Marko Stipp Motorsport’s Yevgen Sokolovskiy will miss this year’s NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season finale at Rijeka so that he can represent his home country Ukraine in the FIA Motorsport Games on 26-30 October.
Yevgen Sokolovskiy will not be participating in the EuroNASCAR Finals at Croatia’s Automotodrom Grobnik on 28-30 October so that he can represent Ukraine in this year’s FIA Motorsport Games at Circuit Paul Ricard, held at the same weekend as the final round of this year’s EuroNASCAR season.
Sokolovskiy had been selected by Ukraine’s Fédération Automobile de l’Ukraine (FAU) to represent his country in FIA Motorsport Games’ GT Relay competition alongside Ivan Peklin. While the decision to select Sokolovskiy and Peklin into the Ukrainian team was approved in August as announced by the FAU, it was only yesterday that Jonas Plümer from GT-Place.com revealed what ride the duo is going to be competing for at the FIA Motorsport Games.
As revealed by GT-Place.com, Sokolovskiy and Peklin will be racing a PROsport Racing-entered Aston Martin Vantage GT3 that featured Sokolovskiy’s traditional No. 48 on the side and an inspirational “#be_brave_like_ukraine” livery to represent the country’s immense fighting spirit in their battle against the invading Russia.
“I am very grateful to be able to represent Ukraine in this competition,” said Peklin, who was actually fighting in the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war before he received an approval to return to Germany in the summer to continue on his racing activity and college degree.
“The Olympic format in motorsport is new for me. Yevgen and I are very motivated to bring out the best possible result. Our goal is the same as that of the entire Ukrainian team: We want the Ukrainian anthem to be played at the award ceremony and the Ukrainian flag to be seen! We want to support the fighting spirit of Ukraine!”
For Sokolovskiy, the opportunity to compete in the FIA Motorsport Games will represent his first opportunity to race a Group GT3 car. Sokolovskiy has been racing GT4 cars for several seasons in ADAC GT4 and Nurburgring Endurance Series with PROsport Racing, which he did alongside his duties as a double duty driver with Marko Stipp Motorsport.
“We want to achieve a good result at the FIA Motorsport Games,” said Sokolovskiy on the FIA Motorsport Games. “In the past two years I have worked hard to reach a high level. Ivan is a fast pilot and together we are a good pair, he as a silver pilot and I am a bronze. Together we will definitely be able to put pressure on our competitors.”
“We are preparing hard for the task ahead. I hope that every athlete from the Ukrainian team will fight in such a way that our fellow Ukrainians will be proud of us. For our compatriots we are going to the FIA Motorsport Games!”
It is currently unknown who is going to replace Sokolovskiy in the No. 48 Marko Stipp Motorsport Chevrolet at Rijeka. Sokolovskiy’s non-participation does mean that his teammate Miguel Gomes is set to become the closest challenger to Melvin de Groot in the battle for the top Legend Trophy honors.
Disclaimer: Unless noted on the photo, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series/ Klemen Sofric / Bart Dehaese.