Artline Engineering

ArtLine Engineering (Russian: АртЛайн Инжиниринг) is a racing team and race car manufacturer based in Russia and Georgia and specialized on design and production of single seater race cars named ArtTech.

3D-model of the ArtTech F24 chassis
Artline Engineering
Founded1998
Team principal(s)Shota Abkhazava
Current seriesFIA Formula 3 European Championship
Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe
Former seriesGerman Formula Three
Russian Formula 3
Russian Formula 1600
Teams'
Championships		2001 Russian Formula 3
2003 Russian Formula 1600
2007 Russian Formula 1600
2008 Russian Formula 3
Drivers'
Championships		2001 Russian Formula 3 (Mediani)
2003 Russian Formula 1600 (Tyuryumin)
2005 Russian Formula 1600 (Petrov)
2006 Russian Formula 1600 (Samarin)
2007 Russian Formula 1600 (Samarin)
2008 Russian Formula 3 (Semyonov)
2009 German F3 Trophy (Chukanov)
2010 German F3 Trophy (Brutschin)

The team was established in 1998 by motorsport engineer Shota Abkhazava getting its first name “Pilot F3 Engineering”. From the date of foundation, the chief designer is Sergei Piskunov, formerly Abkhazava's fellow worker in famous Russian sport car laboratory LSA MADI.

In the region of Eastern Europe and post-Soviet states, ArtLine Engineering is the first and the only engineering company which produces Formula 3 chassis.

History

1998—2008

For its first racing season the team bought the most modern Italian-made race car Dallara F399. Team's first driver Fabio Babini already had experience of participating in Russian Formula 3 series at the wheel of Russian-made open-wheeler Astrada, a car with a tubular space-frame chassis.[1] Rally driver from St-Petersburg Alexander Antonov became Babini's teammate, after 2-years driving of Formula 3 car “JAK-26” for Rothmans-ASPAS team.[2] On the 4th stage of Russian Championship, Babini got the first pole and won the race, thus interrupting series of wins of his compatriot Alberto Pedemonte from Lukoil Racing.

In the 2000th season Babini gave his place to Maurizio Mediani.[3] The team's name was changed to “ArtLine Engineering”. For the next several years, competition between Mediani and Pedemonte became the main feature of the Russian circuit racing.[4] With 5 poles, 4 wins and 3 second places, Mediani became Russian vice-champion passing Pedemonte. Antonov was not successful at the wheel of older model Dallara F393, however the team still managed to finish 3rd in the teams’ championship.

A year after Mediani went top of drivers’ championship as early as on the 3rd stage of the Russian F3 series [5] and kept his lead till the end of the season, bringing the first champion's title in the ArtLine's history. The team was enforced with the second Italian, 23-year-old Enrico Toccacelo, and the other Dallara F399. The result was that the team drivers came first in all eight qualifyings of the season and won 6 races, enabled ArtLine to finish second in the teams’ championship, still passing Lukoil.

In 2002 ArtLine focused on chassis design named ArtTech. After a years of stagnancy, Russian Formula 3 fell to crisis.[6] One of the biggest teams, Club Racing, left the series, and a number of cars on the grid reduced to 6. The team participated in 4 of 6 championship races getting 3 victories.[7]

Vitaly Petrov getting ready to start at Sparrow Hills temporary street circuit

Since 2003 ArtLine moved to fast-growing national Formula 1600 class. Dallara chassis adjusted to fit to the Russian-made VAZ engine boosted to 167 hp, and in the second half of the season ArtLine went top of the championship standings. Alexander Tyuryumin and Nikolai Bolshikh-jr drove their Dallaras to remarkable 4 wins, 4 poles and 5 fastest laps, rewriting track records of all the Russian circuits. For the first time in history of Russian closed circuit racing, one team made 3 doubles (first and second places). Tyuryumin won the drivers’ championship with ArtLine winning the team's title.[8] In the Cup of Russia the team got the maximum possible result, 74 points.

In 2004 the team started to test ArtTech chassis of its own design. In the Championship the team still participated with 4 Italian-made cars. Oleg Kazakov and Viktor Antonov, both 19 years old, drove under ArtLine brand, while their older teammates Viktor Shaitar and David Markozov entered the series under the name of “UNIT ArtLine”. Due to the contest between two teammates, Kazakov and Antonov, the team was not very successful, passing their main rival Lukoil again.[9] Nevertheless, the team came second both in drivers’ and teams’ championship.

Two ArtLine drivers competing for the lead at ADM Raceway

In the next season Shaitar moved to newly built ArtTech F1605 chassis. Daniil Move became the second ArtTech test-driver. In the first team Kazakov was replaced with Vitaly Petrov, the future Formula 1 driver,[10] who won the title. For the first time since Soviet times, one of national championship stages ran abroad,[11] at the Pärnu circuit. The team came second in the Championship.

In 2006 the team found two new sponsors, Russian electronics manufacturer Sitronics [12] and Istok group of companies. Viktor Shaitar and Mikhail Kozlovskiy drove ArtTech cars under Sitronics brand, while Ivan Samarin and Artiom Barkhiyan sat at the wheel of Dallaras F399 (later Barkhiyan was replaced with A.Tiuriumin). Experienced karting driver Tatiana Chuvaeva became a test pilot for the Sitronics Racing.[13] In this guise she appeared, the first of Russian drivers, in printed commercial.[14] Season started with the first ArtTech victory on the ADM race circuit. Istok ArtLine took the second place in the teams’ championship and Sitronics came third. Samarin and Shaitar got 1st and 3rd places.

The year 2007 was the most successful in the history of Russian performances of ArtLine. Since the middle of season, the team replaced both Dallaras with new ArtTech F1607[15] and won teams’ championship while Samarin and Shaiter got 1 and 2 places on the drivers’ scoreboard. At the wheel of ArtTech, in Finland Shaitar went top of the 26 rivals from both countries.[16]

The 2008th became the last team's season in Russia. The main event of the year was the North Europe Zone F3 Cup, for the first time held in the country,[17] with 16 cars on the starting grid.[18] Shaitar finished second on the ArtTech car, passing another Russian V.Semionov. This year the team won Russian Formula 3 Light series, held in Russia and Finland.

2009—2013
Team Motorhome built in Germany in 2009
ArtTech cars at Oschersleben, 2009

Since 2009 ArtLine moved to the Deutsche Formel-3-ATS-Cup which succeeded the German F3 Championship, one of the most prestigious European series. As ArtTech model chosen for German Cup was designed and built in 2004, the team, following the Cup regulations, had entered to Trophy League of the series where only old cars were permitted. However, from the middle of season the team leader Sergei Chukanov competed within the top 10 rivals, leaving other Trophy cars far behind. Another fast driver Jesse Krohn was invited to the team, and on the 11th stage in Assen ArtTech cars qualified 2nd and 3rd overall.[19] Finished 5th and 7th, ArtLine drivers brought the first points to the team in the “League A” scoring. In Trophy scoreboard S.Chukanov occupied first position till the season's end[20] and won with a gap of 43 points from the nearest rival, Finnish F3 champion Mika Vähämäki.[21]

Team manager Jari Rask with its owner Shota Abkhazava

In 2010 ArtLine continued to dominate in Trophy league, at the same time working on old car improvement and new chassis design. When season started, the team participated with 3 cars, driven by Riccardo Brutschin,[22] Aleksi Tuukkanen and Alexei Karachev. Brutschin finished within the top 9 twice (9th lap - Nürburgring, 14th lap - EuroSpeedway Lausitz); in Oschersleben Renault Word Series champion Mikhail Aleshin joined the team as a guest star and finished on 11th place. In the 2010th Trophy Cup ArtLine took 1st and 2nd positions.

In 2011 the team again declared new chassis design as a priority and missed some German events. Mikhail Aleshin and Antti Ramo didn't finish better than 9th; Tom Dillmann and Ivan Samarin joined the team for a couple of races. The team was mostly busy testing new technical solutions; as a result, it took positions from 3 to 6 in the Trophy scoreboard.

In 2013th season the team continued with on the German ATS Cup.

2015

In December 2014, the team announced that it would again be building its own chassis to compete in the 2015 F3 European Championship and the 2015 German ATS Cup, with an undisclosed number of entries.[23] The chassis will be designated ArtTech P315 and is intended to use engines from Neil Brown Engineering and Oreca before working on installation kits for Mercedes and Volkswagen engines later in 2015. The car has an unusual feature in that it has a central-exhaust system, a feature not seen in Formula 3 cars since the Dallara cars of the mid-to-late 1990s.[24]

Championship Results
Season Full name Chassis Engine Drivers Series Teams’ scoring place
1999 Pilot F3 Engineering Dallara F399, Dallara F393 FIAT Fabio Babini, Alexander Antonov Russian F3 Championship 2
2000 ArtLine Engineering Dallara F399 Dallara F393 FIAT Maurizio Mediani, Alexander Antonov, David Ramishvili Russian F3 Championship 3
2001 ArtLine Engineering Dallara F399 FIAT Maurizio Mediani, Enrico Toccacelo Russian F3 Championship 2
2002 ArtLine Engineering Dallara F399 FIAT Maurizio Mediani, Alexander Nesterov Russian F3 Championship (4 laps of 6)
2003 ArtLine Engineering Dallara F393 VAZ Alexander Tyuryumin, Nikolai Bolshikh-jr, Alexei Diadia Russian F1600 Championship 1
2004 ArtLine Engineering Dallara F399, Dallara F393 VAZ Oleg Kazakov, Viktor Antonov Russian Formula Lada Championship 2
2004 UNIT-ArtLine Dallara F393, Dallara F399 VAZ Viktor Shaitar, David Markozov Russian Formula Lada Championship
2005 ArtLine ProTeam Dallara F399 VAZ Vitaly Petrov, Viktor Antonov, Vladimir Labazov Russian F1600 Championship 2
2005 ArtLine Engineering ArtTech-F1605 VAZ Viktor Shaitar, Daniil Move Russian F1600 Championship
2006 Istok ArtLine Racing Dallara F399 VAZ Ivan Samarin, Artiom Barkhiyan, Alexander Tyuryumin Russian F1600 Championship 2
2006 Sitronics Racing ArtTech-F1605M VAZ Mikhail Kozlovskiy, Viktor Shaitar Russian F1600 Championship 3
2007 Istok ArtLine Racing Dallara F399, ArtTech-F1607 VAZ Viktor Shaitar, Ivan Samarin Russian F1600 Championship 1
2008 ArtLine Racing Dallara F308, ArtTech-F1607 Opel Spiess, FIAT Viktor Shaitar, Ivan Samarin Formula 3 Light 1
2008 ArtLine Racing Dallara F308, ArtTech-F1607 Opel Spiess, FIAT Viktor Shaitar, Ivan Samarin North Europe Zone Formula 3 Cup
2008 ArtLine Racing Dallara F308, ArtTech-F1607 Opel Spiess, FIAT Viktor Shaitar, Ivan Samarin Formula 3 Championship of Finland
2009 Stromos ArtLine ArtTech F24 OPC Challenge Viktor Shaitar, Sergei Chukanov, Jesse Krohn, Dominik Schraml Deutsche Formel-3-ATS-Cup, Trophy League (only drivers’ scoring) 1
2010 Stromos ArtLine ArtTech F24, ArtTech F24-06, Dallara F307 OPC Challenge Riccardo Brutschin, Alexei Karachev, Aleksi Tuukkanen, Daniel Aho Deutsche Formel-3-ATS-Cup, Trophy League (only drivers’ scoring) 1,2
2011 Stromos ArtLine ArtTech F24M, Dallara F307 Opel, Mercedes Antti Rammo, Mikhail Aleshin, Daniel Aho, Ivan Samarin, Tom Dillmann Deutsche Formel-3-ATS-Cup, Trophy League (only drivers’ scoring) 3,4,5,6
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References
  1. "Za Rulem Magazine, "Breakneck Jogging in Place"". 1 July 1988. Archived from the original on 4 May 2013.
  2. "Sport Express Newspaper, Auto column". 28 August 1997.
  3. "Kolesa Magazine, "The Championship that the country deserved"". 15 May 2000. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  4. "Sport Express Newspaper, "Volga Cross-country racing on Formulas"". 31 May 2000.
  5. "Stadion Agency, Autosport. III lap of the Russian Championship is over". 19 June 2001.
  6. "Formula Z team official page". Archived from the original on 2 July 2004.
  7. "Motorsport Events, The Final Stage". 24 August 2002.
  8. "AutoSport Magazine, Final in Three Acts". 15 November 2003.
  9. "CarPass.ru, ArtLine driver helps his rival from Lukoil to win the title". 20 September 2004. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  10. "Avtosport.ru, Sportsman Biography: Vitaly Petrov".
  11. "AutoRacer.ru, Formula-1600: Pärnu race results". 2 July 2005.
  12. "Sotovik.ru, Team Sitronics became a prize-winner of the national Formula-1600". 28 May 2006.
  13. "iLoveRacing, "Tanika"". 17 August 2006. Archived from the original on 16 September 2006. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  14. "Companion Magazine. The Titans fight on the Territory of Giants". Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  15. "Autoreview Newspaper, The Championship Without Status". 15 November 2007.
  16. "OpenRacing.ru, Russians are fastest in Finland. Russian-made car ArtTech F1607 wins". 16 September 2007.
  17. "EuroSport, The Next Formula Series Came to Russia!". 17 July 2008.
  18. "Журнал AudioMobile, North Europe Formula 3 Cup". 22 July 2008. Archived from the original on 17 November 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  19. "Official ATS Cup results". Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  20. "Dneprodzerzhinsk News, Sergei Chukanov from Dneprodzerzhinsk wins in German Formula 3". 8 June 2009.
  21. "Official ATS Cup results — Trophy Cup". Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  22. "Riccardo Brutschin Official Page". Archived from the original on 11 February 2013.
  23. "Russian company ArtLine to take on Dallara in F3".
  24. "New Russian F3 chassis set for European championship legality row".

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