On July 18, as part of the Garage Fest Igora Drive 2026, the 1000 km Igora Drive race will be held – the first 8-hour race in Russian history. The best pilots and teams participating in endurance racing in Russia plan to take part in the marathon, and the marathon, in terms of the level of competition, can become one of the most interesting in the history of domestic motorsport.
For the first time since 2022, spectators will see Russian BR03 sports prototypes created by BR Engineering as part of Garage Fest Igora Drive 2026. The weight of such a car is only 950 kg, and the power of the V6 3.7 engine is about 480 hp. With.
One BR03 is planning to take part in the 1000 km Igora Drive, which will be driven by a truly stellar crew: Vitaly Petrov, the first Russian in Formula 1, winner of the Australian Grand Prix podium and two podiums at Le Mans; Sergey Sirotkin, ex-Formula 1 driver and winner of Formula GP2 races; Alexander Smolyar, winner of Formula 3 races and phygital races as part of the Future Games motorsport program.
One of the main intrigues of the race will be the confrontation between the Russian car and its French competitor Ligier JS P325 – this is the latest version of the LMP3 class prototype, which debuted on world race tracks in 2025. The car is equipped with a Toyota V6 3.5 engine with two turbines. The mass of the French car is 950 kg, and the power reaches 477 horsepower.
The car will be driven into battle by the Team Garis crew, which will include amateur pilots with extensive international experience, Konstantin Zakharevsky and Stanislav Sidoruk, as well as Konstantin Tereshchenko, champion of the Spanish Formula 4 and silver medalist of the prestigious GT World Series Europe.
GARAGE FEST
The prototypes will compete with GT3 class supercars. These are factory race cars built specifically to compete in endurance racing around the world. Such cars compete in 24-hour races at Le Mans, Spa-Francorchamps, Daytona, Nürburgring and Dubai. The engines of these cars develop 580–600 horsepower, and the weight of the cars reaches 1200–1300 kg. Thus, they are heavier, but more powerful than the prototypes.
Unlike prototypes, they are equipped with electronic assistants: traction control and ABS. This helps amateur pilots avoid making mistakes, and professionals get the most out of their equipment. At least seven GT3 supercars are expected in the 1000 km Igora Drive race: three Mercedes-AMG GT3 from the Best Tripby Capital RT, YadroMotorsport and Time4Race teams, three Lamborghini Huracan GT3 from the ISKRA Motorsport and Spora GT teams, as well as one Audi R8 GT3 from the Vracing team.
GARAGE FEST
Among the pilots there are many world-famous stars. Thus, the crew of Best Tripby Capital RT, the winning team of the prestigious Gulf 12 Hours race in 2025, includes Mikhail Aleshin, champion of the Renault World Series, winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and stages of the IndyCar series. YadroMotorsport is represented by Viktor Shaitar, winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GTE class and world champion in endurance racing, and Sergey Stolyarov, medalist of the 24 Hours of Dubai. And the Time4Race car will be driven by Alexey Nesov, winner of the 24 Hours of Spa, and Maxim Kizilov, winner of the 24 Hours of Barcelona.
The Audi will be driven by Alexander Vartanyan, silver medalist of the Spanish Formula 4, and multiple winner, including endurance races in the LMP3 LemansCup class, Kirill Smal.
The legend of Russian motorsport, Russian champion Boris Shulmeister, will ride in one of the crews of the ISKRA Motorsport team along with his student Sergei Valuyskikh.
The other crew consists of amateurs Andrey Solukovtsev and David Pogosyan, but despite the fact that both are not professionals, the pilots have victories and podiums in their class at the 24 Hours of Dubai and 24 Hours of Barcelona, 12 Hours of Paul Ricard, and Andrey also won silver in the GT4 Eurocup at the end of the season.
No less intense competition will unfold in the GT4 and TCR classes, where among the participants there are many Russian champions, winners of the National Cup and prize-winners of national competitions.
GARAGE FEST
In addition to the 1000 km Igora Drive marathon, festival guests will enjoy a rich sports program. On Sunday, July 19, the sprint races of the third stage of the GT Cup will be held on the highway circuit.
The fourth stage of the RDS OPEN open championship will take place in the paddock of the Rally Moto Center. Drifters will have qualifying runs on Saturday and elimination rounds on Sunday.
A new feature of the festival will be the “Media Races 2026” races, a joint project of the Igora Drive autodrome and the VKontakte social network, in which famous bloggers Anton Forsazh, Ian Dylan, Ekaterina Tyurina and Big Russian Boss will take part. Media Race participants will compete in three motorsport disciplines: drifting, drag racing and Formula 4 racing.
As part of the musical program “Garage Fest Igora Drive 2026”, stars of the Russian music industry will appear on stage. On Saturday, July 18, Polina Gagarina will perform her main hits and new compositions. On Sunday, viewers will see a performance by two artists at once – Vanya Dmitrienko, one of the main voices of the younger generation, and the group “Room of Culture”, a young bard rock group that has quickly become one of the most listened to artists in the country.
In addition, guests of “Garage Fest Igora Drive 2026” will enjoy a variety of entertainment: the “Auto Culture” section with an exhibition of rare and classic cars, a lecture hall, a car show and a parade; exhibition and show rides of heavy-duty dragsters and prototypes from RDRC, the Russian Drag Racing Championship and Cup; excursions to the team pits; activity zones from partners; several food courts with a variety of cuisines; bright photo zones and recreation areas for the whole family. The festival will take place on July 18 and 19. Tickets are still on sale on the official website. Children under 6 years old travel free when accompanied by an adult.
