Roman Rusinov

Who is Roman Rusinov?

Roman Aleksandrovich Rusinov is a Russian auto racing driver.

Rusinov was the first Russian driver to win an international race in Europe, in 2000 he won the International Renault Finals in French Formula Renault. In 2002 he led the Formula Palmer Audi championship till the last event, but collided with his main rival and finished third overall. In 2003 he competed in Euro Formula 3000, taking a pole position at the Nürburgring. The same year he won the LMP650 class at the first race of the Le Mans Series, the 1000 km of Le Mans. In 2004, Rusinov raced with Ferrari Modena and became the Le Mans Series Champion in the GT2 class. In 2005, he competed in a Maserati MC12 in the FIA GT Championship and was appointed one of Russia's A1GP drivers. The A1GP team lasted only three events before running out of funding.

In 2006, Rusinov was one of four test drivers signed to Formula One team MF1 Racing. The team's owner, Russian-born Canadian businessman Alex Shnaider, had announced an ambition to get a Russian driver into F1. Rusinov participated in the first MF1 tests at Jerez, but was the only test driver not to participate in at least one Friday practice session, due to the absence of Russian sponsors on the MF1 Racing car and the difficult financial situation of the team.