Aleksey Nikolayevich Dudukalo ( rus, Алексе́й Никола́евич Дудука́ло, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪdʑ dʊdʊˈkalə; born 6 October 1976) is a

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

driver. He raced in the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sing ...

between 2011 and 2013.

Career

Early years

Dudukalo started his racing career in 1995 in

autocross Autocross is a form of motorsport in which competitors are timed to complete a short course using automobiles on a dirt or grass surface, excepting where sealed surfaces are used in United States. Rules vary according to the governing or sanctioni ...

racing. Five years later he switched to single–seaters. Dudukalo competed in Russian Formula 1600, where he was third in 2004 (his best result in open wheel series). He has very successful in the Supertourism/Tourism 1600 (champion in 2003) and the Russian Honda Civic Cup/Super Light Cup (champion in 2004–06), as well as the Touring-Light class of the

Russian Touring Car Championship The Russian Circuit Racing Series (RCRS) is a national Russian racing series created in 2004. It started with four classes: touring, super-production, touring-light, and national class; and national-junior was added in 2015. Sergey Krylov was t ...

(champion in 2008 and 2009). In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

he finished 20th in the

SEAT León Eurocup The SEAT León Eurocup was a one-make touring car racing series which uses SEAT Leóns, run by SEAT Sport. Background The championship began in 2008, making its debut at Circuit de Valencia, as a support series for the World Touring Car Champi ...

for Rangoni Motorsport. He also competed in the

SEAT León Supercopa The SEAT León Supercopa was a one-make racing series, organised by SEAT Sport, the motorsport division of Spanish car manufacturer SEAT. It used a modified version of the SEAT León road car, and championships have been run in Spain, Germany, Italy ...

with the same team. For

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Dudukalo switched to

Sunred Engineering Sunred (short for ''Sun Race Engineering Development S.L.'') is a Spanish-based auto racing team and constructor. They are best known for competing in the World Touring Car Championship. Racing History While in the past Sunred had participated i ...

. He improved to seventh position in standings with a win at

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

World Touring Car Championship

Lukoil-SUNRED (2011)

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Dudukalo moved up to the

, continuing his collaboration with SUNRED where he was joined by

Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini (born 2 March 1962) is an Italian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between and , and World Touring Car from to 2021. In touring car racing, Tarquini won the World Touring Car Championship in with SEAT; ...

. He only scored points twice and finished the season 21st in the drivers' standings.

Lukoil Racing Team (2012)

Dudukalo was retained alongside Tarquini for

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

with the team now run by

Lukoil Racing Lukoil Racing team is the leading Russian motorsport organization; its operations including management, driver training and support, engineering expertise and a quality technical environment, which enables continuous development, building, testing ...

. He had qualified eighth for the Race of Spain when his SEAT León WTCC caught fire in parc ferme. He qualified a career best second for the Race of Slovakia and finished in that position in race one behind his teammate to complete a Lukoil Racing Team 1–2, Dudukalo was also the

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

Independents' Trophy winner. However race two saw Dudukalo issued with a drive through penalty as all four of his wheels were not on the ground when the five-minute board was shown on the grid. He started on pole position for race two of the Race of Austria but was overtaken at the start by the

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

s of

Tom Coronel Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim Coronel, Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Masters of Formula 3, Marlboro Mast ...

and

Stefano D'Aste Stefano D'Aste (born 26 February 1974 in Genoa) is an Italian auto racing driver. His early racing career included competing on motorcycles and the Monza International Rally. He has competed in the World Touring Car Championship between 2004 (wh ...

. Dudukalo was one of a few drivers who had to pit during the race for fresh tyres due to punctures. He clashed with former

rival Gábor Wéber at the Race of Portugal and went into a gravel trap but both drivers were able to return to the pits. He then clashed with

ROAL Motorsport ROAL Motorsport (previously known as Ravaglia Motorsport) is an Italian auto racing team, which operated the BMW Team Italy-Spain team in the World Touring Car Championship, and currently competes as BMW Team Italia in the Italian GT Championship ...

Alberto Cerqui Alberto Cerqui (born 20 June 1992, in Brescia) is an Italian racing driver. He has competed in the World Touring Car Championship. Career Single seaters After winning titles in karting, Cerqui graduated to single-seater racing in 2009, racing in ...

in race two of the Race of Brazil which caused Cerqui to crash into the pit wall. At the Race of the United States, having made it through to Q2 he beached his car near the end of the first session and brought the red flags out. He was then caught in a pileup at the start of race one which forced him to retire. A clash with

Mehdi Bennani Mehdi Bennani (, born 25 August 1983) is a Morocco, Moroccan racing driver who currently competes in the TCR Europe with Sébastien Loeb Racing. He was TCR Europe Champion in 2020 with the Belgian team Comtoyou Racing. He became the first Morocc ...

in the first race of the Race of Japan earned Dudukalo a 30–second post race penalty. He was classified fifteenth in the drivers' championship although still some way off his teammate.

Lukoil Lada Sport (2013)

Dudukalo was signed to race alongside James Thompson at Lukoil Lada Sport for

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. During qualifying for the Race of Italy Dudukalo missed the braking point for the first chicane and collided with his teammate. Dudukalo was given a five–place grid drop for race one following the collision with Thompson. Lada later withdrew both of their cars prior to the races as neither could be repaired in time to participate. The incident put Dudukalo's seat in doubt with the team considering bringing in a replacement driver. Prior to the Race of Morocco he was replaced at the team by

Mikhail Kozlovskiy Mikhail Kozlovskiy ( Russian: Михаил Сергеевич Козловский, born 17 October 1989 in Leningrad) is a Russian auto racing driver. He won the Russian Touring Car Championship in 2010 ( RTCC – Touring-Light). He currently r ...

Racing record

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete TCR International Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Profile at fiawtcc.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dudukalo, Aleksey 1976 births Living people Racing drivers from Moscow Russian racing drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Russian Formula Three Championship drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers SEAT León Eurocup drivers European Touring Car Cup drivers TCR International Series drivers Russian Circuit Racing Series drivers Craft-Bamboo Racing drivers TCR Europe Touring Car Series drivers