On Saturday, the pilots had to fight not only with rivals, but also with the vagaries of the weather.
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St. Petersburg, Russia — July 2, 2023
St. Petersburg is known for its changeable weather, which can change several times in one day from bright sunshine to heavy rains and back again. The participants of the third stage of the Grand Prix of the Russian Drift Series, who had to adapt to completely different conditions on the track more than once on Saturday, were convinced of this from their own experience.
The qualification started on dry pavement, which allowed Ilya Fedorov (AUTOPROFI TEAM) to lead the session minutes and keep the lead for a long time. He scored 93.5 points on the first attempt, and when the first drops of rain fell on the track, it became clear that this result could bring the Far East pilot a victory in qualifying. After the light rain turned into a downpour, even just keeping on the trajectory, following the referee's task, became difficult. But even in such conditions, there were those who were able to surprise with their results.
At first, Evgeniy Losev (SINTEC • FRESH Marketplace) drove 90.5 points on a flooded track. Then his result was repeated by Charles NG (STAR PЁR STARS AIMOL), but the authors of the main sensation were the pilots of TAKAYAMA FORWARD AUTO. The most experienced Georgy Chivchyan earned 94 points from the judges on the very first run, but an error in the second attempt did not allow him to claim victory in the qualification.
RDS GP debutant Timofey Dobrovolsky (TAKAYAMA FORWARD AUTO) performed much better under the most difficult weather conditions. The young pilot passed the first attempt with a good 79 points, and in the second he was able to improve the result immediately to 94 points. Having shown incredible composure and the highest level of control over the car, Timofey Dobrovolsky, already at the third stage for himself in the Grand Prix of the Russian Drift Series, won the qualification. And the Igora Drive track has once again confirmed the status of a circuit that favors young talents — it is worth recalling that another TAKAYAMA FORWARD AUTO driver, Roman Tivodar, also won his debut victory in the RDS GP on the track in St. Petersburg and also in conditions rainy weekend.
RDS GP 2023. Igora Drive. Qualification. Top 3:
By the pair races of TOP 32 the situation with the weather did not improve, and almost each of the duels took place in different conditions. Some pilots were lucky to race almost on dry pavement, others fought in drizzle, and others fought in pouring rain. The duel between Roman Tivodar and Andrey Astapov (LUKOIL Racing Drift Team) turned out to be special: the pilots drove the first race on dry land, and before the second race, a heavy downpour accompanied by heavy wind hit the track. For safety reasons, the races were suspended, and the fight on the track resumed after the passage of the storm front. As a result, Andrey Astapov became the strongest in this race extended in time and weather conditions.
However, in other pairs of TOP 32 there were some surprises, which were presented by other newcomers of the series. The Popov brothers («FailCrew x DarkSide») confidently advanced to the TOP 16 stage — Ilya defeated Denis Migal («SINTEC • FRESH Marketplace»), and Vladislav defeated Anton Klyamko. It is all the more interesting that their mentor, the most experienced Arkady Tsaregradtsev, suddenly stopped fighting in the TOP 32 for many, losing to Danila Skorobogatov (TimeUp). As a result, the TimeUp team became the only one who managed to reach the TOP 16 in full force.
Sergey Kabargin, who returned to the RDS GP, tried to impose a fight on Evgeny Losev (“SINTEC • FRESH Marketplace”), but the contact deprived him of his chances to go further TOP 32. Damir Idiyatulin (“SINTEC • FRESH Marketplace”) suddenly lost to Nikita Shikov (Carville Racing), and Nikolai Gorkovenko (Carville Racing) and Grigory Gusev (LUKOIL Racing Drift Team) became the authors of probably the most curious OMT race of the day. At first, Gorkovenko made a mistake as a leader and went into a U-turn, so in the second run of the hit, it was enough for Gusev to carefully pass the leader. However, having switched roles, both Grigory and Nikolai turned around already together — the judges had to appoint a restart, in which the fate of a trip to the TOP 16 was determined. Gusev went further.
Anton Kozlov (Carville Racing) made his fans worried ). The leader of the individual standings faced technical problems on his car during the qualifying, and the mechanics had to work hard to fix his BMW in time for the start of the pair races. As a result, the duel between Anton Kozlov and Anatoly Shcherbak had to be moved to the very end of the TOP 32. Kozlov's victory in it turned into an additional portion of work for the team, because the opponent crashed into Anton's car in the first race and seriously damaged his car.
RDS GP-2023. «Igora Drive». TOP 16 participants:
- Timofey Dobrovolsky — Dmitry Ermokhin
- Anton Kozlov — Ilya Popov
- Evgeny Losev — Alexey Vakhtin
- Charles NG — Leonid Schneider
- Georgy Chivchyan — Andrey Astapov
- Maxim Grossman — Nikita Shikov
- Ilya Fedorov — Grigory Gusev
- Vladislav Popov — Danila Skorobogatov< /li>
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