Motopark Academy
Motopark Academy (raced under Lotus moniker from 2012 to 2014) is an auto racing team based in Oschersleben, Germany, next to the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben race track. In 2013, the team competed in the GP2 Series under the name Russian Time.[1]
History
Single-seaters
The team have competed in open-wheel racing consistently since the start of the 21st century. They have competed in the Formula 3 Euro Series since 2009.
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
They were teams' champions in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 in 2004, with their American driver Scott Speed taking the drivers' title with eight wins. Motopark Academy won the drivers' title of the 2006 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season with Filipe Albuquerque, with the Portuguese driver collecting four wins in all.
Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup
Motopark Academy have won all four Drivers' Championships in Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, since it formed in 2006. They won with Filipe Albuquerque in 2006, Frank Kechele in 2007, Valtteri Bottas in 2008 and António Félix da Costa in 2009. Motopark Academy also won the Teams' Championship of the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC three times: 2007, 2008 and 2009.
GP2 and GP3 Series
Russian Time was established by former Russian racing driver and manager Igor Mazepa and Motopark Academy team principal Timo Rumpfkeil in 2013.[2][3] The team had sought an entry to the GP2 Series for two years before finally being accepted in 2013, replacing iSport International.[3] iSport International withdrew from the series after being unable to secure a budget to compete in the upcoming season, and so its management elected to shut the team down in order to avoid bankruptcy.[4]
The team won its first race in only its fourth appearance, when Sam Bird won the sprint race of the Bahrain round of the championship.[5] The team took a second win on the streets of Monaco, with Bird finishing ahead of Kevin Ceccon after a fourteen-car pile-up on the opening lap forced nine drivers out of the race.[6]
In 2014, the team was set to made their debut in GP3 Series, taking Bamboo Engineering's slot and continue to participate in GP2, German Formula Three and ADAC Formel Masters.[7][8] The team's preparations for the 2014 season were disrupted by the death of Mazepa from complications relating to thrombosis in February 2014. On 18 February 2014, it was announced that Motopark had ended their partnership with Russian Time, leaving the position of all those drivers signed on for the 2014 GP2 and GP3 seasons, in limbo.[9]
Results
GP2 Series
| Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F.L. | Points | D.C. | T.C. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Dallara-Mecachrome |  Sam Bird |
22 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 181 | 2nd | 1st |
 Tom Dillmann |
22 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 92 | 10th |
FIA European Formula 3
| European Formula Three Championship | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Car | Drivers | Wins | Poles | F.Laps | Points | D.C. | T.C. |
| 2015 | Dallara F312-Volkswagen |  Nabil Jeffri |
0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 26th | 7th |
 Mahaveer Raghunathan |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39th | |||
 Tanart Sathienthirakul |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40th | |||
 Markus Pommer |
1 | 0 | 1 | 116.5 | 10th | |||
| Sam MacLeod |
0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 24th | |||
| 2016 | Dallara F312-Volkswagen |  Sérgio Sette Câmara |
0 | 0 | 1 | 107 | 11th | 3rd |
 Joel Eriksson |
1 | 0 | 2 | 252 | 5th | |||
 Niko Kari |
1 | 0 | 0 | 129 | 10th | |||
 Guanyu Zhou |
0 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 13th | |||
Timeline
| Current series | |
|---|---|
| European Formula 3 Championship | 2015–2016 |
| ADAC Formula 4 | 2015–2016 |
| Former series | |
| Formula König | 1999–2000 |
| Formula Renault 2.0 Germany | 2001–2005 |
| Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 | 2004–2009 |
| Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup | 2005–2009 |
| German Formula Three Championship | 2010–2014 |
| Formula 3 Euro Series | 2010–2011 |
| ADAC Formel Masters | 2011–2014 |
| British Formula Three Championship | 2011, 2014 |
| GP2 Series | 2013 |
Footnotes
- 1 2 Operation Team at Russian Time team
References
- ↑ Tremayne, Sam (4 March 2013). "Russian Time will replace iSport in GP2". Autosport.com. haymarket Publications. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ↑ Игорь Мазепа: Мы ведём переговоры с Диллманом и Фряйнсом (in Russian). F1news.ru. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
- 1 2 Kabanovsky, Aleksander (5 March 2013). "Russian Time hopes Motopark tie-up will build driver ladder into F1". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ↑ Bradley, Charles (22 February 2013). "iSport on verge of selling GP2 entry". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ↑ Bradley, Charles (21 April 2013). "Bahrain GP2: Bird wins thrilling sprint race victory by 0.08s". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
- ↑ Bradley, Charles (24 May 2013). "Monaco GP2: Sam Bird wins in Monte Carlo again". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
- ↑ Allen, Peter (27 September 2013). "Russian Time joins GP3 field for 2014". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
- ↑ "Lotus team to compete in the 2014 ATS Formula 3 Cup". German Formula Three Championship. Formel-3-Vereinigung e.V. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
We will contest the ADAC Formula Masters, the GP3 and GP2 in 2014. Therefore we can pave the way for young talents to smoothly advance from karting towards Formula 1. We will announce the drivers shortly before the end of the year.
- ↑ http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112544
