Yuriy Protasov

Yuriy Protasov

Protasov at Rally Chernivtsi-600
Personal information
Nationality	Ukrainian
Born	(1984-04-23) April 23, 1984 (age 33)
World Rally Championship record
Active years	2011–2015
Teams	Darnitsa Motorsport
Rallies	45
Championships	0
Rally wins	0
Podiums	0
Stage wins	1
Total points	10
First rally	2011 Rally Sweden
Last rally	2015 Wales Rally GB

Yuriy Protasov (Ukrainian: Юрій Протасов, born April 23, 1984 in the Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) is a rally driver from Ukraine. He won the Ukrainian Rally Championship in 2008. In 2011, Protasov contested in the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) with the Darnitsa Motorsport driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

Yuriy Protasov began his motorsport career in 1994 under the guidance of his father, a famous Ukrainian driver Leonid Protasov. In the second season he won the Ukrainian Karting Championship in the class "Pioneer-A" (1995). This was followed by a similar victories in the Ukrainian Karting Championship 1996 (class "Pioneer-B"), 1997 (classes "Popular-Junior" and "ICA-Junior") and 1998 (Class "Popular-Junior"), as well as "bronze" in the Ukrainian Karting Championship in 1998 in the class "ICA-Junior."

The latest achievement of Yuriy in karting was the "bronze" in the International karting race "Chaika-2001" (class «ICA»).

After the end of the active performances in karting Protasov tried his hand at circuit racing, performing in 2000 in Formula Ford serie (cars up to 1998 year). By the end of the season, Yuriy took 14th place in the overall classification of the series and won the bronze medal in its class.

In 2003, Yuriy Protasov took part in the Ukrainian Circuit Championship (class A9) and took second place. A year later, the pilot took part in a test drive of the Formula Renault 2000 Germany, but then decided to concentrate on his rallying career.

Yuriy Protasov's rallying career started in 1999 with performances as a co-driver (navigator) along with his father, Leonid Protasov. Their first race brought success to the family tandem - victory in the first round of the Ukrainian Rally Championship, rally "Stolitsa" (Lada Samara, A9 class). Starting from the next race crew changed Lada on Ford Escort RS 2000, but in the remaining races of the season they never again manage to finish. For some time, Yuriy switches attention to circuit races, but in 2002 returned to the rally already as a driver. Since then, the only exception was the rally "Moldova" 2007, where Yuriy was a navigator in the crew of his friend Yuri Yanovsky.