Nyck de Vries (rounds 1–3, 5–6)
Mikkel Jensen (round 4)
CAT
4
RBR
2
LEC
1
MNZ
8
SPA
NC
ALG
5
4th 74

Notes

  1. ^ a b G-Drive Racing and Roman Rusinov are Russian, but both competed as neutral competitors using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.[9]

References

  1. ^ "G-Drive withdraws from WEC, Le Mans over FIA's Russia code of conduct". www.motorsport.com. 6 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  2. ^ G-Drive by Signatech-Nissan
  3. ^ "G-Drive Racing". NIS Petrol i Gazprom. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  4. ^ Kilshaw, Jake (14 March 2016). "Hignett (Jota): "The Team is Now Branded as G-Drive Racing" – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  5. ^ Dagys, John (8 February 2018). "TDS, Graff to Run G-Drive Cars; Rusinov Lineup Receives Dispensation – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  6. ^ Emma (16 February 2023). "Alexander Krylov: "G-Drive Arena has become a new attraction for Omsk"". Athletistic. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  7. ^ Nguyen, Justin (26 April 2023). "Roman Rusinov, G-Drive Racing expand into rally raid". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  8. ^ "«Для меня как специалиста по кольцевым гонкам на «Шелковом Пути» сложность была в том, чтобы не сломать автомобиль» — Русинов" ["For me, as a circuit driver racing on the Silk Way, the difficulty was in not breaking the car" - Rusinov]. Match TV (in Russian). 18 July 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  9. ^ Lloyd, Daniel; Dagys, John (13 August 2021). "Le Mans Friday Notebook". SportsCar365. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.