Otay, perhaps I'm showing my age, eh? By shamelessly pilferin' that classic Battle
Cry echoed by Benjamin Franklin; Err Paul Revere & The Raiders; Hya!
As Karmically, albeit not for him, look who's
obituary just popped up on the newswires after I'd scribbled this epic tome...
Paul Revere of ’60s Raiders rock band dies at 76
Having grown-up in the era of the fleeting Cold War
between USA, USA, USA! And Mother Russia, whose inhabitors were known as
"Rooskies," this slang will forever be imbedded in my cranium. And
whilst trying to overlook my disdain for Vladimir Putin due to his and his
nation's DISGUSTING Homophobia...
Here's a Mondo' list of current Russian racing
drivers I've attempted throwing a brief spotlight upon their rise thru the
ranks of Single Seaters upon the heels of Russia's first modern day Grand
Prix...
 |
| Russian driver Vitaly Petrov poses in his 2010 Renault F1 "Kit" with helmet. (Image source: f1wolf.com) |
RACING DRIVERS
Currently, only two Rooskies' are denoted as
Formula 1 drivers, since the modern day formulae didn't begin until 1950, with
Vitaly 'VO5 Petrov becoming the first Russian F1 driver in 2010, as Vitaly will
forever be affectionately remembered by Mwah for telling "Fredrico
Suave" (Fernando Alonso) that he was Number One after holding the enraged
Ferrari driver at bay upon Yas Isle for sixth place which in large part enabled
"TWINKIEBOY" (Seb' Vettel) to capture the first of his four world
championships.
Petrov began his racing career somewhat
unorthodox, eschewing the traditional go karts route for some ice racing
instead! After dominating in Russian Saloon's, he progressed thru European
Feeder series, ultimately winding up runner-up to thee "Incredible
Hulkster's" (Nico Hulkenberg)
dominant romp to the 2009 GP2 title.
Vitaly made the leap into Formula 1 in 2010
for Renault, where he partnered "The Krakow Kid" (Robert Kubica)
before driving for the rebadged Lotus Renault GP the following year, alongside
'Quick Nick (Heidfeld) and Bruno Senna.
Along with that memorable drive upon Yas
Island, he became the first Russian to podium in F1 when finishing third at the
2011 season opener Down Under in Melbourne, before the team's fortunes slowly
subsided.
For 2012, Petrov switched to the struggling
Caterham concern for his final F1 season before finding himself out of a ride
in 2013.
Next, for 2014, Petrov joined the DTM series
where he currently races for Mucke Motorsport aboard a Mercedes...
TINTOPS
Accordingly, although not in the realm of
Open Wheel Racing, other well known Rooskie' Driver's known are Vladimir
Chagin,a multi-time DAKAR winner aboard the Russian
Kamaz "Trucks," nee Semi's.
Eduard Nikolaev followed in Chagin's
footsteps, winning the 2013 DAKAR Trucks category behind the wheel of a Kamaz. Evgeny Novikov
currently contests the World Rally Championship (WRC) and
Leonid Novitskiy is a two-time FIA Cross Country Rally
Cup champion, who captured his first DAKAR Stage win in 2012, all for the
mighty X-RAID BMW Mini Squad. As this is
just the tip of the Iceberg.
Yet this quartet's listing is in NO way
conclusive; having completely overlooked a bevy 'O Tintop Boyz, most notably
the cadre of World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) drivers, for example. Or the
FIA's GT1 championship, Blan Paine, Le Mans, etc.
FEEDER SERIES
The following drivers are currently cutting
their teeth in various ladder, or feeder series categories like Formula 3, etc.
setting their sights upon the pinnacle 'O motorsports, aka F1 or perhaps even IndyCar
racing.
Alexey Chuklin is currently
contesting the European F3 Open series for Emilio de Villota Motorsport,
albeit at 29yrs old, has most likely missed his chance
for F1. And if the name Emilio
de Villota sounds familiar that's because it is, as he
was Maria de
Villota's father, who ultimately died from her injuries sustained while testing
for what's now Marussia F1; as the one
year anniversary of her untimely death is October 14th...
Alessandro Vita Kouzkin, who is racing in the
International Formula Master series currently, comes from an interesting
lineage. As the Russian-Italian driver is the son of Ernesto Vita, the previous
team principal of the beleaguered Life
F1 concern, which never qualified for a Grand Prix during its short tenure.
Egor Orudzhev is a teenager from St Petersburg who
after winning the 2009 Russian KF3 Karting
title has gone onto a single seater career, currently contesting the EuropeCup Formula
Renault 2.0 series, along with having won races in New Zealand's Toyota
championship and Formula 3.
And Ivan Samarin, winner of the 2006-07 Formula 1600
Russia championships, who holds a vaunted Master of Sport title in Russia competes
in the German F3 series, while Max
Snegirev lives in London and currently contests the AutoGP series...
MARUSSIA MANOR
RACING
Born out of the birth of then Manor F1, which
subsequently became Virgin Racing, thanks to Sir Richard Branson's initial
backing. Upon Nikolai Fomenko's takeover of Virgin and rebranding it into
Marussia, Marussia Manor Racing was launched and currently contests the GP3 and
European Formula Renault 2.0 series.
The team's history harkens 'Wayback to 1990 when
current Marussia F1 Team Principal John Booth started his own race team, who's
Alumni include past Formula 1 world champions Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis
Hamilton; plus ex-Formula 1 drivers "Jungle Boy," nee Antonio Pizzonia and Lucas di Grassi. Yet ironically, the Russian backed team currently
has no Rooskie Pilotos' on its books...
GP3
While this series is relatively short-lived,
having just been established four years ago in 2010 as part of the ladder steps
to Formula 1, with most notably current Team Willy' (Williams) Hotschue
Valtteri Bottas being its 2011 champion,
and Sauber F1's Esteban Gutierrez being the series inaugural
titlist.
Meanwhile, the 'lil Bulls, aka Red Bull's
Seester Scuderia Toro Rosso's current lineup are also graduates of the series. As there's plenty 'O Rooskies'
hungrily looking to emulate the reigning
series champion Homeboy Daniil Kvyat's success and
advance directly into F1!
Upon the series debut, Marussia Motors, the driver
development arm of what ultimately became Marussia F1, promoted Russian racer
Ivan Lukashevich to a seat at Status Grand Prix. Yet, he seemingly has fallen
off of the proverbial radar screen, as I'm not sure where he's gone since?
Another promising GP3 youngster named Maxim Zimin,
who signed a lucrative Gas Prom development deal, raced for Jensor Motorsport
in 2011, but like Lukashevich, Zimin has also disappeared with the two junior
drivers careers apparently flaming out?
Amazingly, at the tender age of 17, Dmitry
Suranovich announced his retirement from racing! After falling upon financial
difficulties, as the former KF2 & KF3 Karting champion is perhaps best
known(?) for causing the spectacular accident that caused American Conor Daly
to go nearly upside down at Monte Carlo during the 2012 Monaco GP3 support race.
As Suranovich was driving for Marussia Manor Racing at the time and was given a
one-race ban following Monaco for ignoring corner workers flags and causing the
incident...
For 2014, three
Rooskies' made their rookie debut in the GP3 series, with Denis Nagulin, a
largely unheralded former Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and European F3 Open driver racing for
Trident, while fellow countryman Konstantin Tereshchenko, who reportedly won
the 2012 Formula Russia title will be Nagulin's team-mate and reputedly earned
the moniker "Cosmonaut'." after a spectacular barrel rolling
crash at Spa! With NO word on whether or not the NBCSN TV Announcer who
bestowed his Spaceman nickname upon him was thy 'Wee Willie Buxom (Will Buxton)
or not? While Ivan Taranov, a past go kart winner will make his series debut
for Hilmer Motorsport...
ZETA CORSE
Cannot seem to find a whole lot upon
this
current Formula Renault 3.5 team, which apparently was born out of the
Ashes of past competitors Target Racing and MT Motorsport; whilst "Target"
isn't related to 'Cheep; Hya! (Chip Ganassi) Instead being the Italian based BVM
Target racing team now contesting Formula Arbarth,
With BVM being demoted to reserve status in
2013, and the latter never making the cut, albeit wishing to do so, an alliance
was apparently formed with Zeta Management and hence, the "Spin-off" Zeta
Corse was born.
The team deliriously celebrated its maiden
Pole and WSR victory at Moscow Raceway when Spaniard Roberto Merhi led
"Wire-to-Wire" en route to a Hat-trick of Pole, Fastest lap and
victory in Round-2 of the Formula Renault 3.5 race this past June..
As Merhi has since won two more races at the
legendous' Nurburgring and the Hungaroring, along with two more Poles and currently
lies second in the championship behind Carlos Sainz, Jr. as both men hope to
emulate last year's champion Kevin "Bacon" Magnussen's direct path to
Formula 1!
FORMULA RENAULT 3.5
This seems to be one of the current Hot-beds
of activity for aspiring Russian racers, with the likes of Daniil Kvyat
having won twice (in EuroCup Formula Renault 2.0) and "S2," aka Sergey Sirotkin
once at Moscow Raceway, which once again saw a bevy of Homeland talent sweep
this year's weekend races...
Daniil Move, like Ivan Samarin
above, holds a vaunted Master of Sport title, and as a lark entered a karting event
which spawned his late racing career. Unfortunately, at 28yrs old, I'd say that
the Muscovite'
who's a past British Formula Ford winner and Formula RUS runner-up has reached
his zenith in Open Wheel Racing with some 100-plus starts and only one Pole
position along with finishing tenth twice in the championship. With Anton
Nebylitskiy breaking into the series in '09, spending
three mostly uncompetitive seasons in the sport before disappearing.
Nikolay Martsenko made his
Formula Renault 3.5 debut in 2012, after competing in the German, Finnish and
Northern European F3 championships, and
has steadily improved his overall finishing position the past three seasons.
Roman Mavlanov, a multiple Russian
Karting champion, who holds the dubious honour of being DSQ'ed (Disqualified) three
times in EuroCup Formula Renault 2.0, along with being excluded from one race, also racing in the
International GT Open series, makes his debut in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2014.
Sergey
Sirotkin, a name that should be known for his and his
father's F1 ambitions, kicked off this year's Formula Renault 3.5 weekend at
Moscow Raceway in fine style by winning Round-1 from Pole for Fortec
Motorsports on June 28th, and as a current Sauber F1 "Simulator
Jockey" (Test/Reserve Driver) has already been confirmed to make his Grand
Prix debut at this year's Russian GP during Friday's FP1 (Free Practice)
session...
For
Part 2 of this Gynormous story, see; The 'Rooskie's Are Coming,The 'Rooskie's Are Coming - Honest!