The war between Ukraine and Russia is not without having repercussions in sport where each federation goes about its ban. Motorsport is no exception and even if no official information has been communicated, we can think that the postponement of the entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022, for administrative reasons, has something to do with the armed conflict.
The WEC entry list specifies that G-Drive Racing’s entry is licensed by RAF (Russian Automobile Federation) and not Russian in order to respect the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which bans the Russian flag at least until to December 16 following the massive doping of Russian athletes during the Tokyo Olympics.
For the European Le Mans Series, there are three prototypes under Russian license (and not RAF), two under G-Drive Racing (LMP2 and LMP3), one under Graff Racing. Roman Rusinov and Evgeny Kireev do have Russian nationality. The Russian flag was already used last year in the ELMS, which is not an FIA championship in its own right.
Despite the war in Ukraine, the FAU (Automobile Federation of Ukraine), headquartered in Kiev, continues to work. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of the FIA, has given his full support to the FAU since the start of the fighting.
The FAU, through the voice of Leonid Kostuychenko, its president, has submitted several proposals to the FIA: ban on using the symbols of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus on FIA-badged events, no racing in these two countries , no FIA driving in the occupied territories of Ukraine, exclusion of all members of both federations, exclusion from FIA commissions of members of both countries, ban on participation in events of RAF (Russian Automobile Federation) and BAF ( Belarus Automobile Federation).
As with Covid-19, the championships will take into account the decisions of the competent ministry. In the case of G-Drive Racing, which is not a racing team, the license can change without problem: France for Graff, Portugal for Algarve Pro Racing. Both entities provide technical support for G-Drive. There are still two major problems: who will pay for the program if G-Drive, the main partner, no longer appears? Will pilots such as Rusinov and Kvyat be able to drive under an RAF licence? Nothing is less sure…
Jérôme Policand, whose AKKA-ASP team is currently testing at Misano to prepare for the season, is also hanging on to decisions concerning his two Russian pilots, Timur Boguslavskiy and Konstantin Tereschenko, who are not traveling to Italy.
Augusto Farfus posted a message on Instagram that a truck loaded with food was going to leave Monaco this week for Poland and the border with Ukraine. On the side of Jann Mardenborough, we are surprised by the decisions: “Since when has a general ban on a group of people worked? The best solution would be to take a closer look at where the sponsors’ money is coming from and act accordingly.”
Sport must be stronger than war, but everything is linked in a direct or indirect way…