Roman Aleksandrovich Rusinov ( rus, Рома́н Алекса́ндрович Ру́синов, p=rɐˈman ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈrusʲɪnəv, born 21 October 1981 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

) is a Russian

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primaril ...

driver who competed in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Interco ...

with G-Drive Racing from the Championship's first season in 2012 until 2021. Rusinov was the first Russian driver to win an international race in Europe; in 2000 he won the International Renault Finals in French

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

. In 2002 he led the Formula Palmer Audi championship till the last event, but collided with his main rival and finished third overall. In 2003 he competed in Euro Formula 3000, taking a

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around the village a ...

. The same year he won the LMP675 class at the first race of the

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the f ...

, the 1000 km of Le Mans. In 2004, Rusinov raced with Ferrari Modena and became the Le Mans Series Champion in the GT2 class. In 2005, he competed in a

Maserati MC12 The Maserati MC12 (''Tipo M144S'') is a limited production two-seater sports car produced by Italian car maker Maserati to allow a racing variant to compete in the FIA GT Championship. The car entered production in 2004, with 25 cars produced. ...

in the

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

and was appointed one of Russia's A1GP drivers. The A1GP team lasted only three events before running out of funding. In 2006, Rusinov was one of four test drivers signed to

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...

team MF1 Racing. The team's owner, Russian-born

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

businessman Alex Shnaider, had announced an ambition to get a Russian driver into F1. Rusinov participated in the first MF1 tests at Jerez, but was the only test driver not to participate in at least one Friday practice session, due to the absence of Russian sponsors on the MF1 Racing car and the difficult financial situation of the team. In 2008, Rusinov switched to endurance racing, driving a

Reiter Engineering Reiter Engineering GmbH & Co Kg, commonly known simply as Reiter Engineering, is a German racing team and racing car manufacturer established in 2000 by motorsport engineer Hans Reiter. Reiter was a partner of Lamborghini from 2000 to 2014, invo ...

-prepared Lamborghini Murcielago racing under the IPB SPARTAK RACING name in the FIA GT Championship and the Le Mans Series, and a

Lamborghini Gallardo The Lamborghini Gallardo (; ) is a sports car built by the Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini from 2003 to 2013. It is Lamborghini's second car released under parent company Audi, and List of best-selling automobiles, best-selling model ...

in the ADAC GT Masters series. In the latter series he won two of the three races, with his driving partner

Peter Kox Peter Kox (born 23 February 1964 in Eindhoven) is a racing driver from the Netherlands. Kox began racing in karts in 1978, winning five titles until 1982. In 1983 he moved to automobiles, winning the Marlboro Formula Ford Challenge and was se ...

. In 2012 Rusinov entered the inaugural running of the

, joining the reigning

Intercontinental Le Mans Cup The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (shortened ILMC) was an endurance sports car racing tournament organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) started in 2010.

champions Signatech-Nissan from round two onwards. In 2013 Rusinov's association with G-Drive began, with the

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the largest ...

brand sponsoring the 28 car entered as "G-Drive Racing by Delta- ADR." In subsequent years until 2021 the brand and Rusinov moved through several other partnerships as they expanded across WEC and additional teams in the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

. In 2022 the team formally entered the 53 car to ELMS under "G-Drive Racing." However, on 6 March 2022 Rusinov announced via an Instagram post that the team would not be competing, citing that he was not willing to sign off the conditions of competition for Russian athletes introduced by the FIA in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Racing record

Career summary

† Guest driver ineligble to score points ‡ Teams' Standings

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete European Le Mans Series results

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Notes

References

Roman Rusinov page on FIAGT.com

Roman Rusinov page on GTMasters.org

Roman Rusinov page on LeMans-Series.com

Driver for Reiter Engineering

Driver for IPB SPARTAK Racing

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rusinov, Roman 1981 births Living people Russian racing drivers French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers A1 Team Russia drivers Auto GP drivers Formula Palmer Audi drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers European Le Mans Series drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Sportspeople from Moscow 24H Series drivers G-Drive Racing drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers OAK Racing drivers Graff Racing drivers Signature Team drivers Sports car racing team owners EuroInternational drivers TDS Racing drivers W Racing Team drivers Phoenix Racing drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers Piquet GP drivers Jota Sport drivers Alan Docking Racing drivers