Watch the Rossa supercar race around the Dubai 24 Hours

Last weekend the Dubai 24 Hours marathon took place. At the circuit in the capital of the emirate of the same name, 64 crews competed in cars of five classes: mainly very fast GT3 class sports cars. It was here that the racing debut of the new Rossa LM GT car took place. The sports car was brought onto the track by Roman Rusinov together with his Graff Racing team colleagues. We invite you to watch a first-person video about how it happened.

The popular Dubai Circuit Marathon race is traditionally held in January during the racing off-season. For some athletes this is a valuable competition in itself, for others it is an opportunity to train in the off-season. And for Roman Rusinov it was an opportunity to test a completely new racing car in “combat” conditions.

Rossa LM GT: the most important things first-hand The first international race of the most talked about supercar Rossa: how it was Adrian Newey’s son will race the Rossa LM GT supercar

Let us remind you that Rossa is a thoroughbred racing car, designed from scratch in just a year and a half! The car is based on a durable carbon fiber monocoque. The engine and gearbox are installed behind the cab, inside a separate carbon fiber support structure. Double wishbone suspensions – with push rods and “rockers” that drive the springs and shock absorbers, and with a third element. Nowadays a naturally aspirated V10 engine is used, but the design of the sports car is universal – it is designed to accommodate different engines.

Evgeny Safronov Evgeny Safronov Evgeny Safronov Evgeny Safronov Evgeny Safronov Evgeny Safronov

The car was designed for use in the GT2 and GT3 classes, and it is also possible to create a road version. Until the car passed homologation, it was placed in the consolidated GTX class. For this class, the engine was “strangled” by software, and the car was loaded with ballast up to 1260 kilograms – the difference in pace with cars in the GT3 category was about three seconds per lap. However, in the video you can watch Roman Rusinov fighting with Aston Martins of the GT3 class.

In qualifying, the crew of the Rossa LM GT supercar demonstrated the best time in the GTX class. It’s a pity that he was later disqualified for not following the order of performance of the pilots: the rules of the Dubai 24 Hours are different from the World Championship (WEC), and the silver category driver must be the first to enter the track. The team planned this race as a continuation of tests in “combat” conditions – and therefore left the engine, which had already passed a long distance in tests. During the competition, he failed – and although he was replaced, he could no longer count on a high final result. But Roman Rusinov is very pleased: “This is only the first drive of the car that we have made in a year and a half. And at the same time, we confidently took pole position in our category, and during the race we demonstrated the potential of the Rossa LM GT. She exceeded all our expectations!”

Racing debuts – 2024