Natalia Vershinina

Competitions are getting more spectacular every year. This is what audiences and participants want. The Race of the Stars “Behind the wheel”, adhering to this trend, in 2015 chose a new competition format. It has become much more dynamic: the number of final races has been reduced, but the total number of starts, and, accordingly, the total time and number of laps that each driver spends on the track, has become larger.

The winner of this race for the first time was Nikolai Karamyshev from Kursk, having fought on the track with thirty-five of the strongest Russian pilots. Six qualifying races were held in three groups of participants - so the top six were determined for the main prize draw in the final races. At the qualifying stage, all qualified participants were divided into three groups of ten pilots. Each ten spent two races (each - ten circles), which were marked by intense struggle and clashes. Boris Kotello, Mikhail Skripnikov, Tatyana Eliseeva, Sergey Zagumennov, Arkady Zharkov were eliminated at the stage of qualifying races - their cars turned over onto their roofs.

The winner of the Race of Stars “Behind the wheel” last year, Vladimir Sheshenin, could not start in the “combat” races, as his car was wrecked by his teammate Oleg Grinkevich. (Several teams brought two pilots to the start, who at the first stage took turns driving one car).

Two of the three groups advanced to the final. As a result, six participants - eminent Russian racers: Nikolai Karamyshev, Alexei Vasiliev, Dmitry Bragin, Evgeny Aksakov, Nikita Misyulya and Alexei Lukyanuk fought for the victory in the race in three final races of three laps in identical new sports Renault Logan, specially prepared for the Race of Stars "Behind the wheel".
By tradition, a pilot who wins the legendary Race of Stars "Behind the Wheel" three times receives permanent possession of the challenge prize of the competition - the Bronze Tire of the magazine "Behind the Rulem". The drama of the struggle for victory was added by the fact that the only finalist who had already won the challenge prize of the Race of Stars "Behind the wheel" was Alexei Vasiliev from Moscow (multiple winner of Russian and international competitions). In the first final race, Alexei Vasiliev was confidently leading. However, according to the results of the remaining two final races, Nikolai Karamyshev (ETCC champion in the Super 2000 TC2 Turbo class) won the Race of Stars “Behind the wheel”, Evgeny Aksakov became the second prize-winner, Alexei Vasilyev climbed to the third place of the award podium.

The results of the Race of Stars "Behind the wheel" 2015 according to the results of the final races:
1. Nikolai Karamyshev - 14 points
2. Evgeny Aksakov (STK Rally Podmoskovye) — 9 points
3. Alexey Vasiliev (GT Russian Team) - 9 points
4. Nikita Misyulya (CSKA) - 7 points
5. Dmitry Bragin (SMP Racing Russian Bears) - 5 points
6. Alexey Lukyanuk (LTA Rally) - 1 points.

Nikolai Karamyshev (winner of the Race of Stars “Behind the Wheel” 2015) said: “Of course, there were unrest before the start, but the main tasks that I set for myself were to avoid blockages and so that the car would not let me down. Everything went well, I am very happy with this victory.”

This year, the special guest of the competition was a rising star, pilot youth team Red Bull - French driver Pierre Gasly. In the demonstration superfinal races, Gasly met the winner of the Race of Stars "Behind the Wheel" 2015 Nikolai Karamyshev, and the Russian pilot won a landslide victory.

Pierre Gasly, pilot of the Red Bull youth team: “This is my fourth visit to Russia, but in the winter I was here for the first time, and I have the most unexpected impressions: instead of frost, the weather is quite warm, and puddles on the track. But since they are covered with ice, this makes the track difficult. Snow as a surface is something new for me, but I tried to drive a Renault Logan around the track and felt very confident. It seems to me that this is the optimal car for Russia, and it is well suited for this race.”

At the Race of Stars "Za Rulem" 2015, the traditional award ceremony "The Best Racer of the Year" according to the magazine "Za Rulem" took place. According to the results of a traditional survey conducted by the editors of the magazine among Russian journalists, Mikhail Aleshin, the first Russian pilot of the IndyCar series, was recognized as the "Best Racer of 2014". He received a special award - a statuette of the goddess of victory Nika - from the editor-in-chief of the magazine Za Rulem Maxim Kadakov. Mikhail Aleshin took part in the qualifying races of the Race of Stars "Behind the wheel" 2015, but due to a technical malfunction in his first race he could not take high place in the standings.

Maxim Kadakov, Chief Editor Za Rulem magazine: “Race of the Stars is the main event of the year for the Za Rulem publishing house. It invariably arouses enthusiasm among riders: even if, for example, they have already won the competition and ride for the eighth time (like the third prize-winner of the Race of Stars "Behind the wheel" Alexei Vasilyev), they look happy, as if they are starting for the first time. I think when a pilot arrives in such a mood, it also affects the result: it is worth a lot to climb the podium among so many of our “stars”. All the riders to whom we sent invitations responded with joy and considered it an honor to take part. It was very easy to organize the Race of the Stars "Behind the wheel" in this regard. We are glad that the pilots and spectators liked the new format, the competition turned out to be spectacular and attractive.”

On July 7, at the Moscow Raceway circuit, the anniversary Race of Stars for the prize of the magazine Za Rulem, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, took place. The fight for the first place kept in suspense until last seconds final heats of the race.

The format of the competition is unchanged: four main fifteen-minute races and three final races among the top six. Numerous starts and short distance- a pledge of entertainment of the competition. The final races in 2018 were held not in one, but in three laps of a short track configuration.

The pilot from Kursk Nikolai Karamyshev was the main favorite of the competition and immediately took the lead.

According to tradition, the pilot who takes first place on the race podium three times receives the ownership of the challenge prize of the competition - a Bronze tire of the author's work, made specifically for the Race of the Stars "Behind the Wheel". In the forty-year history of the race, only Kirill Ladygin from Togliatti managed to cope with this task.

Nikolai Karamyshev won the prestigious competition twice: in 2015, when the Race of Stars "Behind the wheel" in last time was held on ice in the winter at the Central Moscow Hippodrome, and in 2016 in the summer at the Moscow Raceway.

A group of fans from his hometown came to support the pilot, and victory for him, of course, would be a long-awaited event.

The fate of the winner was decided in short final races. The weather made its own adjustments, and a sudden heavy rain added intrigue to the fight. From almost predictable, the race became very tough with collisions, crashes off the track and a sudden change of leaders.

On the wet track, Nikolai Karamyshev could not keep the advantage and, suddenly for everyone, lost to the pilot from St. Petersburg Andrey Petukhov on Lada Kalina. For the first time in his racing career, Petukhov finished first in the final three races. This brought victory to Andrey, who had already been very close to it twice and became the silver medalist of the Race of Stars.

Alexander Artemiev at Kio Rio managed to build his tactics in such a way that he managed to avoid contacts and come to the finish line second.

Nikolai Karamyshev took the third place in the final in a Volkswagen Polo.

A serious opponent in the struggle for leadership in the final at some point was Dmitry Dobrovolsky, a Muscovite, a pilot of the Russian circuit championship, the organizer of the popular Russian drift series. The loss of the trajectory of movement by competitors and a successful strategy gave him a chance to break into the lead, but as a result he became only fourth.

Pilot Vladimir Cherevan again justified the expectations of the fans, who has not missed participation in the competition since the beginning of the 90s.

And although Vladimir Cherevan never won prizes, he always pleased the audience with a spectacular fight. And this time, the pilot from Orel was remembered for his bright moments with turns and departures from the track.

Representatives of women's motorsport Tatyana Eliseeva and Tatyana Dobrynina also graced the peleton, but they did not manage to reach the final.

All participants performed on cars made in Russia, the "National" class: Lada Kalina, Kia Rio, VW Polo with an engine capacity of up to 1600 cubic meters. cm.

Traditionally, only the strongest Russian racing drivers who have received a personal invitation from the Editor-in-Chief of the Za Rulem magazine take part in the Race of the Stars.

Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of the magazine "Behind the wheel":

Initially, the Race of the Stars "Behind the Wheel" was held in winter, but for the third year in a row we have been holding it in a summer format.

For 40 years, the intensity of passions has not subsided at all. Even the surging rain could not dampen emotions; rather, on the contrary, it allowed them to flare up with new force. The pilots struck sparks in the literal and figurative sense, fought like gladiators, not sparing their cars - and in this they are in no way inferior to the Russian national football team, which brilliantly fought against the Croatian national team on the same day. I congratulate Andrei Petukhov on a convincing, military victory! He became the owner of the Bronze Tire challenge prize, which is desired by all racing drivers.

I look forward to all motorsport fans at the next Race of the Stars - see you in a year!

According to the guest of honor of the competition, a famous race car driver in the past, a participant in the Race of Stars "Behind the Wheel" during the Soviet era and the author of books on the history of motorsport, Mikhail Georgievich Gorbachev:

The Race of the Stars is a kind of ranking of pilots. As in Soviet times, it was a great honor to be included in the lists of invited pilots. At the Race of the Stars we had the opportunity to see the most the best pilots from different disciplines of motorsport. I like the summer format of the race. Especially in rainy conditions, on a wet track, the races are reminiscent of "hippodrome" and become more spectacular and interesting.

At the end, the great motorsport festival continued with a 4-hour marathon of the endurance race Russian Endurance Challenge, in which some participants of the Race of Stars also took part.

The results of the Race of the Stars of the magazine “Behind the wheel”:

• 1st place - Andrey Petukhov (Lada Kalina)
• 2nd place - Alexander Artemiev (Kia Rio)
• 3rd place - Nikolai Karamyshev (VW Polo)
• 4th place - Dmitry Dobrovolsky (Lada Kalina)
• 5th place - Vladimir Cherevan (VW Polo)
• 6th place - Albert Gainulin (Kia Rio)

For the second year in a row, the Race of Stars for the prizes of the Za Rulem magazine is held not in winter, but in summer - on the Moscow Raceway track near Moscow. As in the previous season, its participants were waiting for two semi-finals of seven laps and three final races for the top six - sprints in one lap starting from one line. All races on a short 2154-meter configuration of the track were held on "civilian" tires Continental. And the main innovation was the admission to the start of not only 1600 cc National class vehicles, but also cars of the R2B and S1600 categories. However, the athletes did not have much desire to risk expensive equipment - only Muscovite Alexei Vasilyev decided to participate in the race on a Citroen Saxo hatchback.

In Kalina, the first generation is gradually fading away, but in the Race of Stars they are still competitive. Only a mistake in the first final prevented Alexander Artemiev from Kazakhstan (No. 17) from finishing the competition on the podium

There was not a large number of participants themselves. Of the more than fifty invited to the start, only 15 athletes came out, of which only two - Tatyana Eliseeva and Anastasia Voronkova - represented non-asphalt disciplines. According to the organizers, there were several reasons for such a low "attendance": in addition to purely economic, the late announcement of the race also played its role - it was announced just five weeks before the start.

It all started with the qualification, which was won by Muscovite Gleb Kuznetsov, driving a Volkswagen Polo sedan, with a frightening margin of 1.1 seconds. But it's one thing - the fight with a stopwatch, and quite another - tight races side by side. However, in the first semi-final, Kuznetsov began to confidently break away from his rivals, until his car started having problems with the gear shift mechanism. And although Gleb had a strong second semi-final, none of his main rivals made a misfire, and did not allow the young Muscovite to break into the decisive part of the competition by the sum of two races.

Problems with the gearshift mechanism left the audience without a face-to-face duel between Yegor Sanin and the winner of the qualification Gleb Kuznetsov (pictured)

The list of finalists, by and large, was clear even before the start. Someone, like Anastasia Voronkova, lacked speed, someone, like Vitaly Larionov, was hindered by a slow Renault Logan, prepared according to the “serial” D2N group. Surprises could only be expected from the struggle for third places in their subgroups. But they did without them: Alexey Vasiliev passed only one semi-final, and Anton Zakharov and Andrey Sevastyanov stopped the fight after the accident. Of the semi-final events, one can note the bold ride of Vladimir Cherevan, who is driving a "deserved" Honda for a long time kept behind the fast Egor Sanin and almost deprived the Ulyanovsk player of a place in the finals. But in the end, the only surprise was getting into the top six best Tatiana Eliseeva, who was helped by the failures of Gleb Kuznetsov.

After the first final, it seemed that Andrei Petukhov would become the winner of the Race of Stars: the pilot from St. Petersburg confidently won this race. However, in the second race, the initiative passed into the hands of Yegor Sanin, and Petukhov fell under the hot hand of Nikolay Karamyshev, who immediately turned from a leader into a catch-up. Having won the third final, Petukhov earned a rerun for first place, but Sanin was still faster in it. Well, the third winner of the competition was their last year's victor, Nikolai Karamyshev.

The fate of the victory in the Race of Stars was decided in the rerun for the first place, in which Yegor Sanin became the winner

Asphalt Race of the Stars again left a strange feeling. On the one hand, the small number of participants was compensated by the dashing struggle in the top three. However, if in the winter we watched battles between representatives of different racing disciplines, then the summer competitions, alas, turned into a brawl of ring racers. However, it is likely that we will still see the Race of Stars in a more familiar format - there were enough hints about a possible return from asphalt to ice from the camp of its organizers.

Just a couple of hours after the finish of the Zarulevo competitions, the fourth four-hour Russian Endurance Challenge (REC) marathon started at Moscow Raceway. The main difference between this year's race and previous marathons is the addition to the "top" standings and the absence of Porsche cars. If before that most of the peloton in REC was made up of participants on modest racing vehicles, then this time there were only five of 15 such cars: two Russian sports cars, Sergey Zagumennov's Lada Granta and a couple of National class cars from B-Tuning and Zenit Motorsport teams.

In the prototype class, the duo of the G-Drive Racing team consisting of Georgy Efrosinin and Igor Mukhin turned out to be out of competition

After the starting confusion - the riders could not line up in two lines for a long time, as it should be when starting on the move - the race was led by the crew of the G-Drive Racing team led by Georgy Efrosinin on the Ligier JS51 prototype. But as soon as the roundabouts started (and they started after the first seven laps of the distance!) the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 coupe with Andrey Agafonov at the wheel took the lead. At the beginning of the second hour, a downpour hit the track, after which the race turned into chaos. The difference on a four-kilometer circle between riders of the same class reached ten seconds!

In the fight for victory in the overall standings, the rain helped the Capital RT crew get ahead of lighter prototypes

In such conditions, stability and reliability came first. In this sense, the result of the crew of Sergei Zagumennov speaks for itself: his Lada Granta finished fifth in the overall! The duets of the Capital RT teams (Andrey Agafonov and Boris Abramov) and the BF Team - Anton Nemkin and Ivan Lukashevich, who drove Lamborghini Gallardo GT3, fought for the last hours for the victory. The last segment was carried out more strongly by the pursuers on the Italian supercar: Lukashevich won back from the competitors by 5-7 seconds per lap! However, Ivan still did not have enough time to catch up with the leader, and the Agafonov / Abramov crew became the winner of the marathon. Well, among the prototypes, the G-Drive team won, ahead of its closest rivals by 20 laps.

Race of the Stars "Behind the Wheel"
Final race results

Unstable Moscow winters stubbornly pushed us to the idea of ​​switching to a summer format. How many times has the Race of the Stars been threatened by the weather! For the previous two years, the country's best pilots raced either through puddles or slush. How long? You might as well come up with something else!

And we thought. Three years ago, the Za Rulem delegation visited the Moscow Raceway near Moscow, which, among other races, hosts the German DTM series and the WTCC World Championship. We were interested in whether it is possible to hold an ice race here in winter. Is it difficult to remove some fences in order to optimize the track for the “winter track” option, is it realistic to flood the track?

And here we are again, but not in winter, but in early September. The transition has taken place: Race of Stars for the first time in its history - its 40th anniversary is just around the corner! - passed on asphalt.

Start of six cars from one line - a classic element of winter track racing. It was used on the ring, perhaps for the first time. The start of six cars from one line is a classic element of winter track racing. Applied on the ring, perhaps for the first time.

Modernization of traditions

The autodrome is much better suited for racing than a non-core hippodrome. No need to rack your brains over and over again how to run the power cables into the closed park (so that they are not cut by spikes) and how to avoid spectator races across the track during the race. Racers and teams have equipped boxes, and the public has access to the paddock, to direct communication with idols.

Of course, the asphalt format is contrary to the long-term traditions of the Race of Stars "Behind the Wheel", which has always been snow and ice. But it seems that this is now the imperative of the times in all of motorsport: if not to break, then to modernize the established canons. Can you name a world or Russian racing series where no rules have been changed for at least a couple of years? Don't worry, you won't get anything.

Now that the race has already taken place, there was a feeling that we shouldn't have made it a summer race earlier. What we got exceeded all expectations!

With such a density of traffic, it is impossible to do without contacts at all. And the pilots were not going to increase the "gaps". With such a density of traffic, it is impossible to do without contacts at all. And the pilots were not going to increase the "gaps".

Collection of the best

At first, we were afraid that we would be able to collect as many riders in the summer as in the winter. After all, from spring to late autumn is a busy time for most pilots, including those who compete abroad. Many are bound by team contracts that limit appearances anywhere else.

As shown by previous years, in February - the same problem. The pre-season tests begin for ring drivers, for rally drivers and track drivers, in general, start after start. Even in the domestic calendar of competitions it is difficult to wedge in - there are no free days off! And most riders stopped keeping separate track cars for winter racing as it was in the 1980s. Pilots who received a personal invitation to the Race of Stars from the editor-in-chief of Za Rulem had a headache: what to drive? Building your car for one start a year is expensive. Renting is also not a penny, and the level of preparation of such a machine is not always clear.

Initially, the Race of Stars was conceived as a competition of the best pilots from various Russian championships - ring, rally, cross. So it remains, this tradition is observed in full. Only there are significantly more championships in the country: for example, rallycross, drifting and other exotic such as trophy raids have been added.

The technical leitmotif of the summer Race of the Stars is the battle between the Lada and Volkswagen brands. Four Kalinas and two Polos made it to the final. Four Kalinas and two Polos made it to the final.

As for the date of the event, the fine day of September 3 fell between the stages of the important and significant in Russia series of the RCMP. Perhaps this is the only factor that influenced the real list of participants. Some stars of the ring championship and the Cup of the country on the eve of its decisive stage preferred to save the car. But whatever one may say, we received thirty official applications for participation.

Our race was started by representatives of different disciplines from various places - even from Kazakhstan (the race is open to foreigners, although all pilots compete under Russian racing licenses). The winners of the Race of Stars of the previous two draws - Vladimir Sheshenin (2014) and Nikolai Karamyshev (2015) also came. These are the ones we considered the main favorites.

Natalya Goltsova attacks Vladimir Sheshenin. They fought in the group of leaders, but for various reasons they did not make it to the final. Natalya Goltsova attacks Vladimir Sheshenin. We fought in the group of leaders, but for various reasons did not make it to the final.

There is a contact!

Motorsport fans already know the results of the first summer Race of Stars. Some were in the stands, others were watching a live webcast. But still remember how events unfolded.

Based on the results of the qualification, the pilots were divided into two groups, for each they held a pair of semi-finals seven laps (or 15 minutes) in order to select the strongest for the final.

Already at this stage, it became clear that the ice format of the races, after being transferred to the asphalt, works fantastically! Definitely asphalt allows pilots to take more risks than ice. And it's understandable why. Even in a bad scenario, you won’t put the car on the roof and crash into a snowdrift at a speed of 120 km / h (there were such cases at the Central Moscow Hippodrome), but simply fly out into the security zone. And, it seems, the cars were very close in terms of the level of training (we took the ring technical regulations of the National class as a basis). At least, there was no “tram effect” when the pilots, having “understood” the first turns, go the rest of the distance in a strict column. In each race of the Race of Stars, the struggle was in full swing from start to finish - at least for the first five or six positions. And there were a lot of moderate contacts.

Perhaps, three main factors should be thanked for the rich content of the race. This is the prestige of the Race of the Stars itself, the sprint distance atypical for the "ring" and the use of conventional Continental road tires. Of course, they do not hold as well as professional racing slicks, but they created additional difficulties for the pilots.

Approximately in such a struggle all three finals were held. Not quite in the ring, but very spectacular and dynamic. Approximately in such a struggle all three finals were held. Not quite in a circular way, but very spectacular and dynamic.

Karamyshev and Sheshenin, by the will of fate, ended up in the same qualifying subgroup. And if Nikolai successfully won both races (including the one in which the first five were placed at the start in reverse order - the so-called reverse), then Vladimir in one of them received 20 penalty seconds for a false start. And to the great regret of all those present, he did not get into the final, although he was also very fast.

It did not affect the character of the finals at all. And the final is the starts of six cars from one line; distance - one circle about two and a half kilometers. All three final races were held in a severe wheelhouse from the first to the last meter. To be honest, it was more like rallycross than circuit racing. At the finish line, the interval between the first and last cars is no more than two seconds!

Nikolai Karamyshev scored the maximum possible number of points in the sum of three finals. In none of them did he lead immediately from the start - he always broke through the ranks. And in the second race, he finished not first, but second: later, the judges fined Vitaly Dudin for a false start and, thus, Karamyshev got five points for the victory. Actually, until the last turn there was no clarity about the top three winners.

In terms of intrigue, the current Race of Stars has few analogues. And still she discovers new talents. This year the main discovery is Andrey Petukhov, whose achievement list so far quite modest. In the finals, the Petersburger was in no way inferior to the recognized masters of the ring business. And deservedly climbed to the second step of the podium.

Final podium Race of Stars: Nikolai Karamyshev in the center, Vitaly Dudin on the right, Andrey Petukhov on the left.

Key Point We now have time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. What will be the Race of Stars - 2017? Summer or winter? There is no answer to this question yet. Even a two-stage option is not ruled out. Why not? Moreover, there was such a case in the history of the Race of Stars. For the second year in a row, Nikolai Karamyshev became the winner - now on the pavement! The main prize, the Bronze Tire, will remain with him for another year. Nikolai Karamyshev became the winner for the second year in a row - now on asphalt! The main prize, the Bronze Tire, will remain with him for another year.

In general, if you rake up history, the key and turning point was the moment when we first abandoned the race table for 16 pilots on 16 cars. It was invented by Za Rulem employees for the very first Race of Stars, and official Russian competitions are still held on it. But we ourselves abandoned the "table 16" eight years ago, because it categorically did not fit all the stars we would like to see at the start. And also because the time has come to change something. Life does not stand still, the world is constantly changing. And we try to ensure that the Race of the Stars always causes a rapid pulse - both for the pilots and for the spectators.

DIRECT SPEECH Matvey Beresnev (Irbit) Matvey Beresnev (Irbit)

My specialty is snow, ice, cross country. You have to get used to the asphalt of the autodrome and road tires. But we have a lot of snow in winter, and the winters near Moscow have become too mild - in such conditions, the transfer of the Race of Stars to the warm season is fully justified. And the original format too.

Alexander Artemiev (Alma-Ata)Alexander Artemiev (Alma-Ata)

Short and dynamic races on a well-known ring track - I like this combination. Of course, the behavior of road tires on the race track takes some getting used to. But after all, to everyone, and not to me alone, and this equalizes the chances. I also liked the “sprint” configuration with an abundance of turns and the shortest possible straight lines - here the advantage of Volkswagens over Kalinas is not so great.

Vitaly Dudin (Togliatti) Vitaly Dudin (Togliatti)

I think the current competition is still closer to rallycross than to circuit racing: a lot of contact fighting. But it turned out to be interesting, because who will finish first, it became clear only in the last turn of the final race. And although I'm more of a fan of the winter track and pair starts, I think that the current format of the Race of the Stars is quite attractive.

Andrey Petukhov (St. Petersburg)Andrey Petukhov (St. Petersburg)

The Summer Race of the Stars turned out to be spectacular, but not at the expense of safety. A stationary race track is better than a hippodrome in this regard. Despite the tough fight, the contacts between the cars became less and the damage from them is not as devastating as on a winter track. For example, my Kalina, after replacing a pair of wings, will be ready to start on final stage championship of the country in circuit racing.

Race of Stars "Behind the Wheel" - 2016: final results

1.Nikolay Karamyshev (Kursk, VW Polo) - 15 points

2. Andrey Petukhov (St. Petersburg, Lada Kalina) - 12 points

3. Vitaly Dudin (Tolyatti, VW Polo) - 6 points

4. Andrey Maslennikov (Pushkino, Lada Kalina) - 6 points

5. Pavel Kalmanovich (Tolyatti, Lada Kalina) - 4 points

6. Efim Gantmakher (Izhevsk, Lada Kalina) - 2 points

Photo: Alexander Kulnev, Georgy Sadkov, Konstantin Yakubov and Grigory Golyshev

Race of Stars "Behind the wheel": the pulse is normal!
Source

The Russian racing diaspora spent the day before the unforgettable quarterfinal with the Croatian national team at the Moscow Raceway. The occasion is the traditional Race of the Stars of the magazine Za Rulem, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary. And the race itself also entered a new age phase, since it first took place exactly forty years ago.

The format remained the same as in previous years: mid-summer, tarmac, heats, then three short finals for the top six drivers. Surprisingly, each time the same scheme generates completely different plots. The current version was different in that a clear favorite stood out among all the participants.

So obvious that the founders of the Race of Stars were seriously worried about the fate of the main prize - the Bronze Tire. A gentlemen's agreement, not spelled out in any document: a pilot who wins the Race of Stars three times gets Tire in perpetual possession. And on the account of the racer from Kursk Nikolai Karamyshev, who is now playing for the team Lukoil Racing already had two wins. Three years ago - in winter version at the Moscow hippodrome, and two years ago in the summer, here, on Moscow Raceway.

Everything would be fine, but the top pilot of the SMP RSKG ring series and the two-time winner of the European Cup, in addition to his obvious intentions, built and carefully tested a new combat vehicle specially for the Race of Stars - Volkswagen Polo . And he showed amazing time on it in qualifying races: the lap is one and a half seconds better than that of any of the venerable rivals.

Qualifying races did not become a serious obstacle for Nikolai. He won three of them convincingly, starting in both first and sixth positions. And I missed the fourth due to lack of motivation - two wins were enough to get into the final. In addition, it made sense to save the car and tires. Tires, by the way, were the same on all cars - road tires manufactured by the company Continental , a longtime main partner of Racing of the Stars. In addition, just at the time of the fourth qualifying run, a five-minute downpour hit the track, allowing Alexander Artemyev to excel ( Kia Rio ) - a titled pilot from Kazakhstan, the most distant guest of the Race of Stars. Who, after the awards ceremony, said that the rain helped him a lot.

By the time the finals started, the track was still wet, but wet unevenly. This gave the races an unprecedented sharpness - almost all the pilots made mistakes in turns many times. And those who could not keep up with Karamyshev on dry asphalt now looked quite combat-ready. And Andrey Petukhov stood out in particular ( Lada Kalina NFR ), representing at the same time St. Petersburg (at the place of birth and residence) and Togliatti (at the place of work - the factory team Lada Sport Rosneft).

Actually, the finals became a fierce duel between Karamyshev and Petukhov. So fierce that in the second run there was a series of side pushes. Karamyshev turned out to be the most affected in it, since it was his Polo flew off the track into the gravel, where only miraculously did not get stuck. Nikolai lost in this episode almost all chances for the final victory, and the judiciary decided that there was a contact fight allowed by the racing rules. Otherwise, Petukhov could be punished - for example, a fine of 30 seconds or even annulment of the result. True, this would not have returned the lost points to Karamyshev. Intrigue, however!

Alexander Artemiev skillfully took advantage of the ups and downs, eventually outstripping Karamyshev in points. So the main favorite did not even become a silver medalist, but only a bronze one. Although, of course, for someone who is set only to win and puts all his strength and soul into it, there is not much difference between second and third place.

So, Karamyshev left the track, not really hiding his annoyance. Artemiev looked quite pleased - this is understandable, if you know that Alexander with phenomenal persistence stormed the Race of Stars "Behind the wheel" for ten years and now, finally, he climbed the podium. And Petukhov and the audience received the highest degree of satisfaction. Oddly enough, but summer asphalt from year to year presents much more fascinating stories than winter ice. Thanks to everyone who came!

The official website of the Race of Stars "Behind the wheel" -.