FIA and ACO have taken the decision to delay the publication of the entry list for the 90th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Although this Monday, February 28, was the date chosen to publish the first list of participants in the French endurance classic, the Automobile Club de L’Ouest (ACO) has alleged “administrative reasons” to postpone this publication at least until the end of week. The war between Ukraine and Russia seems to be behind this decision by the various actors, especially of Russian nationality, present at the French race.
Within the pressure that is being exerted against Russia at different levels, the country led by Vladimir Putin is being excluded from the main sports competitions worldwide. Without going any further, FIFA and UEFA have suspended Russian clubs and national teams from all football competitions under the umbrella of both organizations. Similarly, the Ukrainian Automobile Federation has asked the FIA to ban all Russian and Belarusian drivers from competingsomething that the IOC also seems to recommend.
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This situation, extrapolated to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, can affect several drivers and teams who planned to compete in the queen event of the WEC. The structure in everyone’s imagination is Roman Rusinov’s G-Drive Racing team. Russian sponsor, Russian owner and in its ranks the former Russian Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat. From this perspective, the delay in the publication of the entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans seems logical, in order to see how the situation evolves.
Although the G-Drive Racing team had planned to compete without a trace of the Russian flag, under the umbrella of the Russian Automobile Federation (‘RAF’), the situation for the team is very complex. In the end, G-Drive is a fuel brand owned by Gazprom Neftmaking it a subsidiary of the Russian state energy company. The growing opposition against everything that has ties to the Russian government makes the situation compromised and the continuity of the project is up in the air.
Until the beginning of the war between Ukraine and Russia, G-Drive had successfully carried out their preparation plans for the new season. In fact, the team participated in the 24 Hours of Daytona in January and decided to stay in Florida with a view to its presence in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring. In this line, G-Drive had even completed a pre-season test at Homestead in recent days.scenario in which Daniil Kvyat had the opportunity to drive the team’s LMP2 for the first time.
Photos: ACO