2015 SMP F4 Championship

The 2015 SMP F4 Championship season in motorsport, was the inaugural season of the SMP F4 Championship, a racing series regulated according to FIA Formula 4 regulations. It was a motor racing series for the North European Zone (NEZ) held in Estonia, Finland and Russia. The 2015 season began on 16 May at Ahvenisto in Finland[1] and finished on 3 October at the auto24ring in Estonia,[2] after seven triple header rounds.

The series' inaugural champion was Finnish driver Niko Kari in his first season of car racing.[3] Kari took seven overall wins (including a weekend sweep at Moscow Raceway) during the 2015 season, but also added five class victories behind British driver Enaam Ahmed – who was ineligible to score championship points – for a total of twelve during the season. Kari finished over 150 points clear of his next closest rival, Vladimir Atoev; Atoev won three races, all coming on the same weekend at Alastaro. Third place in the championship was settled in the final race in Estonia; Nerses Isaakyan took five runner-up positions in six races which allowed him to overhaul Aleksanteri Huovinen in the championship standings. Huovinen was another three-time race winner; winning twice at Ahvenisto and once at Moscow Raceway. Two other drivers won races in 2015 as Aleksey Korneev won races at Moscow Raceway and Sochi, while Nikita Troitskiy won the third race at Ahvenisto; the drivers finished fifth and sixth in the drivers' championship.

Drivers

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No. Driver Rounds
2   Ivan Matveev[4] All
3   Joel Eriksson[5] 1
5   Niko Kari[6] All
7   Nikita Troitskiy[4] 1–4, 6–7
10   Vladimir Atoev[4] All
12   Aleksanteri Huovinen[4] All
14   Simo Laaksonen[7] 3–4, 6–7
17   Nerses Isaakyan[4] All
21   Aleksey Korneev[8] All
23   Niclas Nylund[9] All
29   Denis Mavlanov[8] 1–5, 7
32   Roman Lebedev 6
34   Nikita Sitnikov[8] All
41   Aleksandr Vartanyan 5–6
65   Enaam Ahmed[10] 1, 3–5, 7
71   Semen Evstigneev[11] 1, 3–7
77   Aleksandr Maslennikov[8] All
96   Artem Kabakov[8] 1–3

Race calendar and results

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The round at Moscow Raceway, held over 5–7 June, was a support event to the FIA WTCC Race of Russia.[1] The original scheduled final meeting was scheduled to be held over 18–20 September at Sochi Autodrom,[12] but was first postponed to 2–3 October and later moved to the Auto24ring.[2]

Round Circuit, Location Date Pole Position Fastest Lap Winning Driver
1 R1   Ahvenisto Race Circuit, Hämeenlinna 16 May   Vladimir Atoev   Niko Kari   Aleksanteri Huovinen
R2 17 May   Aleksanteri Huovinen   Aleksanteri Huovinen
R3   Vladimir Atoev   Niko Kari   Nikita Troitskiy
2 R4   Moscow Raceway, Volokolamsk 6 June   Aleksey Korneev   Aleksanteri Huovinen   Aleksanteri Huovinen
R5 7 June   Niko Kari   Niko Kari
R6   Aleksey Korneev   Aleksey Korneev   Aleksey Korneev
3 R7   Sochi Autodrom, Sochi 20 June   Niko Kari   Vladimir Atoev   Niko Kari
R8 21 June   Niko Kari   Niko Kari
R9   Niko Kari   Niko Kari   Aleksey Korneev
4 R10   Alastaro Circuit, Loimaa 15 August   Vladimir Atoev   Vladimir Atoev   Vladimir Atoev
R11 16 August   Vladimir Atoev   Vladimir Atoev
R12   Vladimir Atoev   Nerses Isaakyan   Vladimir Atoev
5 R13   Auto24ring, Audru 29 August   Niko Kari   Vladimir Atoev   Enaam Ahmed
R14   Niclas Nylund   Enaam Ahmed
R15   Niko Kari   Nerses Isaakyan   Niko Kari
6 R16   Moscow Raceway, Volokolamsk 5 September   Nerses Isaakyan   Niko Kari   Niko Kari
R17 6 September   Niko Kari   Niko Kari
R18   Nerses Isaakyan   Niko Kari   Niko Kari
7 R19   Auto24ring, Audru 3 October   Enaam Ahmed   Niko Kari   Enaam Ahmed
R20   Nikita Troitskiy   Enaam Ahmed
R21   Enaam Ahmed   Vladimir Atoev   Enaam Ahmed

Championship standings

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Pos Driver AHV
 
MSC
 
SOC
 
ALA
 
AUD
 
MSC
 
AUD
 
Pts
1   Niko Kari 2 Ret 2 2 1 2 1 1 4 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 449
2   Vladimir Atoev 3 2 4 3 5 8 3 3 8 1 1 1 5 3 2 10 5 10 4 3 5 296
3   Nerses Isaakyan 4 13† 5 5 4 6 7 8 3 3 Ret 4 6 Ret 5 2 2 2 3 5 3 234
4   Aleksanteri Huovinen 1 1 6 1 2 3 4 Ret 12 7 6 9 7 4 8 6 4 5 5 8 11 229
5   Aleksey Korneev 10 Ret 7 NC 7 1 2 2 1 4 3 7 8 5 4 9 Ret 6 11 9 6 191
6   Nikita Troitskiy Ret 6 1 Ret 6 5 DNS 6 2 8 Ret 12 5 3 3 10 4 9 149
7   Niclas Nylund Ret 9 8 9 Ret 4 5 5 6 6 4 8 3 7 Ret 3 13† 4 13 10 Ret 136
8   Ivan Matveev 6 5 13† 10 10 10 8 7 5 9 Ret 5 4 6 3 13 9 7 6 6 Ret 131
9   Nikita Sitnikov 8 7 14† 4 3 7 12 Ret 7 13 Ret 10 10 10 7 12 6 9 9 7 4 104
10   Aleksandr Maslennikov 9 8 10 6 9 9 10 Ret Ret 10 7 Ret 9 9 12† 7 7 Ret 8 Ret 8 66
11   Simo Laaksonen 6 10 Ret 11 5 6 8 8 8 7 11 7 60
12   Joel Eriksson 12 4 3 30
13   Artem Kabakov 7 10 Ret 7 8 11 14 11† Ret 21
14   Denis Mavlanov 11 12 12 8 11 DSQ 11 9 10 14 8 11 12 12 11 12 12 10 20
15   Aleksandr Vartanyan 11 11 10 4 10 11 17
16   Semen Evstigneev Ret 11 11 13 Ret 11 12 Ret Ret 13 8 9 11 11 13† 14 Ret DSQ 13
Drivers with non-NEZ licence ineligible for championship points
-   Enaam Ahmed 5 3 9 9 4 9 5 9† 3 1 1 6 1 1 1 0
-   Roman Lebedev 14 12 12 0
Pos Driver AHV
 
MSC
 
SOC
 
ALA
 
AUD
 
MSC
 
AUD
 
Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

References

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  1. ^ a b "SMP F4 CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON 2015 PROVISIONAL CALENDAR". SMP F4 Championship. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  2. ^ a b "The SMP F4 Championship closes in Auto24ring, Estonia". SMP F4 Championship. SMP Racing. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Niko Kari claims the SMP F4 Championship title". SMP F4 Championship. SMP Racing. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Five drivers join the 2015 SMP F4 Championship". SMP F4 Championship. 21 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Joel Eriksson". SMP F4 Championship. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  6. ^ Allen, Peter (10 January 2015). "Top Finnish karter Kari is first driver for Koiranen's F4 series". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  7. ^ "IT'S TIME FOR THE SMP F4 DRIVERS TO TAKE ON THE SOCHI AUTODROM". SMP F4 Championship. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  8. ^ a b c d e "FIVE NEW DRIVERS SIGNED TODAY FOR THE SMP F4". SMP F4 Championship. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  9. ^ Khorounzhiy, Valentin (22 April 2015). "Niclas Nylund makes SMP F4 switch". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  10. ^ David, Gruz (24 April 2015). "Ahmed adds part-time SMP F4 campaign to 2015 programme". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  11. ^ "SEMYON EVSTIGNEEV, THE TENTH RUSSIAN DRIVER ANNOUNCED FOR SMP F4". SMP F4 Championship. 28 April 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  12. ^ "Sochi Round 7 to be postponed to the 2-3 of October". SMP F4 Championship. SMP Racing. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
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