Photo: SMP
The inaugural season of SMP Formula 4’s winter series began in Sochi last weekend on the circuit’s permanent layout.
Designed as a 3.63-mile street circuit around Sochi Olympic Park to host Formula 1’s Russian Grand Prix, a stretch of track connecting turn one to the start of the last sector was added during construction to make a 1.44-mile layout that would then operate as a permanent circuit while the rest of the lap could be in public use when racing took place.
SMP attracted seven drivers for round one, with karter Maxim Orlov making his F4 debut. On KZ2 shifter karts he won the 2023 Italian championship and 2024 WSK Final Cup.
Pre-season testing took place on November 13-15, and Vladimir Verkholantsev set the pace. A 1m01.931s put him just 0.014 seconds ahead of Egor Stepanov-Kim and 0.142s up on Plato Kostin. The whole field was split by 0.789s.
Kostin moved to the top in pre-event testing on Saturday, setting a 1m01.817s to pip Stepanov-Kim by 0.046s and Verkholantsev by 0.088s.
The cars were then used for show races with drivers from Russia’s drift racing scene at the wheel, before the SMP F4 paddock headed back out on Sunday morning.
Verkholantsev led practice, edging Kostin by 0.182s with a 1m02.422s lap, and a 15-minute qualifying session took place shortly after.
It was a super close fight for pole, with Verkholantsev clinching it by 0.014s. Stepanov-Kim was second, Kostin was 0.143s off in third, and Marko Markozov was fourth. There was 0.847s between first and last.
The top two had been entered as Formula K Russia drivers, but were instead competing for SMP Racing.
Race one followed later that morning, and Verkholantsev led lights-to-flag. He built a gap of over 3.3s, but in the last few laps Stepanov-Kim and Plato Kostin started trading fastest laps and closed in on him.
Verkholantsev still had a 1.922s gap by the finish, with Kostin a further 1.445s behind.
Timur Shagaliev held fourth throughout, and was 17.842s behind Verkholantsev by the end of the 20-lap race, and Orlov was sixth on debut.
Race two used a reversed grid, and Mikhail Yushenkov started at the front after starting and finishing seventh in race one.
He held the lead for the first six laps, then was passed by Kostin who had taken second from Shagaliev on lap one.
Shagaliev and Verkholantsev got past Yushenkov on lap 10, but the pair could not catch Kostin who won by 2.85s.
Verkholantsev had started sixth and climbed two spots on lap one, then pressured Shagaliev for most of the race. Stepanov-Kim started and finished fourth, but dropped to sixth at the start and had to go on a recovery drive.
Results round-up
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Vladimir Verkholantsev SMP Racing 21m54.346s
2 Egor Stepanov-Kim SMP Racing +1.922s
3 Platon Kostin Lada Sport +3.367s
4 Timur Shagaliev ITeCo Racing +17.842s
5 Marko Markozov Formula K Russia +19.634s
6 Maxim Orlov ITeCo Racing +21.592s
7 Mikhail Yushenkov NI Racing +22.155s
Pole: Verkholantsev, 1m01.931s
Fastest lap: Verkholantsev, 1m02.241s
Race 2 (20 laps)
1 Kostin 21m58.050s
2 Shagaliev +2.850s
3 Verkholantsev +3.763s
4 Stepanov-Kim +4.202s
5 Yushenkov +11.029s
6 Orlov +11.552s
7 Markozov +12.071s
FL: Stepanov-Kim, 1m02.145s
Championship standings
1 Verkholantsev 51 2 Kostin 39 3 Stepanov-Kim 39 4 Shagaliev 31 5 Markozov 22 6 Yushenkov 20 7 Orlov 20