Twelve crews will compete for points, including two Aeroexpress Racing crews, who have already won as many as 136 points. In Smolensk, Nikolai Gryazin will join the team for his debut race in this Cup. The first two stages saw his brother – rally prize winner Vasily Gryazin – take part instead of Nikolai.Nikolai himself began the season by passing the requirements when taking part in the ‘National’ racing class during the Russian Racing Championship, and the Russian Automobile Federation allowed him to participate in a faster class for the LADA Granta Cup. “The forthcoming stage of the Cup will give us the chance to reduce the gap between the series’ leaders, and even end up ahead. We are familiar with the Smolensk track; we have conducted tests and prepared our cars,” said Rustam Akiniazov from the Aeroexpress Racing Team. “We are glad that Nikolai Gryazin will finally join our team. He already demonstrates confident performance and high speed results, suggesting that he has a big future in terms of the LADA Granta Cup, while the team is interested in training a young and promising racer.”
Together with the FIA ETRC and LADA Granta Cup, Smolensk will host one more national event – the Formula Russia racing series, which will include Mikhail Loboda from the Aeroexpress Racing Team. With three stages now complete, the racer has firmly settled among the series’ leaders and his plans for Smolensk include nothing other than a victory.“This is going to be a difficult racing weekend. Simultaneous participation in two competitions requires high concentration and more energy than usual. I will have the opportunity to thoroughly examine the track, practicing and competing both on an open-wheel car and on a charged Granta,” commented Michael Loboda from the Aeroexpress Racing Team. “For me as a racer, it will be a peculiar challenge to achieve the best results in both series.”
The Aeroexpress Racing Team benefits from informational support provided by Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Autosport.com.ru, the Russian version of this leading English racing website, and the Komsomolskaya Pravda radio station.
The Aeroexpress Racing Team’s sponsors: Aeroexpress, LLC; AKB MOSOBLBANK; RailTransAvto, and Komponent company.