SMP Racing pulls plug on 2019/20 WEC entry

SMP Racing has announced it will not participate in the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship season and has withdrawn its pair of LMP1 cars.

The Russian squad achieved five podium finishes during the 2018/19 superseason, including finishing third at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its #11 BR Engineering BR1 entry driven by Mikhail Aleshin, Vitaly Petrov and Stoffel Vandoorne.

SMP Racing was set to enter two cars again next season but confirmed on Monday that is has pulled out, less than three weeks ahead of the pre-season Prologue test at Barcelona.

“For us it was a difficult season,” said SMP Racing boss Boris Rotenberg.

“We worked a lot on our BR1 prototype. As a result, we were able to show and prove to everyone that the Russian team, Russian drivers and the Russian car are capable of achieving the highest results in the most difficult world championships and in such a prestigious race as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“This is a well-deserved success of everyone who participated in this ambitious project - drivers, SMP Racing and ART GP, BR Engineering and Dallara.

“Our goal has always been only a victory, and we believe that we achieved this victory with the highest possible result in the given circumstances.

“After the final race at Le Mans we decided that SMP Racing will leave the FIA WEC. Our team will not race in 2019-2020 season.”

SMP Racing's departure from the LMP1 class leaves just three team entries in WEC's premier class for 2019/20.