Dragonspeed BR Engineering BR1 Hanley Silverstone 2018

The BR Engineering BR1 is a

sports prototype A sports prototype, sometimes referred to as simply a prototype, is a type of race car that is used in the highest-level categories of sports car racing. These purpose-built racing cars, unlike street-legal and production-based racing cars, are n ...

non-hybrid racing car built for the

SMP Racing SMP Racing is the motor sport endurance racing team and also motorsport management created in 2013 by Boris Rotenberg, founder of the SMP Bank of Russia. Description The goal of SMP Racing is to train and unveil new talents. The team's training ...

and

DragonSpeed DragonSpeed Racing is an American racing team that competes in the European Le Mans Series, FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2019, the team entered the NTT IndyCar Series with a five race schedule, including th ...

teams. It is designed to meet the 2018 LMP1 regulations for

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...

s in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

as well as at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

. The BR1 debuted at the 2018 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the first round of the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship.

Development

SMP Racing were participating in the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

in the LMP2 class, fielding a

Dallara P217 The Dallara P217 is a sportscar prototype built by Dallara Automobili to the 2017 FIA/ACO regulations for the Le Mans Prototype LMP2 class. The car also meets the regulations for the Le Mans Prototype 2 Class of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar C ...

chassis. In 2017, with the help of Dallara, BR Engineering and Russian university students designed and built a brand-new chassis, the BR1.

Mikhail Aleshin Mikhail Petrovich Aleshin ( rus, Михаи́л Петро́вич Алёшин, p=mʲɪxɐˈil pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ɐˈlʲɵʂɨn, born 22 May 1987 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian professional racing driver and the 2010 champion of the For ...

had an arm injury during the first test at

Ciudad del Motor de Aragón Ciudad () is the Spanish word for City Ciudad may also refer to: *La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona *La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico *''La ciudad'', novel by Mario Levrero 1970 *La Ciudad ''The City'' ...

due to car failure. Prior the official launch at Bahrain the car was also tested by

Kirill Ladygin Kirill Sergeyevich Ladygin (born 17 December 1978 in Ekaterinburg) is a Russian professional auto racing driver. He is twice champion of the Russian LADA Revolution Cup in 2004 and 2006. In 2008 he competed in the FIA World Touring Car Championsh ...

Vitaly Petrov Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov ( rus, Вита́лий Алекса́ндрович Петро́в, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈtrof; born 8 September 1984) is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula One for Renault F1 ...

Viktor Shaytar Viktor Viktorovich Shaytar ( rus, Ви́ктор Ви́кторович Шайта́р, p=ˈvʲiktər ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ ʂəjˈtar, born 13 February 1983) is a Russian racing driver. He is a current member of the SMP Racing driver programme. ...

and Sergey Sirotkin.

Competition history

2018-19

For the 2018-19 super season, three BR1 chassis were entered; two by

and one by

. The cars for the two teams differed by their engine choices; SMP utilizing AER-built P60B 2.4 litre V6 turbocharged engines and DragonSpeed utilizing the Gibson-made GL458 4.5 litre V8 naturally aspirated engine, the same engine used by Rebellion in their R13 prototypes. The debut of the car at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was overshadowed by a qualifying accident involving DragonSpeed's driver

Pietro Fittipaldi Pietro Fittipaldi da Cruz (born 25 June 1996) is a Brazilian-American racing driver, the grandson of two-time Formula One world champion Emerson Fittipaldi and brother of racing driver Enzo Fittipaldi. Fittipaldi is racing in European Le Mans ...

, in which he sustained fractures to both legs. The car suffered from an electrical problem which caused the car to lose control and run straight into the wall whilst climbing Raidillon and could not be entered into the race. SMP Racing also had technical issues with their #17 entry. Despite this, their #11 entry was able to finish fifth in qualifying. Come race time, car #17 was involved in an accident at the top of Raidillon which sent it flipping through the air. The #11 managed to finish 5th overall. At Le Mans, DragonSpeed's #10 BR1 crashed at the exit of the Porsche curves with roughly 7:40:00 left in the race, retiring it from the event. The #17 also had an accident at the Porsche curves, severely damaging its rear. Matevos Isaakyan attempted to get it running again but the engine was damaged beyond repair, stopping the car again after rolling for a few meters. The #11 experienced technical issues earlier in the race but was able to rejoin later, finishing in 14th overall and 5th in-class. At Silverstone, the #11 SMP Racing BR1 experienced an engine failure, retiring it from the race. However, due to both Toyota hybrids being disqualified, the #17 finished third overall behind both Rebellion R13s. Dragonspeed's #10 experienced technical issues, causing it to finish 25th overall but still 4th in-class. At Fuji, SMP's #17 BR1 lost its front right wheel after it became dislodged. It also experienced technical issues and had to be towed off the circuit. Despite this, the #11 finished 4th overall. Dragonspeed's #10 also developed technical issues and had to be towed off the circuit.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Results in bold indicate pole position. Results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.

References

External links