Saturday at the Sochi Autodrom track turned out to be eventful.
- Georgy Chivchyan won the RDS GP qualification for the 8th time in his career and took a step towards the fourth championship in the series.
- Incredibly tight qualification — 12 pilots entered the “90+ club.”
- Charles NG, Anton Kozlov and Evgeniy Losev reached the TOP 16 and retained their chances for the championship.
The denouement of the fight for the championship in the Grand Prix of the Russian Drift Series 2023 (RDS GP) has already begun in qualifying for the final 7th stage of the country's main drift championship, which takes place this weekend at Sochi Autodrom. Following the results of the qualifying session, Damir Idiyatulin was eliminated from among the contenders for the championship.
The “SINTEC • Fresh Marketplace” pilot retained only mathematical chances for the title, and for this a coincidence of circumstances was necessary — Damir’s victory in qualifying and the four leaders of the individual standings not making it into the TOP 32. Neither one nor the other happened. 96 points for the best attempt brought Idiyatulin only fourth place in qualifying, and taking into account the fact that his main rivals also entered the “90+ club”, the athlete lost the opportunity to become the winner of the RDS GP season in the individual competition.
Four will continue the battle for the title. Georgy Chivchyan (TAKAYAMA FORWARD AUTO), who won the qualification with a score of 98 points, Charles NG (STAR PER STARS AIMOL), whose best attempt brought him 97 points, Anton Kozlov (Carville Racing) with a score of 95 points and Evgeniy Losev (SINTEC • Fresh Marketplace») with 92 points. This was enough for the athletes to stay in the championship race.
Georgy Chivchyan and Charles NG received a ticket to the TOP 16 stage through a “bye run” pass without an opponent, and the rest of the contenders had to compete. For Anton Kozlov, everything almost ended in the TOP 32 in the very first race as part of an intra-team derby with Nikita Shikov. Nikita, being a pursuer, made contact with Anton’s car during the staging, and on the way to the turning loop he even went for a ram. It all ended in a collision, after which Kozlov could no longer continue the race. Nikita Shikov was recognized as the culprit of the accident, so Anton entered the TOP 16.
Everything turned out much more dramatically for Evgeny Losev (“SINTEC • Fresh Marketplace”). In the TOP 32 his opponent was Danila Skorobogatov (TimeUp). On the first attempt, the judges failed to identify the strongest in the duel, so a re-run (OMT — one more time) was first scheduled, and then another one. The duel of powerful rivals ended in a serious accident — being the pursuer, Skorobogatov, after staging, leaned on the leader’s car. As a result of this contact, the front suspension of Losev’s car was broken, and then Evgeniy turned into a passenger altogether — the pilot had no physical opportunity to get away from Danila’s car.
As a result, two out-of-control Toyota Supra A80s crashed into the bump stop in close contact with each other. The athletes were not injured, but their cars were seriously damaged. The judges found Skorobogatov to be the culprit of the collision, so the SINTEC • Fresh Marketplace mechanics will have a sleepless night to restore Evgeniy Losev’s car and return the pilot to the race for the championship.
The qualifying races were incredibly dense. The unofficial “90+ club” included 12 pilots, including contenders for the championship, and the winner and the 12th place holder were separated by only 6 points! Dmitry Ermokhin (STAR PЁR STARS AIMOL) scored 97.5 points and almost won his first career qualification in RDS GP, Arkady Tsaregradtsev (FailCrew x DarkSide) and Roman Tivodar (TAKAYAMA FORWARD AUTO) scored 95.5 points each. Ilya Fedorov (AUTOPROFI TEAM) earned 94 points, Anatoly Shcherbak – 93 points, Grigory Gusev (LUKOIL Racing Drift Team) and Maxim Grossman (TimeUp) each scored 92.5 points.
VTB Grand Prix Final of the Russian Drift Series 2023. Sochi Autodrom. TOP 16 participants:
- Georgy Chivchyan — Anton Klyamko
- Ilya Fedorov — Anatoly Shcherbak
- Damir Idiyatulin — Denis Sorokopud Arkady Tsaregradtsev — Evgeny Losev
- Dmitry Ermokhin — Leonid Schneider
- Anton Kozlov — Grigory Gusev
- Charles NG — Andrey Astapov
- Roman Tivodar – Maxim Grossman
Due to technical reasons, Stepan Azarov (AUTOPROFI TEAM) could not take part in the qualification. At the TOP 32 stage, Carville Racing driver Nikolay Gorkovenko completed a technical departure. Otherwise, Saturday's doubles races went smoothly and without surprises — those pilots from whom this could be expected advanced to the stage of Sunday duels. The main thing is that all contenders for the title have made it into the TOP 16.
VTB Final of the Grand Prix of the Russian Drift Series 2023 at the Sochi Autodrom track will continue tomorrow, October 15. Participants of the stage will have paired races from the TOP 16 stage up to the final duel. Together with the spectators in the stands, you can follow the events on the track that will determine the strongest driver and team of the 2023 season in a live broadcast on RDS TV.
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