Nikolay Vladimirovich Fomenko (russian: Николай Владимирович Фоменко, born 30 April 1962) is a Russian musician, comic actor, professional motor racer, former president of

Marussia Motors Marussia Motors (russian: Маруся ) was a Russian sports car company founded in 2007. It was the first Russian company to produce a supercar. It designed, and manufactured prototypes of both the B1 and the B2 sport cars. Marussia was led by for ...

and former engineering director of

Marussia F1 The Marussia F1 Team (subsequently Manor Marussia F1 Team) was a Formula One racing team and constructor which was based in Banbury, Oxfordshire and then later Dinnington, South Yorkshire in the United Kingdom and competed with a Russian licen ...

Music career

Fomenko started his career as vocalist and guitarist in the band

Secret Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

, who were very popular in Russia in the mid-1980s.

Acting career

Fomenko first started his acting career as a theater actor in the

Theater of Youth Creativity Theater of Youth Creativity (russian: Театр Юношеского Творчества) (TYUT for short) - youth theatre school in Leningrad was founded by Matvey Dubrovin in 1956. The history of the Theater Theater of Youth Creativity ...

(1974-1976).

Filmography

TV career

Fomenko performed in the popular Russian music collection series ''Staryye Pesni o Glavnom'' (Old songs about the important). He hosted two seasons of a TV show ''

The Interception ''The Interception'' (russian: Перехват, translit=Perehvat}; sometimes translated ''The Intercept'') is a Russian game show which aired between 1997 and 1998. The concept was for the contestant to "steal" (actually, be given the keys to) a ...

'' and a season of the game-show ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which The Weakest Link (British game show), first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host ...

'' on Russia's Channel 5. In 2009, he began hosting ''

Top Gear Russia ''Top Gear Russia'' (russian: Top Gear: Русская версия, lit=Top Gear: Russian Version, Top Gear: Russkaya versiya) was a Russian motoring television series that ran on Ren-TV, and was based on the British program ''Top Gear'' produc ...

'', the

REN-TV REN TV (russian: РЕН ТВ) is a Russian free-to-air television network, was founded on 1 January 1997 by Irena Lesnevskaya and her son, Dmitry Lesnevsky, who had been running REN TV as a production house for other national Russian television ...

spin-off of the BBC series

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

Car racing career

In 1994, Fomenko was invited by

Vladislav Listyev Vladislav (Vlad) Nikolayevich Listyev (russian: Владисла́в Никола́евич Листьев, links=no; May 10, 1956 – March 1, 1995) was a Russian journalist and head of the ORT TV Channel (now government-owned Channel One). Ca ...

to participate in a car racing show as a celebrity guest. Later he started to train as a professional racer and took his first victory in 1996.

FIA GT

Endurance races

Car manufacturer

Fomenko is involved in the development and launching of the

Marussia Marussia Motors (russian: Маруся ) was a Russian sports car company founded in 2007. It was the first Russian company to produce a supercar. It designed, and manufactured prototypes of both the B1 and the B2 sport cars. Marussia was led by for ...

sports car.

Formula One

In 2010 Marussia became a sponsor of

Virgin Racing Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing) was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport, Wirth Research and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and competed in with a British licence and in with a Russian ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

team. On 11 November 2010, Marussia acquired a controlling stake in the team. On 2 February 2011 Fomenko was announced as Engineering Director of the Marussia Virgin Racing Formula One team.

Personal life

He was married to Andrei Mironov's stepdaughter, actress

Maria Golubkina Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

, and has three children: daughters Anastasia and Ekaterina, and a son, Ivan.

References

External links

Official site
*
Nikolai Fomenko
at http://www.fiagt.com 1962 births Living people Russian people of Ukrainian descent 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA GT Championship drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Russian male film actors Russian male television actors Soviet male singers Honored Artists of the Russian Federation 20th-century Russian male actors 21st-century Russian male actors Russian pop singers Russian racing drivers Russian rock singers Russian bass guitarists Male bass guitarists Russian composers Russian male composers Russian television personalities Musicians from Saint Petersburg 24 Hours of Spa drivers Formula One team owners Male actors from Saint Petersburg Sportspeople from Saint Petersburg {{russia-musician-stub