REC: Aleshin's crew won the third stage

      On July 26, the third stage of the Russian Endurance Series (REC) took place at the Igora Drive track near Saint Petersburg, which became part of the large-scale motorsport festival GARAGE FEST 2025.

      The season's invitational race attracted 34 teams at the start, including numerous new participants. World champion in prototype racing and international competition winner Alim Geshev debuted in REC, competing with Kirill Kirakozov for the BALCHUG Racing team. Spectators also saw for the first time the German supercar Audi R8 LMS GT4 from the new V Racing team under the management of Denis Bulatov and Alexander Vartanian.

      Traditionally, the pole was secured by a CN Pro class prototype team, but this time the dominance of the Blackthorn team in qualifying was broken by SVL CSKA Racing drivers Alexey Khairov and Alexey Chernov.

      Among the race favorites, besides Andrey Solukovtsev and David Pogosyan, who competed in Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for ISKRA Motorsport, were their GT Pro rivals from YADRO Motorsport crew No.16, consisting of Sergey Stolyarov and Rinat Salikhov, as well as Mikhail Aleshin and Denis Remenyako from CapitalRT, who switched their Mercedes AMG GT4 for a higher-class GT3 car before the Igora Drive stage. The winners of the season's first race, the Time4Race team in their bright orange Mercedes AMG GT3, were unable to start due to a critical breakdown the day before.

      At the beginning of the race, REC 4-hour Igora Drive, pole-sitter Alexey Khairov maintained the lead, pulling away from Denis Remenyako and Rinat Salikhov. Just 20 minutes into the race, the leading group of powerful but heavy supercars was caught up by another French prototype driven by Konstantin Terechenko from team No.29 TEAMGARIS. Terechenko leveraged the advantages of his Ligier in corners and moved into second overall. However, Terechenko did not stop there and, breaking through Khairov's resistance, took the lead of the peloton. By this time, despite the 30-degree heat, rain began to fall intermittently throughout the first half of the race.

      Weather conditions turned the third sector of the track, known for its elevation changes, into a real trap for drivers. Unfortunately, a mistake by Alexander Maslenikov on a KTM X-Bow here led to a collision with GT class rival Denis Bulatov on an Audi R8 LMS and resulted in a serious crash, after which both supercar crews had to retire.

      Blackthorn team also suffered bad luck again: their Ligier prototype driven by Yegor Efrosinin became stuck in the gravel with rear wheels and could not rejoin the race due to engine overheating.

      Evacuation was required for last stage winner Andrey Solukovtsev of ISKRA Motorsport, whose Lamborghini also could not leave the muddy shoulder. After being taken to the pits, the crew managed to re-enter the race, but a significant delay dashed their chances for another win.

      Due to mass retirements, even among leaders, yellow flags appeared to clear the track of crashed cars and debris. After the restart, Konstantin Terechenko continued to lead, but a failed stop signal forced him to make a long pit stop. Officials mandated the team to fix the fault for safety reasons, as running on a wet track with a non-functioning light was unacceptable in poor visibility conditions.

      Problems with the TEAMGARIS prototype became the key moment of the race, after which the lead was taken over by the CapitalRT team with their Mercedes AMG GT3. Drivers Denis Remenyako and Mikhail Aleshin, showing excellent pace from the start of the season, had already won two junior GT races and competed evenly with teams on more powerful cars. At Igora Drive, the more advanced GT3 Mercedes finally brought them victory in the overall standings. This triumph was even achieved despite two clashes with unyielding round-the-clock drivers.

      Team No.16 from YADRO Motorsport, with Rinat Salikhov joining Sergey Stolyarov, again finished just shy of overall victory and their GT Pro class win. The top-tier supercar third place went to another rookie team, DRT crew No.8 — Alexey Denisov, Sergey, and Viktor Titarenko, who raced Porsche 911 GT3.

      Konstantin Terechenko, Konstantin Zakharovskiy, and Stanislav Sidoruk on the much-troubled Ligier No.29 from TEAMGARRIS settled for a win in their CN Pro class. This was made possible after Ligier No.31 from SVL CSKA Racing, which had previously surged ahead, was involved in a serious crash in the final laps. Nonetheless, Alexey Khairov and Alexey Chernov still finished second in class, ahead of Kirakozov and Geshev from BALCHUG Racing, who experienced serious technical issues during the race.

      Victor Shaitar, who drove the entire distance solo, not only won the GT class on YADRO Motorsport's Mercedes AMG GT4 but also achieved third place overall. Second and third in the class on similar Mercedes cars were crews from RSCar Motorsport and SHISHKOl&YUKA ADV PRO. RACING TEAM respectively.

      In the "touring" subgroup of the GT Pro (T) class, the victory went to new debutants – Amet Memetov and Ventseslav Raichinov on SEAT Cupra TCR from SU RT. Notably, just before the race, due to a second gearbox failure of the weekend, one of the favorites in the GT Pro Touring category, VMPAUTO Racing from Saint Petersburg, had to withdraw. Their fellow locals from Carville Racing and Real Performance stepped in to take second and third places on the podium of the subclass.

      In the GT Light category, amid difficulties faced by Obagra RT, which after Friday's practice had to urgently replace both main cars with other equipment, and other favorites, success was achieved by Sergey and Dmitry Gorbatенко, Andrey Pryamichkin, and Yevgeny Pismarov from Club SEAT RT. The podium was completed by teams PravilaSporta and HOGO, racing with BMW sedans.

      Judicial decisions also had a significant impact on the final results. For rule violations and drivers continuously exceeding two hours behind the wheel, three crews received 5-minute Stop&Go penalties: Nos.777 and 53 from Mazda Karting Academy, and No.55 GNV Kamenskiy Racing.

      Results of the third stage of the Russian Endurance Series

      Overall winners

      Capital RT No.013 (Remenyako Denis, Aleshin Mikhail)

      GT Pro Class

      1. CapitaIRT No.013 (Remenyako Denis, Aleshin Mikhail)

      2. YADRO Motorsport No.16 (Stolyarov Sergey, Salikhov Rinat)

      3. DRTeam No.8 (Denisov Alexey, Titarenko Viktor, Titarenko Sergey)

      CN Pro Class

      1. TEAMGARIS No.29 (Zakharovskiy Konstantin, Terechenko Konstantin, Sidoruk Stanislav)

      2. SVL CSKA Racing No.31 (Khairov Alexey, Chernov Alexey)

      3. BALCHUG Racing No.21 (Kirakozov Kirill, Geshev Alim)

      GT Class

      1. YADRO Motorsport No.48 (Shaitar Viktor)

      2. RSCar Motorsport No.28 (Silaev Nikita, Nesov Alexey)

      3. SHISHKOIL&YUKA ADV PRO. RACING TEAM No.1 (Shishko Dmitry, Loboda Mikhail)

      GT Pro Touring (GT Pro subclass)

      1. SU RT No.86 (Memetov Amet, Raichinov Ventseslav)

      2. Carville Racing No.38 (Lviv Alexander, Palmyn Ivan, Voronov Dmitry)

      3. Real Performance No.24 (Larionov Ilya, Perfilev Vladislav)

      GT Light Class

      1. Club Seat RT No.444 (Gorbatенко Sergey, Gorbatенко Dmitry, Pryamichkin Andrey, Pismarov Yevgeny)

      2. PravilaSporta No.45 (Gorin Ilya, Khotenko Anton, Barsukov Roman)

      3. HOGO No.11 (Prakhov Vsevolod, Kvashnin Konstantin, Kozlov Dmitry)