Yevgeny Kuznetsov

Yevgeny Petrovich Kuznetsov (Born October 2, 1985 in Samara, Russia (then Kuybyshev, Soviet Union)) is a driver who currently competes in the ARLA Elite Series, driving the #82 Fatherland Vodka Frankencar for RUS Autosport. He also raced in the TM Master Cup in 2011 and drove the #82 Omecha for the same team. He also drove the #24 for Katzev Engineering in a three-race stint. He is known for his superior wet weather skills, something that may have come from rallying. He seems to be surprisingly popular with the American crowd.

Early Career
Beginning in 1997, Kuznetsov, with support from his parents, began to race motorcycles on local Russian circuits. By 2000, he had won two straight championships. In 2001 he was well on his way to a third when he was involved a terrible accident at the Volgoring Circuit which left him hospitalized for five months. Realizing the danger of motorcycle racing, Kuznetsov decided to make the jump to Rallycar.

After negotiations fell out for a ride in 2002, Yevgeny Kuznetsov made his Rallycar debut in 2003 driving for his own operation. Poor luck and unreliability plagued him for several years, but he finally broke through in 2006 and captured his first rally win. The next year, Kuznetsov won six more rallies in Russia, and was in the running for the championship late in the season until a busted fuel line in the finale ruined his chances at a championship.

Formula RUS
2008

After another successful year in Rallycar, Kuznetsov made the jump to open-wheel racing. Despite his inexperience with single-seater race cars, he quickly managed to aquire a ride as a reserve driver at the VKontakte.ru Racing Team. After primary driver Alexi Vedernikov was injured in a fiery crash at Neva Ring, Kuznetsov got his first chance to compete in Formula RUS at the Volgoring Circuit. Despite being off the pace, he managed to bring the car home in the points. "Kuzzie", as he became known as, scored 8 points that year, with a best finish of 3rd at the NRING Circuit. Due to his performances, he was invited to run the team's second car for the 2009 season.

2009

The next season Kuznetsov struggled to finish races, mostly due to mechanical issues. However, he was very fast in the races he managed to finish. Kuznetsov managed to score 7 points in the unreliable VK car, with a best finish of 4th at Neva Ring. He also managed to outperform his teammate Vladimir Romadov, scoring four more points than him despite being in the second car. During the off-season, Kuznetsov was heavily rumored to take over VK's first car and contend for the championship, but funding for the team dried up and they announced their withdrawal from the series. Without a ride for the 2010 season, Kuznetsov returned to Rallycar for several races driving for a good friend of his, Russian business magnate Vitaly Tsolikov. He performed very well in these few starts, and Tsolikov was impressed enough to open up a Formula RUS team in the place of the old VKontakte.ru Racing Team, naming it RUS Autosport.

2010

Being in one of the best-funded cars on the track, Kuznetsov was finally able to show his true potential. In 2010 he won his first Formula RUS race at the track where he made his debut, at the Volgoring. He won one more race that year at Autodrom Moscow and finished on the podium four more times, accumulating 58 points and finishing 3rd in the championship. During one of the off-weeks, Kuzzie and the RUS Autosport team went to Finland to watch the 2010 Karjala Grand Prix. Amazed by what they saw, Kuznetsov, Vitaly Tsolikov, and the entire RUS Autosport team unanimously vowed that they would enter a car in the following year's race.

2011

Heading into 2011, Yevgeny Kuznetsov was considered to be one of the championship frontrunners. He did not disappoint, winning three out of the first five races and clinching the championship with two races remaining. Soon after winning the championship, he announced that he would not return to Formula RUS to defend his title, and that he had "moved on to bigger and better things."

TM Master Cup Series
2011

After having their entry approved, the RUS Autosport team arrived in Karjala with their hopes high for qualifying. After failing to set a fast enough time to lock themselves in through pole qualifying, the #82 Aeroflot/Transneft/Rosbank Omecha MA02 was relegated to run in the pre-qualifiers. Yevgeny Kuznetsov was running in a transfer spot when he went 4-wide with Hamilton West, Tony Durbin, and Danny Savin into Sirola Park. Kuznetsov, Durbin, and Savin all went into the sandtrap, and all three failed to pre-qualify for the 2011 Karjala Grand Prix.

Dejected, the RUS Autosport team headed back to Russia. They soon found out, however, that there was an open slot for the Round of Russia that was open to local entrants. Reinvigorated, they applied for the spot. To their amazement, they were accepted. Bringing the same car that they brought to Karjala, Kuznetsov qualified the car in the 26th position at Vnukovo International Airport, in front of many experienced stock car driver such as Ethan Everett, Luciano Soveral, and Avery Holtzmann. After avoiding a few crashes on the first lap, Kuznetsov had moved up into 17th position by the middle of lap 3. Unfortunately, he suffered a puncture and fell back to 28th position, one lap down. Through attrition, he had moved up through the running order but slid into Charlie Waters' oil when entering the pits and slammed into the #10 car, putting him out of the race. He would end up 24th in the running order. However, this entry would be a blessing in disguise as the RUS Autosport team was technically an Independent's Trophy entry despite running just this one race.

Using the free entry granted by being an Independent's Trophy entry, Yevgeny Kuznetsov and the RUS Autosport team made their first foray overseas to attempt to qualify for the 2011 Round of Indianapolis. What happened next will forever go down as one of the biggest upsets in Indianapolis history. Yevgeny Kuznetsov set the 5th fastest time during 1st Round Pole Qualifying, placing himself in 5th on the grid. Kuznetsov's odds for winning were released at 1000/1. The entire RUS Autosport team celebrated as soon as the 1st Round ended, and went to the local Dawgfather's to drink. In the race, Kuznetsov fell back quickly and was not a factor for the entire race. He finished 23rd, improving his best finish by one.

After this shocking performance coupled with the release of Mikhail Pulyakov from the team, Katzev Engineering offered Kuzzie a three-race stint in the #24 car. Kuznetsov immediately accepted.

Kuzzie's first race in the #24 would be at the West Midland Bullring in Michigan. He would quickly find out that the Katzev Engineering team was quite underpowered, and struggled with the car in qualifying. He would start 37th, having been out-qualified by one of the Tutino's as well as one of the Carrington's. As the race went on, he managed to gain a few positions through attrition, but was still quite slow and was lapped before lap 30. He was put a second lap down on lap 52, and Arto Kekkonen, despite being down a cylinder, managed to pass Kuzzie with ease. On lap 67, Kuznetsov would be involved in the first caution, as Kurt Plissken and his teammate Yuliya Nosova exited the pits right in front of Franz Redlich and Adrien Devereux. He was behind this incident and slowed down to avoid hitting his teammate, but got into Arto Kekkonen, who was also collected, and flipped him onto his roof. Afterwards, as he was driving away, he slammed into the 94 of Redlich, putting himself and Gaspar de Sousa out of the race. Kuznetsov would be called to the hauler after this and would lose 15 points due to causing multiple avoidable collisions.

Despite his points penalty, Kuznetsov would be retained for Circuit Trois-Rivières. He ran a clean race and finished in 27th position, the first car one lap down.

Yevgeny Kuznetsov's final race in the #24 for Katzev was at the HLR Circuit in British Columbia, and it quickly became his most infamous performance. In practice, Kuzzie was having trouble keeping the car on the road, so he implemented what he called his "secret rally setup," in which the team cut back on the boost and went for an abnormally high amount of downforce on the #24. When the heavy rains came on race day, he started in 36th position and was by far the slowest car in the speed trap, but ended up being the only car not to throw it off in the 7 laps run in the rain and inherited the lead. When the officials flagged the race due to the rains, Kuzzie was in the lead and was adamant that the officials should simply call the race and hand him the victory. Unfortunately, this would not happen and Kuznetsov would start on the pole for the race on Monday. He quickly fell through the field and would finish 21st, one spot out of the points in his last drive for Katzev.

Kuzzie showed up for Decatur with the same #82 Omecha that attempted Indianapolis, but was unable to make it through pre-qualifying after he ran into the spinning car of Sarah Xavier. Darrell Wallace then ran into the back of Kuznetsov, putting all three out of the race.

2012

Kuznetsov's Master Cup plans for 2012 are unknown, as many ARLA Elite Series dates conflict with Master Cup dates. Kuzzie will run the 2012 Karjala Grand Prix with RUS Autosport alongside Lev Azarov, and was rumored to drive for BlackDiamond Racing in his home race in Russia. Kuznetsov and RUS Autosport were at the center of controversy at Karjala, where they showed up with a modified Omecha that they called the MA03-R. Supposedly a RUS Autosport team member took pictures of the Saar Eagles driven by Kevin Dwyer and Blake Camphausen during the TM Master Cup-ARLA companion weekend at Carbondale and brought them with him back to Russia, where the team built a chassis off of his pictures.

At the 2012 Karjala Grand Prix, Kuznetsov was not fast enough to time his way into the Top-10 through Pole Qualifying, but his teammate Lev Azarov in the #80 was. Kuznetsov barely squeaked through his pre-qualifier, finishing in 14th, the final transfer spot. Unfortunately, he wrecked out of the main qualifier on the 9th lap when he overdrove the Dwyer S, taking himself and Alan Hodges out. Kuznetsov would start in the back of the field in the #80 car. Kuzzie ran a very clean race, and finished 15th, 2 laps down. He scored his first ever points, taking in 20 points as Karjala is a double-points event.

Kuzzie would get another start in the Master Cup Series in his home race, the 2012 Round of Russia. He started in 13th and ran a very clean race, bringing the #19 Rosneft Omecha home in 9th place. His current cumulative points total stands at 29, including his penalty from Michigan.

Kuznetsov and his teammate Lev Azarov will make another appearance at the 2012 Round of Indianapolis.

ARLA
2011

After Kuznetsov finished 23rd in the 2011 Round of Indianapolis, RUS Autosport had nothing planned for some time. On a whim, Kuznetsov suggested that the team enter the ARLA race that was to be held at Watkins Glen. However, at the time there was a one-chassis-per-team rule in the series, so RUS Autosport negotiated a deal with the #84 Tolyatti of Vitaly Karpenko and purchased the car he attempted to qualify for Indianapolis with. As there were no Tolyattis on the ARLA grid at the time, Kuznetsov's entry was allowed.

RUS Autosport arrived at Watkins Glen with high hopes. After an early puncture, Kuzzie managed to recover and finish in 7th position, an excellent performance in his debut. Perhaps spurred by this impressive performance, RUS Autosport decided not to return to Russia for the time being and purchased a race shop in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina from which to stage their attack on ARLA. Kuznetsov improved his best finish by two when he placed 5th at Darlington after avoiding several accidents. Kuzzie had a surprisingly average run the next race, finishing 19th as the first car a lap down at Appleton, and Decatur was a disaster, where he finished 34th after starting a dismal 37th. Kuzzie's abbreviated 2011 ARLA season would be cut short when he was unable to transfer through his heat, DNPQ'ing for the 2011 Rockford 200.