Timur Boguslavskiy

Timur Irekovich Boguslavskiy is a professional racing driver from Russia, currently competing in GT World Challenge Europe with AKKA ASP. Driving a Mercedes-AMG GT3, Boguslavskiy won the overall series championship in 2020 and 2023.

Early career

Boguslavskiy began his career in 2015 in the Winter Rotax Max Kazan. He also raced in Russian Automobile Federation Rallycross Cup, Russian Rallycross Championship, Canyon Cup and Winter Canyon Cup, Tatarstan Circuit Racing Championship and Tatarstan Circuit Racing Cup, Russian Circuit Racing Series prior to his move to Europe. There, he would compete in the Seat Ibiza Cup Italia, Radical Middle East Cup, Renault Clio Cup Italia, Le Mans Series">2024 24 Hours of Le Mans">Le Mans Series, and Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe.

GT World Challenge career

2019

In 2019, Boguslavskiy would turn his attention towards the 2019 [Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup|Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup], driving a Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the AKKA ASP Team in the Silver Cup category. Partnering Nico Bastian and Felipe Fraga, the Russian would experience a dominant campaign in-class, taking three victories along with two further podiums on his way towards the title, which the team clinched during the penultimate round at the 24 Hours of Spa.

2020

The following year saw Boguslavskiy continue to race in the now renamed 2020 [GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup|GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup], entering the Pro class with Fraga and Raffaele Marciello at AKKA ASP, whilst expanding his duties towards the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, racing alongside Marciello. During a season heavily disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Boguslavskiy and his team would end up fifth in the Endurance Cup, having taken a pair of podiums at the start of the year before seeing their title hopes dissipate owing to a brake issue at the 24 Hours of Spa. In the Sprint Cup, six podiums, including two wins, enabled Boguslavskiy to fight for the championship, though he would eventually finish in second place, four points behind Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts.

2021-2022

Boguslavskiy began to focus on the Sprint Cup from 2021 onwards, teaming up with Marciello. The duo failed to win a race that year, though four podiums eventually resulted in a third place finish in the standings. During the 2022 Sprint Cup season, Boguslavskiy and Marciello managed to win three races despite the dominance shown by Team WRT duo Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts, taking another runner-up placing overall.

2023

For 2023, Boguslavskiy returned to the Endurance Cup on a full-time basis, partnering previous year's champions Marciello and Jules Gounon. A chaotic season opener at Monza saw a premature end to AKKodis's race, as Boguslavskiy picked up race-ending damage during a misjudged defensive manoeuvre on Christopher Mies. Boguslavskiy made up for his error with a solid stint during the Le Castellet event, returning his car in fourth position before Marciello charged through to take victory. Another clean race, this time at the 24 Hours of Spa, yielded second place, before the Mercedes trio took a victory in Germany, having started from pole position. The team would clinch the title during the final round at Barcelona by finishing fifth, with Boguslavskiy keeping himself in third, ahead of Ferrari's Davide Rigon, during his entire stint. Following the campaign's conclusion, team manager Jérôme Policand stated that the 2023 title win meant more than the previous year's, given that Silver-ranked Boguslavskiy's presence in place of Mercedes-AMG factory driver Daniel Juncadella forced the team to operate on a higher level.
The duo of Boguslavskiy and Marciello began their Sprint Cup season well, winning two of the opening four races as a result of two poles and dominating opening stints from the Swiss driver, with Boguslavskiy keeping the lead during the final stages of race 1 at Brands Hatch and Misano [World Circuit Marco Simoncelli|Misano] respectively. Despite a retirement in the first race at the Hockenheimring, the duo would win race two, as the Russian managed gear-shifting issues to keep rival Lucas Légeret seven seconds behind him by the checkered flag. Marciello took another pole in Valencia and drove to an early lead, before Boguslavskiy took over and narrowly won ahead of Albert Costa, having lost half a dozen seconds to the Spaniard in the closing laps. This however would not be enough to take the title, with a collision caused by Audi's Lorenzo Patrese ending the team's final race at Zandvoort, therefore crowning the Tresor Orange1 outfit as champions.

WEC career

2024

With the LMGT3 class replacing the LMGTE category in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Boguslavskiy would move to the WEC for the 2024 season, driving a Lexus RC F GT3 for Akkodis ASP alongside Kelvin van der Linde and bronze driver Arnold Robin. However, the start of the year proved to be a struggle, as a retirement in Qatar 1812 km|Qatar] was followed by a 14th place in Imola. The Russian then missed the Spa event due to fever, before returning to finish seventh in class at Le Mans. A few weeks later, Boguslavskiy left the team permanently, citing his focus on "new challenges" as his reason.