The founder and head of the SMP Racing program, Boris Rotenberg, and SMP Racing drivers received special awards at the 2019 Automobile Sports Champions Award Ceremony, which took place on March 14 at the new Igora Drive sports and entertainment arena (in Leningrad Region).
The Russian Automobile Federation honored Boris Rotenberg in two special categories: "For the representation of Russian sports in the international arena" and "For contribution to the victory of the Russian team at the first FIA World Motorsports Games." The first award is for the outstanding achievements of SMP Racing, the second is for helping train athletes who joined the Russian team and won the gold medal at the first FIA World Motorsport Games.
SMP Racing driver Robert Shwartzman received ‘the Victory of the Year‘ award for his FIA Formula 3 2019 championship title.
For the fourth time, the champion’s cup was awarded to Dmitry Samorukov, CEO of the SMP Racing program, for his victory in the Russian Drag Racing Championship.
The winner in the ‘Podium of the Year’ nomination was the SMP Racing team, the bronze medalist of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 2019. Boris Rotenberg and drivers Mikhail Aleshin, Vitaly Petrov, Egor Orudzhev, Sergey Sirotkin went on the stage for a special award.
SMP Racing driver Vitaly Petrov was also invited to the ceremony to award the winner in the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ nomination - it was awarded to a sports judge of the first category, Kirill Yatskevich, a marshal with ten years of experience in competitions.
The winners of the Russian Circuit Racing Series (SMP RCRS) and the Russian Drag Racing Championship (SMP RDRC), sponsored and organized by the SMP Racing program, received their the awards at the ceremony as well.
The SMP Formula 4 series of the Eurasian zone was also presented at the ceremony - a new junior championship in the Formula 4 class. It will be launched in 2021 and take place at the racetracks of seven countries: Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. There will be a transitional stage for young drivers: graduated karting drivers will take their first steps towards their main goal - participation in Formula 1.
“It is very honorable to receive special awards from the professional community and personally the President of the Russian Automobile Federation, Viktor Nikolayevich Kiryanov,” Boris Rotenberg said. “The SMP Racing program over the past year won many important victories in the world motorsport arena and honorably represented Russia. We continue to move forward and are confident that the upcoming season will give us many more reasons to be proud of our drivers.”
