Besides the participation in the international circuit endurance races (Dubai 24 Hour, Nürburgring 24 Hour, German VLN Series), Tsunami RT evolved some other programs in 2009. Firstly, the participation in circuit races in Ukraine. Secondly, selection and support of young Ukrainian racers both in circuit races and in carting.
The same scheme as in rally was used in the Ukrainian Circuit championship — step-to-step expansion of the sports program that would gradually include the greater number of the classes and would give the possibility to participate in the struggle for the Champion's title in the team classification.
If in 2008 Tsunami RT in Ukrainian Circuit Championship had been represented only by Oleksandr Gaidai from Odessa (VAZ-2112 and BMW 320i in Super-2000 classification), at the beginning of the 2009 season the team had already three pilots. Oleksandr Gaidai (BMW 320i, Super-2000 class) was accompanied by the Russian pilot Aleksei Basov (Ford Fiesta ST, Touring-light class) and 17-year-old Kirill Chmych from Kharkov (VAZ-2108, Lada-1500 class).
At this all the three pilots were actual prize winners and champions of the past years: Gaidai was the third prize winner of the Ukrainian Championship in Super-2000 class (2008); Basov was the winner of FIA ETC Cup in Super Production category (2007) and the champion of Russia in Touring class (2008); Chmych was the vice-champion of Ukraine in the most popular class of Lada-1500 (2008).
Besides, in the second half if the season one more high-class pilot appeared in Tsunami RT – Andrei Kruglik, the multiple champion of Ukraine (2005-2007), VLN Series winner in SP2 class (2008), Nürburgring 24 Hour participant (victory in 2007 in SP2 and the third result in 2008 in SP2), the third prize winner of FIA ETC Cup in S1600 category (2008). With such pilots the team became one of the main favorites of the Ukrainian Circuit Championship 2009 at once.
Oleksandr Gaidai achieved seven victories of eight, and Aleksei Basov won six of eight races. Such results brought them the highest titles in Super-2000 and Touring-light accordingly. Besides, Basov started in the highest Super-2000 class several times where he succeeded to chalk up three more podiums. And Kirill Chmych repeated his achievement of the past year: he became a vice-champion in Lada-1500 classification (one victory and six podiums in eight races).
The season was rather intense and unpredictable. As far as in 2009 the number of points gained in races was directly dependent from the quantity of participants having started, it wasn't easy to forecast the process of the tournament fight in advance, especially in the team classification, where the results of the competitions were being revised all the time and were under hold within the season.
Tsunami RT from Odessa and XADO-Motorsport from Kharkov were the leading teams to fight for the title in the team classification. In total amount of all the four stages both teams gained more than three hundred points. But the Kharkov competitors succeeded to overrun Tsunami RT on 4 points on final. It was supposed that the destiny of the title would be decided on the final, fifth stage of the Ukrainian Circuit Championship, but the round was cancelled in the last moment...
The program of the starts in the Ukrainian Circuit Championship was "watered down" by the participation in the Odessa Grand Prix. The race on the city streets had the status of the Ukrainian Touring Cup. No one was peer to Tsunami RT on their own track notwithstanding the offending fall-out of Gaidai on technical grounds, Andrei Kruglik won confidently in Lada-1500 class, and Aleksei Basov won confidently in two classifications at a time – Touring-light and Free classification.
As it was mentioned before, in 2009 Tsunami RT evolved also a serious program on search and support of young racers. The participation of Kirill Chmych in Lada-1500 was one of the directions of this projects. In autumn, after the end of the circuit season in Ukraine, the 17-year-old pilot from Kharkov made his debut in the foreign competitions – Kirill participated in the four stages of the Italian 5Hundred Cup monocup, where all the participants start on the same Fiat Abarth 500 Cup (1.4 l, 120 HP).
Italian tour was successful for Chmych: Kirill finished in Top-10 of absolute classification and also won two podiums in Under 25 category on a new car and completely unknown tracks (Mugello, Adria, Vallelunga)! So, the first serious showdown outside Ukraine was successful for Chmych!
Carting also wasn't neglected – with Tsunami RT support two pilots from Kremenchug, Sergei Kovalenko and Nikita Voloshin, spent the 2009 season in Germany as part of the well-known German team of KSM Motorsport. Kovalenko started in Deutsche Kart Meisterschaft (DKM, Germany Open Championship in KF2 class), where he chalked up two effective finishes and 5 points in DCKM Division classification. Voloshin participated in DMV Kart Championship in Bambini A category where he got 14 points.
But it was not the limit of the Tsunami RT youth program, and in October 2009 it received the extension in the form of a new project "Tsunami choice is a speed of future!" The project provided the qualifying contest on the Chaika autodrome of Kyiv (October, 20-21). Eight young and promising pilots were invited (aged from 17 to 23) who had noticeable success in carting and other motor racing disciplines – Valerii Bercha, Denis Kozlov, Sergei Kovalenko, Evgenii Kramar, Mikhail Kurlov, Timur Khachidze, Nazar Shapovalov and Aleksei Yatsiuk.
The program of the contest included practice races on "battle" VAZ-2108 and Ford Fiesta ST under the supervision of two main Tsunami RT pilots – Andrei Kruglik and Aleksei Basov. To completely evaluate the capacity of the pilots to get the feel of new and unusual conditions, the rounds on the racing circuit of Chaika in both directions were provided – both clockwise and anti-clockwise.
According to the contest results three races won their places in Tsunami RT youth program. Aleksei Yatsiuk from Kharkov (winner and multiple prize winner of Ukrainian Championships on carting, autocross and rally) became the mate of Kirill Chmych in junior team that should perform in one of the European circuit series in 2010. Evgenii Kramar from Kyiv should spend the season in the Ukrainian Touring Championship in Lada-1500 class. Sergei Kovalenko from Kremenchug became the third pupil of Tsunami RT and received the program of starts in the Germany Carting Championship.