SMP Racing is a Russian racing team and driver academy mostly known for competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA Formula 2 Championship and FIA Formula 3 Championship with the goal of training and unveiling new talents from Russia. The team was founded in 2013 by Boris Rotenberg, co-founder of the SMP Bank of Russia.
History SMP Racing is a prominent Russian motor racing team and driver development program founded in 2013 by Boris Rotenberg, co-founder of SMP Bank. The organization was created to discover and train Russian racing talent, guiding drivers through a structured "pyramid" from domestic karting to top-tier international series like Formula 1 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The team was founded in 2012 by the Russian oligarch Boris Rotenberg, co-founder of SMP Bank and CEO of Russian race car construction company BR Engineering.
They first competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship with the goal of supporting new talents from Russia and giving them the chance to compete in international motorsport.
Boris Rotenberg Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia on , Boris Rotenberg is known as the co-founder of SMP Bank and CEO of the largest construction company for gas pipelines and electrical power supply lines in Russia (StroyGazMontazh).
In 2001 Boris and his brother founded the SMP Bank of Russia, one of the largest banks in Russia.
Boris is the CEO and founder of a race car construction company called BR Engineering. This company created the BR Engineering BR1 and BR Engineering BR01; both cars achieved podiums in their categories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Current status On 8 July 2019, SMP announced that it was withdrawing their BR1 LMP1 cars from the 2019–20 WEC season only three weeks ahead of the Prologue pre-season test session. The team said in a statement that it had achieved the best possible results as a privateer LMP1 entry "given the circumstances" after its 3rd place podium result at the 2019 24h of Le Mans ahead of all other privateer entries and only behind two works Toyota TS050 Hybrids. It continued to sponsor the AF Corse GTE Pro cars until the conclusion of the 2019–20 WEC season.
In May 2021, SMP and BR Engineering unveiled the BR03, a prototype sportscar intended for national-level endurance racing. It was first raced on-track at an exhibition race at Moscow Raceway in August 2025, and is planned to race as part of a monoclass in the Russian Circuit Racing Series starting in 2026.
The team went quiet across all of their social media accounts, along with a number of other Russian teams at the time which were competing in international motorsports.
The team also announced they would not return to the FIA World Endurance Championship or the European Le Mans Series.
This was expected, due to the FIA announcing new requirements for Russian drivers and teams competing in international motorsport as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Championships FIA World Endurance Championship SMP Racing competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship full time between the years of 2014-2016. They made one return for the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans and returned later for the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
The team were mildly successful throughout their whole time in the series. Their most successful year in the Championship came in 2015, where the team collected 6 podiums, 3 wins, and finished 1st in the LMGTE AM category.
24 Hours of Le Mans
The team again had another mildly successful career at the 24 Hours of Le Mans by finishing first with Ferrari 458 GT2 in LMGTE category in 2015 and finishing third with BR1 LMP1 prototype in overall category in 2019 only behind two Toyota's, making them the fastest non-factory team.
FIA Formula 2 Championship
SMP Racing never had their own team in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. However, they still had a young driver program for young Russian drivers such as Robert Shwartzman and Sergey Sirotkin.
The program was cancelled in May 2022 due to the FIA announcing requirements on Russian drivers competing in international motorsport. These rules were announced as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Other championships
FIA Formula 1 World Championship FIA Formula 3 Championship Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup European Drag Racing Championship Eurocup Formula Renault SMP Formula 4 Championship F4 Spanish Championship Italian F4 Championship CIK-FIA Karting European Championship Russian Circuit Racing Series Russian Drag Racing Championship WSK Super Master Series Russian Karting Championship and Cup European Le Mans Series GP2 Series Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 SMP F4 Championship
List of drivers
Mikhail Aleshin Vladimir Atoev Fabio Babini Aleksey Basov Michael Belov Olivier Beretta Andrea Bertolini Matteo Bobbi Aleksander Bosak Gianmaria Bruni Jenson Button James Calado Stefano Coletti Mitch Evans Lucas Foresti Antonio Fuoco Sean Gelael Antonio Giovinazzi Brendon Hartley Matevos Isaakyan Aleksey Korneev Kirill Ladygin Konsta Lappalainen Julián Leal Roman Mavlanov Michael Meadows Nicolas Minassian Miguel Molina Daniil Move Norman Nato Harrison Newey Egor Orudzhev Luca Persiani Vitaly Petrov Alessandro Pier Guidi Davide Rigon Mika Salo Stéphane Sarrazin Elias Seppänen Viktor Shaytar Robert Shwartzman Irina Sidorkova Sergey Sirotkin Alexander Smolyar Konstantin Tereshchenko Nikita Troitskiy Vladimiros Tziortzis Stoffel Vandoorne Matthieu Vaxivière Toni Vilander Andreas Wirth Daniel Zampieri Sergey Zlobin
Series results
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results Year Class Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T.C. Points 2014 LMP2 Sergey Zlobin Maurizio Mediani Nicolas Minassian Anton Ladygin Mika Salo 27 SIL SPA LMS COA FUJ SHA BHR SÃO 1st 146 Kirill Ladygin Viktor Shaytar Anton Ladygin Maurizio Mediani Nicolas Minassian 37 SIL SPA LMS COA FUJ SHA BHR SÃO 4th 60 2015 LMGTEAM Viktor Shaytar Aleksey Basov Andrea Bertolini 72 SIL SPA LMS NÜR COA FUJ SHA BHR 1st 165 2016 LMP2 Maurizio Mediani Nicolas Minassian David Markozov Mikhail Aleshin 27 SIL SPA LMS NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 8th 62 Vitaly Petrov Viktor Shaytar Kirill Ladygin 37 SIL SPA LMS NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 6th 71 2018–19 LMP1 Mikhail Aleshin Vitaly Petrov Jenson Button Brendon Hartley Stoffel Vandoorne 11 SPA LMS SIL FUJ SHA SEB SPA LMS 4th 94 Stéphane Sarrazin Egor Orudzhev Matevos Isaakyan Sergey Sirotkin 17 SPA LMS SIL FUJ SHA SEB SPA LMS 14th 27
European Le Mans Series
24 Hours of Le Mans Year Entrant Car Drivers Class Laps 2014 SMP Racing 27 Oreca 03R-Nissan Anton Ladygin Mika Salo Sergey Zlobin LMP2 303 37th 12th 37 Kirill Ladygin Maurizio Mediani Nicolas Minassian 9 DNF DNF 72 Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Aleksey Basov Andrea Bertolini Viktor Shaytar LMGTE Am 196 DNF DNF 2015 SMP Racing 27 BR Engineering BR01-Nissan David Markozov Maurizio Mediani Nicolas Minassian LMP2 340 14th 6th 37 Mikhail Aleshin Anton Ladygin Kirill Ladygin 322 33rd 13th 72 Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Aleksey Basov Andrea Bertolini Viktor Shaytar LMGTE Am 332 20th 1st 2016 SMP Racing 27 BR Engineering BR01-Nissan Mikhail Aleshin Maurizio Mediani Nicolas Minassian LMP2 347 11th 7th 37 Kirill Ladygin Vitaly Petrov Viktor Shaytar 353 7th 3rd 2017 SMP Racing 27 Dallara P217-Gibson Mikhail Aleshin Viktor Shaytar Sergey Sirotkin LMP2 330 33rd 16th 2018 SMP Racing 11 BR Engineering BR1-AER Mikhail Aleshin Jenson Button Vitaly Petrov LMP1 315 DNF DNF 17 Matevos Isaakyan Egor Orudzhev Stéphane Sarrazin 123 DNF DNF 35 Dallara P217-Gibson Norman Nato Harrison Newey Viktor Shaytar LMP2 345 14th 10th 2019 SMP Racing 11 BR Engineering BR1-AER Mikhail Aleshin Vitaly Petrov Stoffel Vandoorne LMP1 379 3rd 3rd 17 Egor Orudzhev Stéphane Sarrazin Sergey Sirotkin 163 DNF DNF
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Year Car Drivers 1 2 3 4 T.C. Points 2020 Ferrari 488 GT3 Sergey Sirotkin (All)Sergey Sirontkin GTWC stats page Miguel Molina (Rd. 1-3)Miguel Monilana gtwc page Davide Rigon(Rd. 1-3)davide rigon GTWC stats page Antonio Fuoco (Rd. 4)antonio fuoco GTWC page Toni Vilander (Rd. 4)Toni Vilander GTWC stats page 72 IMO SPA NUR LEC 1st 80
Notes
Branding SMP Racing also was a moniker for these teams, when SMP sponsored them:
ADM Motorsport, a motor racing team based in Italy AF Corse, a motor racing team based in Italy AV Formula, a motor racing team based in Spain Comtec Racing, a motor racing team based in the United Kingdom Euronova Racing, a motor racing team based in Italy Koiranen GP, a motor racing team based in Finland Russian Bears Motorsport, a motor racing team based in Russia Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, а motor racing team based in the USA
See also Escuderia Telmex, a Mexican team founded by similar ambitions
References
External links