Quote:
Originally Posted by Peat
I wasn't really sure where to put this thread, it could go in so many places, anyway:
SMP Racing - Who are they and where does the money come from?
From what i have seen, they are represented in:
WEC
TUSCC
Blancpain/FIAGT
IndyCar
Toyota Racing Series
...(more?)
|
SMP Bank is a private Russian bank owned by the brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg. Boris is the one involved in racing; he drives in a 458 sometimes, including at Daytona. In addition to SMP Bank, they both own a construction company that is closely tied to Gazprom, among other things. They're both on the Forbes list and so there is no shortage of their own $$ to fund racing endeavours anyway.
The two were judo sparring partners with Vladimir Putin at one point in their younger days, but the details of Russian corporate/political machinations are probably well beyond the scope of this thread. Clearly sponsorship money for motorsport is not an issue for the moment!