FDR School Engineer Joins Roman Rusinov's Team That Won a European Series Round in Belgium
Timofey Kuzma, a lecturer, engineer, and graduate of the FDR School at Moscow Polytech, worked as a race engineer for Roman Rusinov's team, whose Russian supercar won a round of the European Ultimate Cup series at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.
The round took place on September 18–20. Qualifying was held on a dry track, but rain began on race day, and the track conditions changed several times. Roman Rusinov took the wheel in the first sprint race. He won his class and finished first overall, overtaking an Italian supercar from a faster category.
In the second race, victory in the same class was secured by the team's second driver, 21-year-old Ismail Akhmedkhodzhaev from Uzbekistan. After the finish, the Russian flag was raised over the track and the national anthem was played. This is one of the first victories by Russian drivers under national symbols after the International Automobile Federation lifted its ban on their use in August.
During the race weekend, Timofey Kuzma worked as a race engineer. Between rounds, he is responsible for the car's technical condition: determining which components to replace and when, what needs to be ordered or modified, and preparing work sheets for the mechanics.
The team's car belongs to the GTX class. In the Ultimate Cup series, cars of different categories, including GT3, start in the same race. GT3 is an international class of racing versions of production supercars, featuring vehicles from major European manufacturers.
He met Roman Rusinov several years ago, when he was working at the FDR School base at Moscow Polytech on a Russian sports car project. There, Timofey Kuzma was responsible for electrical and electronic systems: he completely rebuilt the wiring and configured the electronic control units. This year, he went to study in Europe. When his study program included an internship, he wrote to the driver himself and asked if he could join the project. Since the beginning of the year, Timofey Kuzma has also traveled with other teams to rounds of the Italian GT championship and the GT Open series.
"Before the race, I wasn't thinking about it, and besides, I was very sick. It was when Roman was climbing onto the podium that I realized the flag and anthem were about to happen, since we'd been given the go-ahead. When the anthem started playing, I began filming, then put my phone away and started singing. The European guys on the team were congratulating us too. Without the FDR School and our director Pablo, this path would have been insurmountable. Thank you for believing in me and for the opportunity!" said Timofey Kuzma.
The team's car claimed its first victory in Europe in July at the Mugello circuit in Italy.
