SMP Racing Champions in ELMS after a hotly contested season in all categories

The season wasn’t all plain sailing for the No.72 SMP Ferrari F458 driven by the Italo-Russian trio of Andrea Bertolini, Sergey Zlobin and Viktor Shaitar. The latter, 2013 GTC ELMS title holder, was keen to show his upward progress and win the LMGTE crown; that now done and dusted.

Despite three LMGTE podium finishes to their name during the 2014 season (wins at Imola and Estoril and second place at Silverstone) and three pole positions (Silverstone, Red Bull Ring and Paul Ricard) the team wasn’t able to score big for the Red Bull Ring and Paul Ricard races.  After a season-long battle with the No.55 AF Corse entry, SMP arrived at Estoril for the grand finale with a deficit of 21 points to the Italians. They therefore had to give it absolutely everything and not make any mistakes to clinch the c2014 LMGTE championship title, and hope for a little luck.  That turned towards them when AF Corse’s Duncan Cameron hit trouble early in the race and had to pass agonisingly long minutes in the pits, handing the Russians the title on a plate.

SMP Racing’s cars also had to elbow their way to victory in the GTC class. With four podiums (3rd at Silverstone, Imola and Red Bull Ring, and a win at Paul Ricard), the points difference was a little less critical going into the final round as Olivier Beretta, David Markosov and Anton Ladygin were ‘only’ 18.5 points ahead of the Ferrari No.60 Formula Racing F458. The Russian Ferrari had absolutely to finish no lower than 6th place to steal the title from its Danish rival and in the end the points for the third place in which it finished gave the team its second consecutive title in the category.

Boris Rotenberg, team boss (also entered in the FIA World Endurance Championship) was delighted with the result:  “First of all I would like to thank the organisers of the ELMS for their great professionalism in organising the events which allowed us to achieve these great results. Last year, which was a debut for the team, we entered and won the GTC class.  Now we have two trophies – again in GTC and in the GTE, a class that was new for the team and which we won at our first attempt. Our team is dynamically developing and maturing.  I am grateful to the technicians, mechanics, engineers and, of course, the drivers. We managed to create between us a very united team which was the basis for our success.”

Andrea Bertolini: “It was an incredible season with some ups and downs but the SMP team was focused until the end!!! We were always strong in terms of performance but we had some bad luck at Zeltweg and Ricard. The team has always made an incredible effort to be on top and everything was well organised.  On Saturday at Estoril we had a “special” briefing where Boris gave us a strong motivating speech to be ready for Sunday.  I’m very happy and proud to be part of the team and champion with SMP RACING!!!! Never give up and max attack! Thank you to everyone for this great season.” 

Sergey Zlobin:  “We wanted to win in two categories and we did it. We didn’t quite reach our maximum programme as we wanted to take 1st and 2nd places in GTC, but we took 1st and 3rd.  We have won the European Le Mans Series two years in a row and, for this we want to thank the team, the drivers, the organisers and all those who were with us. My special pride is the fact that our driver Viktor Shaitar has become a two-time winner of the European championship, earlier in the GTC class, and now in GTE. Kirill Ladygin – last year’s winner in GTC – was a good example for Anton Ladygin, who repeated his brother’s achievement this season.  I am glad that the season went well, it all came together as it must.”  

Viktor Shaitar:  “The season with SMP Racing Ferrari in LMGTE was great for me. We had some highs and lows during the season and at the start of the final race at Estoril we had a tight chance to win. We put our biggest effort to the race and managed to finish first in class while the circumstances of the race led us to overall first position in GTE. My great thanks to the team and everyone who supported us in the season.”

Olivier Beretta :  “My first season with SMP Racing has been a wonderful challenge for me, but it has also been a human adventure as I have been surrounded by great people that I now consider as friends! We have won this Championship which I am really proud of and I hope there will be more in the future! Boris is an amazing team leader and gives strength to SMP Racing. Long life to the team and keep pushing!”

Anton Ladygin:  “This season was, for me, the first full season behind the wheel of the Ferrari 458 Italia GTC. In the GTC class there were a lot of strong crews. The whole year we successfully fought for the podium, but the hardest race was the last round in Estoril. At the start there were many dangerous situations, which sometimes we miraculously managed to avoid. I started in 8th position, and gradually we were able to reduce the gap and finish in 4th place. I am grateful to the SMP Racing team for the opportunity to participate in ELMS behind the wheel of a Ferrari.”  

David Markozov:  “Since the beginning of the season I have been very happy about the constant progress and the podiums at each race. We had strong rivals, many of them I saw previously only on TV, fighting side by side with us, and we won. It was an amazing feeling. Understanding of the champion’s title comes gradually over time. The finish of the season was very positive. Our next objective is the world championship.”