Egor Alekseevich Orudzhev ( rus, Его́р Алексе́евич Ору́джев, p=ɪˈɡor ɐˈrudʐɨf, born 16 October 1995) is a Russian racing driver.

Early career

Karting

Born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Orudzhev entered

karting Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

in 2006, when he finished as runner-up in the Russian Karting Championship in the Mini class, before he became champion in the Russian KF3 Championship in 2009. Also in 2009 he moved to the international scene, where he too competed in the KF3 category. He progressed into the KF2 category in 2011, finishing third in the WSK Euro Series.

Lower formulae

In 2012, Orudzhev made his debut in

single-seaters An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...

, taking part in the

French F4 Championship French F4 Championship, formerly known as Formula Renault Campus France, Formula Campus, Formul'Academy Euro Series, F4 Eurocup 1.6 is a form of open wheel racing founded in 1993 by Louis Drouet. It is based in France and aims at karting gradua ...

. He closed the top ten in the series standings with seven point-scoring finishes, including two podiums — a second and a third at the

Bugatti Circuit The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport Race track, race course, chiefly known as the venue fo ...

. He also contested single rounds in both Formula Renault 2.0 Alps and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with

AV Formula AVF formerly AV Formula, was a Spanish motor racing team, run by former racing driver Adrián Vallés. History After retiring from racing, Vallés formed his own team at the end of 2012, under the name Av Formula. In October 2012 the team began by ...

and

Fortec Motorsport Fortec Motorsport Ltd. is a motor-racing team that races in the GB3 Championship, GB4 Championship, and F4 British Championship. The team was bought in 1995 by current owner Richard Dutton. Past drivers for the team include Juan Pablo Montoya, ...

s respectively. For 2013, Orudzhev moved to

Tech 1 Racing Tech 1 Racing is a racing team based in Toulouse, France. Founded in 2000 by racing driver Simon Abadie and his sister Sarah, it has garnered success in the World Series by Renault, the Eurocup Mégane Trophy and the GP3 Series, most notably ...

for full-season campaigns in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Alps. In the Eurocup, he took a podium finish in the opening race of the season at Motorland Aragon, as well as another eight point-scoring finishes. In the Alps championship, he finished fifth with two podiums at Misano and

Imola Imola (; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical region Romagna ...

. Having competed in the

Toyota Racing Series The Formula Regional Oceania Championship is New Zealand's premier formula racing category. The series includes races for every major trophy in New Zealand circuit racing including the New Zealand Motor Cup and the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy. ...

during the 2014 winter, where three victories, including his maiden single-seater triumph at

Teretonga Park Teretonga (meaning "Swift South" in Māori) is a motor racing circuit situated south-west of Invercargill, New Zealand. It is home of the Southland Sports Car Club. The circuit was established in 1957 and was the southernmost FIA-recognised ...

, helped him towards sixth place overall, Orudzhev stayed with Tech 1 for that year's Eurocup season. He ended up eighth in the standings, scoring three podiums. During the same year, the Russian made his

Formula Three Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

debut in

British Formula 3 The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single sea ...

, racing for Carlin, where he won his inaugural race at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. The village is about south-southwest of Towcester and northeast of Brackley, both accessed via the A43 road, A43 main ...

, starting from the front row.

Formula Renault 3.5

Orudzhev followed his three seasons in the Eurocup with a step-up to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, racing for Arden Motorsport. His season proved to be a breakthrough, as he not only convincingly beat his teammate — future Formula One driver

Nicholas Latifi Nicholas Daniel Latifi (; born 29 June 1995) is a Canadian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Born in Montreal and raised in Toronto, Latifi is the son of Iranian Canadians, Iranian-Canadian billionaire businessman ...

— but finished fifth in the standings as the second-highest rookie. Victories at the

Hungaroring The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtai ...

and the

in Le Mans were the highlights of his season, with Orudzhev scoring two further podiums. He remained in the championship, which had now been rebranded to the Formula V8 3.5 Series, for

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, once again driving with Arden. A total of six retirements cost the Russian a chance to fight for the title, as he won five races on his way to third in the standings, though his and teammate Aurélien Panis's efforts would be enough for Arden to be crowned teams' champions at the final round. In

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, Orudzhev switched to

, which would be branded to SMP Racing with AVF due to his sponsorship. Once again, a flurry of retirements separated Orudzhev from fully challenging eventual champion

Pietro Fittipaldi Pietro Fittipaldi da Cruz (born 25 June 1996) is a Brazilian and American racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Pratt Miller Motorsports, and in the 2025 European Le Mans Series, European Le Mans Series for Vector S ...

, though he was nonetheless able to claim ten podiums, including two wins. Orudzhev left the series with one round to go, which dropped him to sixth in the standings.

Sportscar career

During the summer of 2017, Orudzhev joined SMP Racing in the

LMP2 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

category of 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 ...

, partnering fellow V8 3.5 competitor Matevos Isaakyan for the final four races of the season. At their second race in Le Castellet, the pair performed a dominant drive to take their maiden victory in endurance racing. At the following round in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, Orudzhev led the effort, driving for three out of four hours and helping the team to another podium in third. They finished third again at the season finale, thereby claiming fourth place in the teams' standings. The following season, Orudzhev and the team raced in three rounds of the

ELMS 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 preparation for SMP's campaign in the top class of the

2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship The 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship was the seventh season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO ...

. Orudzhev drove the team's #17 entry, piloting a

BR Engineering BR1 The BR Engineering BR1 is a sports prototype non-hybrid racing car built for the SMP Racing and DragonSpeed teams. It is designed to meet the 2018 LMP1 regulations for Le Mans Prototypes in the FIA World Endurance Championship as well as at the ...

alongside

Stéphane Sarrazin Stéphane Jean-Marc Sarrazin (born 2 November 1975) is a French racing and rally driver. He has won races across a number of single-seater, sportscar and rallying disciplines and competitions, was French Formula Renault champion in 1994, and Le ...

and Isaakyan. Two crashes from Isaakyan in the first two races set the outfit back, although they would inherit their first podium at

when both

Toyotas is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

were disqualified. The car continued to not finish races for the rest of the season, with the only other points result being fourth at

Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

. At the start of the WEC's 2019–20 season, the Russian moved to

Team LNT Lawrence Neil Tomlinson (born 24 July 1964) is an English businessman, who with an estimated fortune of £550 million, who ranks 151st on the 2011 Sunday Times Rich List. Early life Tomlinson grew up in Batley, where he attended grammar sc ...

in order to pilot their

Ginetta G60-LT-P1 The Ginetta G60-LT-P1 is a non-hybrid Le Mans Prototype built by Ginetta Cars, Ginetta for use in the LMP1 category for the FIA World Endurance Championship, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The G60-LT-P1 had its competition debut at the 2018 ...

#5. At the season opener in

, the team benefited from troubles which befell fellow privateers

Rebellion Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

, finishing third overall, four laps down to the leading Toyotas. After two further rounds, Orudzhev left the team. After not racing in 2020, Orudzhev spent the next two years racing for the

Lukoil Racing Team 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 ...

in the touring class of the

Russian Circuit Racing Series 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. Sergei Krylov (racin ...

, winning a race in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and finishing second in the championship in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, narrowly losing out to

Dmitry Bragin Dmitry Aleksandrovich Bragin (, born 19 May 1982) is a Russian racing driver currently racing in the Russian Circuit Racing Series. As one of the most decorated racing drivers in his country, he has managed to become a champion in almost all lea ...

. In 2023, he entered the

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe The Lamborghini Super Trofeo is an international motor racing series. The Lamborghini Super Trofeo is the one-make championship organized by Lamborghini Squadra Corse. The series involves exclusively Huracán Super Trofeo Evo model cars in 3 co ...

in a Pro-Am lineup together with

Shota Abkhazava Shota Abkhazava (, born 12 August 1971) is a Georgian-Russian-Kazakh race car designer, Auto racing, racing driver, businessman and owner of race track, race tracks in Russia, Georgia (country), Georgia and Latvia. Racing In 1993 Abkhazava grad ...

, driving for ART-Line. The pair scored two class podiums.

Racing record

Career summary

† As Orudzhev was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete French F4 Championship results

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

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) † As Orudzhev was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) † As Orudzhev was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points

Complete World Series Formula V8 3.5 results

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

Complete European Le Mans Series results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Orudzhev, Egor 1995 births Living people Racing drivers from Saint Petersburg Russian racing drivers French F4 Championship drivers Formula Renault 2.0 Alps drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Toyota Racing Series drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers European Le Mans Series drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Carlin racing drivers Arden International drivers SMP Racing drivers Russian Circuit Racing Series drivers Auto Sport Academy drivers AV Formula drivers Tech 1 Racing drivers M2 Competition drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers Lamborghini Super Trofeo drivers GT2 European Series drivers