BR Engineering

Boris Rotenberg founded BR Engineering in 2013 as the racing-car construction arm of the SMP Racing driver-development and motorsport program. Its purpose was not to rebadge road cars but to establish a Russian sports-prototype engineering capability. The first project, Paolo Catone's BR01, combined Russian program leadership with international composite, aerodynamic and mechanical expertise. Eight carbon-composite/aluminium-honeycomb LMP2 cars were built for 2015–2016 with Nissan 4.5-litre V8 power and Hewland transmissions. They earned European Le Mans Series success and an LMP2 podium at Le Mans before the 2017 rules restricted the class to four other approved constructors. BR then partnered with Dallara on the clean-sheet BR1, opening engineering activity in Parma and combining Russian engineers and university students with Dallara's manufacturing knowledge. Four non-hybrid LMP1 chassis were supplied for the 2018–19 WEC super-season—three for SMP and one for DragonSpeed—with installations for AER turbo V6 or Gibson naturally aspirated V8 power. A BR1 finished third overall at the 2019 Le Mans race, best of the privateers, after which SMP withdrew from LMP1. BR Engineering next internalized far more of the work. The BR03, unveiled in Moscow on 18 May 2021, was designed by an all-Russian technical team and manufactured mainly with Russian components, retaining a foreign SADEV gearbox where no suitable domestic equivalent existed. Its BR-developed Renault-based 3.5-litre V6 produces 420 hp. Certified by the Russian Automobile Federation, the BR03 has been produced for domestic endurance racing, customer use, track programs and the announced 2026 BR03 Cup. Current specifications supersede some launch figures: the maker now quotes 950 kg without driver and fluids and six-piston brakes at both ends, versus the original 850 kg dry and four-piston rear-caliper description. Across the company's history, BR01, BR1 and BR03 are three genuinely distinct chassis families; race entries, engine installations and aerodynamic kits remain variants rather than additional models.

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