Russian Time (previously known as RT Russian Time) was a Russian motor racing team founded by Igor Mazepa to compete in the GP2 Series, a category of open-wheel racing cars designed to prepare drivers for Formula One.

Russia Russian Time
Founded2013
Founder(s)Igor Mazepa
Timo Rumpfkeil
Folded2018
BaseNorwich, Norfolk, England
Team principal(s)Svetlana Strelnikova
Former seriesFIA Formula 2 Championship
GP2 Series
Noted driversUnited Kingdom Sam Bird
New Zealand Mitch Evans
Italy Luca Ghiotto
Italy Raffaele Marciello
Russia Artem Markelov
Teams'
Championships
GP2 Series:
2013
FIA Formula 2 Championship:
2017
Websitehttp://www.rus-time.com

From 2015 to 2018, the team was managed by Virtuosi Racing.[1]

Racing history

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GP2 Series

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Russian Time was established by former Russian racing driver and manager Igor Mazepa and Motopark Academy team principal Timo Rumpfkeil in 2013.[2][3] The team had sought an entry to the GP2 Series for two years before finally being accepted in 2013, replacing iSport International.[3] iSport International withdrew from the series after being unable to secure a budget to compete in the upcoming season, and so its management elected to shut the team down in order to avoid bankruptcy.[4]

The team won its first race in only its fourth appearance, when Sam Bird won the sprint race of the Bahrain round of the championship.[5] The team took a second win on the streets of Monaco, with Bird finishing ahead of Kevin Ceccon after a fourteen-car pile-up on the opening lap forced nine drivers out of the race.[6] In 2014, the team made their debut in GP3 Series, taking Bamboo Engineering's slot and continue to participate in GP2, German Formula Three and ADAC Formel Masters.[7][8]

The team's preparations for the 2014 season were disrupted by the death of Mazepa from complications relating to thrombosis in February 2014.[9] Following this, Motopark Academy ended their partnership with team, leaving their participation in the 2014 GP2 and GP3 seasons in limbo.[10] The team reunited with iSport International to continue their GP2 programme, signing Mitch Evans and Artem Markelov, but chose to abandon their plans for their GP3 entry, selling it on to Hilmer Motorsport.

Evans and Markelov were retained for the 2015 season, the first time a GP2 team has entered back to back seasons with the same lineup since DAMS retained Kamui Kobayashi and Jérôme d'Ambrosio in 2009. But the team changed the management from iSport to Virtuosi Racing.[11] The team finished fifth in the team's championship, with two sprint race wins for Evans.

For the 2016 season, Markelov was retained for a third season with Raffaele Marciello joining the team. Markelov achieved his maiden victory at the Monaco feature race, having started fifteenth on the grid. Marciello finished fourth in the standings and Markelov tenth with the team taking third in the constructor's championship.

FIA Formula 2 Championship

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In 2017, Markelov remained with the team for a fourth season with Luca Ghiotto joining the team, moving from Trident.[12] Their combination brought six wins—five for Markelov and one for Ghiotto—and the first teams' title in the history of FIA Formula 2 Championship.[13] The team was omitted from the preliminary entry list for the 2018 championship,[14] but later confirmed their participation,[15] retaining Markelov and hiring European Formula 3 driver Tadasuke Makino to replace Ghiotto.[16][17] The team was not able to repeat their success with the new F2 car, finishing the season fourth in the teams' standings, while Markelov downgraded to fifth in the drivers' championship with three wins. Makino won a feature race at Monza, but finished outside the top-ten in the drivers' standings. The team were sold before the 2018 finale and became UNI-Virtuosi Racing.[18]

Results

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GP2 Series

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Year Car Run by Drivers Races Wins Poles F.L. Points D.C. T.C.
2013 Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Motopark Academy   Sam Bird 22 5 2 3 181 2nd 1st
  Tom Dillmann 22 0 1 2 92 10th
2014 Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome iSport International   Mitch Evans 22 2 0 1 174 4th 5th
  Artem Markelov 22 0 0 0 6 24th
2015 Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Virtuosi Racing   Mitch Evans 21 2 0 3 135 5th 5th
  Artem Markelov 21 0 0 0 48 13th
2016 Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Virtuosi Racing   Raffaele Marciello 22 0 0 0 159 4th 3rd
  Artem Markelov 22 1 0 3 97 10th

FIA Formula 2 Championship

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Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles F.L. Points D.C. T.C.
2017 Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome   Artem Markelov 22 5 1 6 210 2nd 1st
  Luca Ghiotto 22 1 0 0 185 4th
2018 Dallara F2 2018-Mecachrome   Artem Markelov 24 3 0 5 186 5th 4th
  Tadasuke Makino 24 1 0 0 48 13th

In detail

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GP2 Series

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Chassis
Engine
Tyres
Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 T.C. Points
2013 GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
SEP
FEA
SEP
SPR
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
MRN
FEA
MRN
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
1st 273
  Sam Bird 7 Ret 6 1 21 12 1 24 1 5 13 8 10 8 1 14 2 4 8 1 10 4
  Tom Dillmann 14 11 8 4 5 26 11 25 3 6 8 Ret 20 11 5 9 3 5 6 14 Ret DNS
2014 GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SOC
FEA
SOC
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
5th 180
  Mitch Evans 14 7 14 20 2 6 7 4 1 7 1 11 12 9 5 4 3 20 2 4 3 5
  Artem Markelov 15 10 11 Ret Ret Ret 21 16 18 17 Ret 12 16 20 7 Ret 21 Ret 16 12 Ret 19
2015 GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SOC
FEA
SOC
SPR
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
5th 183
  Mitch Evans 6 17 2 DNS Ret DNS 10 5 Ret 20 17 22 5 3 3 1 11 8 3 1 3 C
  Artem Markelov 13 12 12 5 Ret 14 5 DSQ 21 14 22 18 3 5 5 14 Ret 12 16 8 Ret C
2016 GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
BAK
FEA
BAK
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SEP
FEA
SEP
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
3rd 256
  Raffaele Marciello 8 5 6 3 3 11 3 4 9 6 4 8 3 7 4 5 2 14 6 2 10 13
  Artem Markelov 4 4 1 8 Ret 5 Ret 11 10 12 9 4 Ret 9 5 21 10 10 DNS 13 3 7

FIA Formula 2 Championship

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Year Chassis
Engine
Tyres
Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 T.C. Points
2017 GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
BAK
FEA
BAK
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
JER
FEA
JER
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
1st 395
  Luca Ghiotto 7 2 2 7 5 4 16 7 14 4 6 2 6 8 2 3 4 1 7 4 3 5
  Artem Markelov 1 8 8 9 2 5 4 5 8 1 4 3 17 9 1 Ret 9 15 5 1 1 6
2018 F2 2018
Mecachrome
P
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
BAK
FEA
BAK
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
LEC
FEA
LEC
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SOC
FEA
SOC
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
4th 234
  Artem Markelov 3 1 Ret Ret 8 9 1 4 14 14 8 1 6 4 8 13 6 5 2 2 11 5 2 7
  Tadasuke Makino 19 17 9 9 9 Ret 14 Ret 8 Ret 7 6 12 11 9 12 12 11 1 14 10 11 9 Ret

References

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  1. ^ "Virtuosi to run Russian Time GP2 team". eurosport.com. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  2. ^ Игорь Мазепа: Мы ведём переговоры с Диллманом и Фряйнсом (in Russian). F1news.ru. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  3. ^ a b Kabanovsky, Aleksander (5 March 2013). "Russian Time hopes Motopark tie-up will build driver ladder into F1". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  4. ^ Bradley, Charles (22 February 2013). "iSport on verge of selling GP2 entry". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  5. ^ Bradley, Charles (21 April 2013). "Bahrain GP2: Bird wins thrilling sprint race victory by 0.08s". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  6. ^ Bradley, Charles (24 May 2013). "Monaco GP2: Sam Bird wins in Monte Carlo again". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  7. ^ Allen, Peter (27 September 2013). "Russian Time joins GP3 field for 2014". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  8. ^ "Lotus team to compete in the 2014 ATS Formula 3 Cup". German Formula Three Championship. Formel-3-Vereinigung e.V. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2013. We will contest the ADAC Formula Masters, the GP3 and GP2 in 2014. Therefore we can pave the way for young talents to smoothly advance from karting towards Formula 1. We will announce the drivers shortly before the end of the year.
  9. ^ Allen, Peter (5 February 2014). "Russian Time team principal Igor Mazepa dies". Formula Scout. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Motopark splits with Russian Time following Igor Mazepa's death - F2 - Autosport". Autosport. 17 February 2014.
  11. ^ Mills, Peter (18 March 2015). "Virtuosi to run Russian Time GP2 team". eurosport.com. Eurosport. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  12. ^ "RUSSIAN TIME announces 2017 drivers". 15 February 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  13. ^ Allen, Peter (26 November 2017). "Charles Leclerc snatches last-lap victory in final F2 race". formulascout.com. Retrieved 26 November 2017. Luca Ghiotto and Artem Markelov finished fifth and sixth to secure the teams' title for Russian Time in its final race in the category ahead of Prema and DAMS.
  14. ^ Kalinauckas, Alex (16 November 2017). "Carlin among three new teams on 2018 F2 entry list". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  15. ^ "FIA Formula 2 Championship's 2018 teams confirmed". fiaformula2.com. FIA Formula 2 Championship. 8 February 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  16. ^ Allen, Peter (9 February 2018). "F2 runner-up Artem Markelov to continue in 2018 with Russian Time". formulascout.com. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  17. ^ Allen, Peter (9 February 2018). "Honda protege Tadasuke Makino steps up to F2 with Russian Time". formulascout.com. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  18. ^ Benyon, Jack (25 November 2018). "Russian Time sells Formula 2 team". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
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Achievements
Preceded by GP2 Series Teams' Champion
2013
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Prema Racing
(GP2 Series)
FIA Formula 2 Teams' Champion
2017
Succeeded by