On April 27, a new season of the SMP Racing NRing Academy kicked off at the NRing circuit, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
Sergey Pigulevsky, the general director of the circuit, and members of the Academy enjoyed the opening ceremony on the track.SMP Racing drivers Vitaly Petrov, Mikhail Aleshin, Alexey Basov, Victor Shaitar, Alexander Vartanyan, Pavel Bulantsev, Nikita Volegov and Alexey Nesov took part in the event. After the autograph session, they shared their knowledge with young drivers, answered their questions about the driving technique, the features of competitions and preparation for them. Later, Alexander Vartanyan, Alexey Basov and Victor Shaitar discussed the test race with novice drivers and gave valuable feedback.
The SMP Racing Academy was established at the NRing circuit in 2017. Its main goals are to teach young drivers the basics of motor racing, to select young talented drivers, who will later have an opportunity to develop and improve their racing skills, as well as to give full support to current drivers of the SMP Racing junior program.
“SMP Racing Academy is a karting school for children from the age of 6,” SMP Racing driver Alexey Basov commented. “The entry training course is six months long and includes three lessons per week. During these sessions, kart drivers learn the theoretical fundamentals of go-kart design, motorsport rules and practice driving a go-kart on tracks. The members of the Academy also take part in competitions held on the NRing circuit in Nizhny Novgorod. As a next step, the most successful drivers move to a higher kart class and later have a chance to switch to formula cars, as was the case, for example, with Alexey Nesov, a member of the SMP Racing junior program.”
The 5-hour karting marathon was the final part of the event. The drivers of the SMP Racing junior program, Pavel Bulantsev, Nikita Volegov, Alexey Nesov, and also Dmitry Dudarev took part in the competition and finished fifth. The Speedy Racing team became the winner of the race and was awarded by SMP Racing drivers Mikhail Aleshin, Vitaly Petrov and Alexander Vartanyan.
