On August 8–9, the Igora Drive circuit near St. Petersburg will host the third round of the Russian SMP Formula 4 championship. After this weekend, exactly as many rounds will remain on the calendar as have already been held — a good moment to sum up the 1/3 of the season for ITECO Racing Team. The team currently sits 3rd in the teams’ standings, Timur Shagaliev is third in the drivers’ championship, Ivan Pigaev and Maksim Orlov are 4th and 5th respectively, and Ivan Ovsienko is 9th.
Round 1: Moscow Raceway
The season opened on May 16–17 at Moscow Raceway, and it turned out to be a successful weekend for the team. Ivan Pigaev won Saturday’s opening race, taking pole position and then leading the race from start to finish while also setting the fastest lap. Timur Shagaliev claimed victory in the second race — but only after the finish, once Maksim Orlov, who had crossed the line first, was given a penalty for a jump start. On Sunday, however, Orlov made amends by winning the third race. Timur Shagaliev, who had taken pole, finished third. The weekend’s final race also brought a podium for the team, with Maksim Orlov finishing third. The overall result for the team was impressive: three individual wins out of four possible races, plus the round’s team trophy.
Round 2: Kazan Ring Canyon
On June 13–14, the championship moved to Kazan Ring, where ITECO Racing Team arrived as the leader of the teams’ standings, with Ivan Pigaev sitting second in the drivers’ championship. Timur Shagaliev took the podium in the first Saturday race, finishing third. In the day’s second race, two team drivers made the podium: Maksim Orlov climbed to the top step, while Shagaliev again took bronze. Ivan Pigaev put a bright finishing touch on the Kazan weekend, finishing second in the closing Sunday race.
Standings Ahead of Igora Drive
After two of the six rounds, the drivers’ standings look like this: Timur Shagaliev rounds out the top three. He is followed by Ivan Pigaev (4th) and Maksim Orlov (5th), while Ivan Ovsienko sits 9th. In the teams’ standings, ITECO Racing Team is third.
Igora Drive itself is a track with a special history: it was designed by Hermann Tilke, the designer behind most of Formula 1’s modern circuits, and the track was once meant to host the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix.
About the Team’s Drivers
Four drivers race for ITECO Racing Team in the 2026 season:
Maksim Orlov — in 2023 he became champion of Italy, and in 2025 he first won the European Championship, taking victory at all three rounds in a row, and then the World Cup as well — all of it in the top karting class, KZ-2.
Ivan Pigaev — one of the few drivers in the lineup who already has a full Formula 4 season behind him: he competed in the entire 2025 season, continues racing in the series now, regularly reaches the podium, and also competes in karting in the KZ-2 class.
Timur Shagaliev followed a classic path: he started out in junior competitions and grew into a contender for wins in Russia’s prestigious “OK” karting class, and in Formula 4 he consistently fights for podiums and victories. Shagaliev also has international experience: he made a strong debut in the FIA F4 Chinese Championship in Shanghai and continues to combine appearances in the two series — Russian and Chinese.
Ivan Ovsienko joined the team with a European background: in 2025 he became champion of the “Challenger” class in the Alpine Elf Cup series and also competed in the major European Ultimate Cup series.
What’s New in the 2026 Season
The second season of the revived SMP Formula 4 has brought a series of organizational changes.
The main change is the race weekend format: each of the six rounds now features four races instead of three. The number of cars on track has grown from 16 to 18, while the number of participating teams has actually decreased — leading teams, including ITECO, expanded their lineups and now field four cars each.
The technical side, meanwhile, has stayed the same: all drivers compete in identical Tatuus F4-T421 cars.
What’s Next
After Igora Drive, the championship will take a break and resume on August 29–30 at the N-Ring circuit in the Nizhny Novgorod region, then on September 12–13 the drivers will head to the Fort Grozny Autodrom, and the decisive sixth round will take place right where it all began — at Moscow Raceway, on October 10–11.
2026 Russian SMP F4 Championship calendar:
- Round 1. May 16–17, Moscow Raceway, Moscow Region
- Round 2. June 13–14, Kazan Ring, Kazan
- Round 3. August 8–9, Igora Drive, Leningrad Region
- Round 4. August 29–30, N-Ring, Nizhny Novgorod Region
- Round 5. September 12–13, Fort Grozny, Grozny
- Round 6. October 10–11, Moscow Raceway, Moscow Region
Material provided by ITECO Racing Team
