Aleshin Rejoins SMP Racing for Remainder of Season

Photo: SMP Racing

Mikhail Aleshin will rejoin SMP Racing for the remainder of the FIA World Endurance Championship season, the team confirmed on Thursday.

The 29-year-old Russian, fresh off his second IndyCar season, teams up with Nic Minassian and Maurizio Mediani in the No. 27 BR Engineering BR01 Nissan for the final three races at Fuji, Shanghai and Bahrain.

Minassian and Mediani have been a two-driver lineup for the last three races in the LMP2 contender, following personal issues for David Markosov.

Aleshin, who undertook a full season in the European Le Mans Series with the BR01 last year, last drove the Paolo Catone-designed prototype at Le Mans, and also scored pole at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“I am happy to be back behind the wheel of the Russian BR01 prototype,” Aleshin said. “The car is our baby that we’ve helped raise since 2014 and I’ll continue this work.

“There are still three races left this season, for which we’ll try to deliver strong results for the fans.”

The Russian squad currently sits 5th and 7th in the LMP2 Teams’ Championship, with its sister No. 37 car of Vitaly Petrov, Viktor Shaytar and Kirill Ladygin ahead of the No. 27 entry.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John