Last weekend in Ryazan, the 2nd stage of RDS Europe 2024.
If on Friday morning, when the pilots went to During the first training session over the ATRON INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT race track it was pouring rain, then Saturday and Sunday pleased numerous fans in the stands with warm and sunny weather. Coupled with extremely interesting confrontations on the track, this helped create a unique atmosphere of the 2nd stage of RDS Europe 2024!
NXT standings
Representatives of the NXT qualifying group started from the TOP-8 stage. In the semi-finals, Ivan Sedykh and Valery Nikulin were awaiting their opponents from the pairs of Kolganov – Bakhvalov and Golbreich – Dvornikov. In the first duet, Alexey Bakhvalov was stronger, in the second – Leonid Dvornikov.
The finalists of the NXT standings group were determined based on the results of the TOP-4. They were Alexey Bakhvalov and Valery Nikulin.
Leonid Dvornikov and Ivan Sedykh met each other in the race for third place, which turned out to be a victory for Leonid.
The final between Valery Nikulin and Alexey Bakhvalov in almost identical BMW E92s in the “Skid Culture” team livery matched the main race of the weekend. The pilots walked the same trajectory of the racing surface, making synchronized and aggressive shifts. The judges were more impressed by the riding of Alexey Bakhvalov, who became the winner of the RDS Europe 2024 stage in the NXT qualifying group for the second time in a row!
Individual competition, “NXT”:
PRO Qualification
Saturday’s qualification turned out to be very strong! 22 pilots scored more than 90 points, and the passing mark in the TOP-24 was 89 points! After such results, it became clear that the pilots were maximally charged for the highest results, and the paired races would be the highlight of the weekend.
According to the results of the first round of doubles races, the following riders reached the TOP-16: Danila Vorobyov, Alexander Abramov, Vahe Akopyan, Georgy Bibaev, Egor Gubin, Evgeny Shmakov. In the OMT races, Sergey Korneev and Artem Leitis reached the TOP-16.
There were some accidents at this stage. At the end of the first race, contact occurred between Timofey Dobrovolsky and Vahe Hakobyan, after which Timofey’s Nissan was unable to continue its participation in the competition. The OMT hit between Artem Leitis and Oleg Punenkov ended in the foam protective barriers at the iconic magnet wall – Drift Room team pilot Oleg Punenkov was unlucky.
The TOP 16 started with the LUKOIL Racing Drift Team derby between Grigory Gusev and Danila Vorobyov, but, alas, the number 98 BMW let down the driver – a technical retirement. Grikha reached the TOP-8, where he was joined by: Sergey Korneev, Ivan Palmin, Artem Leitis, Georgy Bibaev, Leonid Schneider, Evgeny Shmakov and Vahe Akopyan.
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And again the magnetic wall attracted the pilots to itself – first, Alexey Kozlov, in a hit against Leitis, caught the concrete fence with the back of his Toyota Cresta and damaged the rear lever, after which further participation became impossible. Then there was an accident in the Matskevich – Akopyan pair, as a result of which the pilot from Belarus was forced to issue a technical withdrawal.
The TOP-8 began with the victory of Grigory Gusev over Sergei Korneev. Then Ivan Palmin, Artem Leitis and Leonid Schneider reached the semi-finals in succession. Four pilots from the team competition left four riders from the individual competition out of work.
Fiery races between Gusev and Palmin gave rise to the semi-final stage. They had everything – contacts, door-to-door fighting, a lot of smoke and breakneck speed! The second run ended with contact. The victory went to Ivan Palmin by a judge's decision.
In the second pair (Schneider – Leitis) everything went without accidents, but all the components inherent in a colorful race were observed in full. Leonid Schneider turned out to be the strongest in the pair.
The heat of the race for third place was worthy of the final! From the moment of the performance, Leitis was literally glued to Grigory Gusev and did not let him go until the finish line. The return hit was also carried out in an aggressive manner, making the fans rejoice. The third place in the standings at the end of the stage was taken by Artem Leitis from Lemarc Yakhnich motorsport Winline Team.
Final is not just a word, but a clear definition of everything that happens on the track. It seemed like Schneider and Palmin wanted to get the most out of their drift cars. The smoke was thick and the tension was growing. As a pursuer, Palmin drove as close as possible to his opponent. The second hit, when Schneider was already the pursuer, again did not differ in intensity from the first – it even resulted in a slight collision, which, however, did not affect the technical condition of the cars. The judges took a long time to make a decision and rendered a verdict – the winner of the 2nd stage of RDS Europe 2024 in the PRO classification group was Ivan Palmin, a representative of the Carville Racing team!
Personal classification, “PRO”:< /p>
Team classification, “PRO”:
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