Shota Abkhazava (, born 12 August 1971) is a Georgian-Russian-Kazakh race car designer,

racing driver 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 ...

, businessman and owner of

race tracks A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

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 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

Racing

In 1993 Abkhazava graduated from the Moscow State Automobile and Road Technical University (MADI) trained as race cars engineer. While studying, he was involved into the "Astrada" and "Gardarika"

single seater 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 ...

projects. He worked in the MADI Laboratory of Sport Cars, a famous Soviet and Russian car design bureau. In 1998 he established his first race cars design company and a team named "Pilot F3 Engineering". In 1999 the team competed in the very front in the

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 ...

Championship of Russia, with Italian driver Fabio Babini at the wheel of the most up-to-date Formula 3 car "

Dallara Dallara Group S.r.l. is the largest multi-national Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Giampaolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' M ...

F399". A year after, the team has changed its name to "

ArtLine Engineering ArtLine Engineering () is a auto racing, racing team and race car manufacturer based in Russia and Georgia (country), Georgia and specialized on design and production of single seater race cars named ArtTech. The team was established in 1998 ...

", and in 2001 another Italian pilot, Maurizio Mediani, brought the first Champion's title to ArtLine. In 2003 Abkhazava moulded the team from Formula 3 into the national Formula 1600. After a year he announced that the team is ready to use new chassis of its own design, named ArtTech. Meanwhile, for the first time he was elected into the Committee for Circuit Racing of the Russian Automobile Federation as a coordinator of the national Formula 1600. In November 2004 the ArtTech race car was presented to public during "Sport Motor Tuning Exhibition" in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. In 2005 he run one of the first Russian

sports marketing Sports marketing as a concept has established itself as a branch of marketing over the past few decades; however, a generally accepted definition does not exist. Academicians Kaser and Oelkers (2005, p. 9) define sports marketing as 'using spor ...

seminars, "Sportsmarketing 2005". Managed by Abkhazava, Formula 1600 was top-ranked as "class of the year" by Russian leading motorsports blog "iloveracing.ru". Abkhazava initiated his first race track project " ADM Raceway" at the Miachkovo airfield. On 23 July 2006 new circuit hosted the first official competitions. After Neva-Ring circuit in St-Petersburg was destroyed, Miachkovo became the only permanent circuit in the Western part of the country, effectively saving national circuit racing from death. Shota Abkhazava 3

In 2006 Abkhazava argued against Russian Automobile Federation accusing them of deviation from democratic principles. In 2007 he was often invited to be a guest of "Countdown" TV program, a part of

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

live broadcast to Russia on the RenTV channel. The team won Russian Championship and several laps of the Formula 3 Championship of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. In September 2008, for the first time in history, Abkhazava introduced North Europe Formula 3 Cup (NEZ Cup) that was held at the ADM Raceway near Moscow. At the end of the year he brought to Russia new racing class " Legend Cars" which produced in Harrisburg, NC. In December he took part in the

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Grand Finals of the Legend cars and came second in the Semi-Pro group. In 2009 Abkhazava's team started to compete in the German ATS Formula-3 Cup with its own chassis ArtTech and won Trophy title. Abkhazava went to Georgian market as a businessman and sport event organizer. In the meantime he raced in Russian and Georgian Legends competitions and won both the titles. Raceway ADM

After successful season of 2010, Abkhazava announced that since 2011 the Formula-3 team moves to the most competitive class of the German cup, "League A". In October 2011 he came first in Spa in the final stage of EU Legends Championship. In December 2011 Abkhazava proceeded with

Rustavi Rustavi ( ka, რუსთავი ) is a city in the southeast of Georgia, in the region of Kvemo Kartli and southeast of capital Tbilisi. It has a population of 127,154 (January 2024), making it the third most populous city in Georgia. Its eco ...

race track reconstruction with $25-million private investments of his own. The track is officially opened in April 2012, getting a new name of "

Rustavi International Motorpark The Rustavi International Motorpark is a motor racing venue located south-east of Tbilisi, Georgia. History Rustavi was the last race track built in the USSR. Opened in 1978, the original Rustavi circuit was in length with a width of at the s ...

". Acting as a president of local motorsport governing body, Georgian AutoSport Association (GASA), within a year he established two new racing series, Legends and Formula Alfa that puts Georgia on the top motorsports level among the

Post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

Racing career

, the Drivers Database reports that Abkhazava has participated in 162 races and won 45 of them. In 2008 he came second in the Legends World Finals as a semi-pro driver and in 2011 he finished third in Pro division. Since 2008, he also won Russian Legend Cup title three times. In the 2012 Georgian Championship he was top-ranked with the most wins (6), pole-positions (7) and fastest laps (3). In 2014, Abkhazava joined the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo series, the "fastest brand trophy of the world", for Automobili Lamborghini Racing Team Luxemburg. He started the season at

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

, achieving second position of the standings after taking two second places in the AM group and 11th overall. In 2015, Shota Abkhazava won the AM title, racing with his own team Artline Georgia. He is currently competing in the 2020 Russian Circuit Racing Series for ArtLine in the Sports Prototype CN class in a Legends car.

External links

Rustavi International Motorpark

ADM Raceway Moscow

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abkhazava, Shota Russian racing drivers Living people 1971 births Russian Circuit Racing Series drivers Georgian racing drivers Lamborghini Super Trofeo drivers Racing drivers from Moscow Kazakhstani racing drivers