[Alex Toropov]

Originally Posted by KA

Don't know much about the Russians at SMP, but Ladygin was part of the original Lada WTCC squad a couple of years back:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirill_Ladygin

Yes, Kirill Ladygin is very well-known kart and race car driver in Russia, and he has decent amount of international experience too.

Serguey Zlobin is well-known in Russia too, mainly for his self-confidence and his test drive for Minardi F1 team in 2002.

Devi Markozov, Alexander Frolov and Viktor Shaitar are all active and successfull racers on national scene in Russia.
http://www.raf-rrc.ru/pilot/1/30/2012/
http://www.raf-rrc.ru/pilot/7/87/2012/
www.raf-rrc.ru/pilot/5/80/2012/

Not sure why Babini and Mediani are with SMP Racing, but the answer might be their racing past....... they used to race a lot in russian single seaters during late 1990's and early 2000's. Maybe, there's connection