After competing exclusively in a full season of endurance racing in 2023, 20-year-old driver Irina Sidorkova announced her return to the sprint format in 2024. She will be back in the national series RCRS, but now in a new class - the GT4.
Former W Series driver Irina Sidorkova has finally confirmed her plans for the 2024 season. The talented 20-year-old is preparing to return to sprint format racing in the national series where she built much of her motorsport career - the RCRS. But despite being young, Sidorkova has a long and successful resume in the series, having competed in four different classes: National Junior, Touring-Light, Super-Production and more recently, in the newly created Endurance class, in 2023.
Involved in the world of motorsport since childhood, in 2024 Ira Sidorkova will have a new challenge on her path. She has experience behind the wheel of karts, formula cars, touring cars, GT's and prototypes - but it will be her first participation in a full season in a class of GT4 machines.
And in her first contact with the new car - a Mercedes AMG GT GT4 - Sidorkova seemed very excited for the upcoming season: “The emotions are overwhelming! It's a great joy and at the same time an honor to compete in a new for me, the most powerful and fastest class of SMP RCRS - GT4."
She continued: "I can honestly say that in recent years it has been our GT4 that has become the main one on my 'magical wish list' and the fairy tale is about to come true! New car, new rivals, new challenge, which I'm happy to accept and give my all!”
Since her last official race in November 2023, Sidorkova was in action in March of this year, where she participated in a competition called "Games of the Future".
The event was a 100 laps challenge around the Sochi Autodrom, held on both the real track and also on a virtual platform, for an experimental 50% real life driving and 50% sim racing.
She finished in 3rd place and the event also marked her return behind the wheel of a formula car for the first time since 2021.
"It won’t be easy, the opponents are strong, but I am too!"
Ira Sidorkova shared with us her expectations for the season in the RCRS GT4 class: "I will do my best, I won’t make exact forecasts for the season at the moment, but I will do everything in my power to make sure my result is excellent. My favorite phrase is: 'do what you have to and come what may'. For me, GT4 is an excellent opportunity to further understand the features of a GT class car."
She also summed up her experience driving a GT machine in 2023 and evaluated the competition conditions she will have this year: "Yes, last year I happened to drive a Ferrari GT3, but it was only for one race, plus the car was not the up-to-date generation. And this year I will have all 6 weekends driving a relatively new Mercedes model."
She continued: "This is the largest class in the RCRS in terms of number of drivers. Many cars of different brands are expected at the start. All drivers are experienced, some have been in this class for the fourth season. It won’t be easy, the opponents are strong, but I am too!"
And Sidorkova did not hide her happiness for the new opportunity she will have on the race tracks: "Many thanks to SMP Racing for their support and for this chance. I will be driving a car that I couldn’t even dream of a few years ago. Fantastic, I'm incredibly happy!"
Sidorkova is scheduled to drive a 18 race program in 2024 - distributed into 6 rounds with 3 races in each - where she will have the chance to continue honing her skills and showcasing her talent, fighting for new achievements.
2024 RCRS GT4 CALENDAR
R1 – Grozny – April 12th - April 14th
R2 – Nizhy Novgorod – May 31 - June 2
R3 – Kazan – June 20 - June 22
R4 – Saint Petersburg – August 22nd - August 24th
R5 – Moscow – September 13th - September 15th
R6 – Grozny – October 3rd to October 5th