SOCHI, Russia – October 17, 2022 – VTB Cup – Stage 7 of the RDS GP at the Sochi Autodrom track determined a new champion of the main national drift championship – Arkady Tsaregradtsev won on his home track and took the first title of his career in the Russian Drift Series Grand Prix.
Heading into the weekend in Sochi, Arkady Tsaregradtsev, representing Team FailCrew Darkseid, had only taken fourth place in the individual standings. But it was he who managed to gain the upper hand over all rivals, although for the “Tsar”, as for other championship contenders, pair races were not without problems.
Arkady passed the TOP 16 stage with a mandatory “bye run” due to a technical retirement from Boris Abramov (STAR РЁR STARS AIMOL), and in the TOP 8, Tsaregradtsev had a duel with BY Motorsport’s Sergey Sak. The very first race for this pair ended in the wall – Sack couldn’t keep his car on the setting and crashed into the leader’s car. After making a spectacular jump, Tsaregradtsev’s Nissan FireLady Z crashed into the wall. For both drivers, the battle ended there – the judges considered the BY Motorsport driver to be the culprit, so Tsaregradtsev qualified for the semi-finals. But to continue the fight, his team had to accomplish a real feat: the suspension had to be replaced, the brakes had to be repaired and the bodywork was damaged. But the FailCrew Darkseid team is no stranger to emergency repairs to Arkady’s cars – for the second year in a row at Sochi, the mechanics worked wonders and sent their driver back into battle for victory.
A large number of additional OMT races also played into the hands of the FailCrew Darkseid team – in almost every pair of rivals, the judges lacked a “shot” to determine the owner of a ticket for the next round of pair races. And these OMTs helped the mechanics save valuable time in fixing Tsaregradtsev’s car.
In the semi-finals, the race grid brought together Arkady with Evgeny Losev from SINTEC FRESH AUTO DRIFT. In this duel, the judges gave the victory to the “tsar”, sending him to the final, where his old friend Charles NG from STAR РЁR STARS AIMOL was already waiting for him. Both drivers have a long history of duels in the RDS GP and this time, using the colossal experience of joint doubles, the finalists put on an incredible show. On the Sochi Autodrom, already immersed in the evening twilight, Tsar and Charles NG proved to be the strongest only through the OMT race. In clouds of smoke from burnt tires, which passed through the headlights of two cars, the fate of the first place in the VTB Cup – the 7th stage of the GP RDS was decided.
The winner was Arkady Tsaregradtsev – for an experienced driver this is not only a long-awaited triumph on the home track. The win earned him the first championship title of his career in the Russian Drift Series Grand Prix. And for Charles NG, the podium in Sochi was the first of the 2022 season. In addition, the driver of STAR РЁR STARS AIMOL brought the first podium of the GP RDS to the Russian hypercar Flanker F of Sergey Kabargin.
The leading trio was completed by Evgeny Losev (SINTEC FRESH AUTO DRIFT). His semi-final rival was LUKOIL Racing Drift Team’s Andrey Astapov, who had a lot of OMT races on his way to the podium battle, but made a mistake at the decisive moment, which decided the outcome of the battle. . For Losev, third place in Sochi was the second consecutive podium of the RDS GP-2022 and the first finish in the TOP 3 at the wheel of his new Toyota Supra.
Representatives of the Forward Auto team did not compete for podium places. Leonid Schneider dropped out of the fight at the TOP 16 stage, losing to Charles Ngu. And for Georgy Chivchyan and Roman Tivodar, it all ended in their duel – Tivodar’s mistake in the first moto brought his car to a concrete stop, followed by Gocha. The drivers were not injured, but the mechanics of the Krasnoyarsk team had to work hard to fix the legendary yellow Nissan Silvia S15 in the TOP 8. At this stage of the couple races, Chivchyan had several OMT races with Evgeny Losev, but in this Siberian Derby, the victory goes to the pilot of SINTEC FRESH AUTO DRIFT.
RDS GP-2022. “Circuit of Sochi”. Personal account. TOP 3:
RDS GP-2022. “Circuit of Sochi”. Team rating. TOP 3:
Taking into account that Damir Idiyatulin (SINTEC FRESH AUTO DRIFT) abandoned the championship race during qualifying, Roman Tivodar was beaten in the intra-team duel and Georgy Chivchyan stopped competing in pairs at the TOP 8 stage , Arkady Tsaregradtsev secured the title after advancing to the semi-finals. And then, having won a confident victory in the stage, “Tsar” increased its advantage over rivals at the end of the season to almost a hundred points.
But “Forward Auto” wins its first title in the team classification. The team, which in 2022 brought together a solid and stable team of pilots, confidently secured victory at the end of the season, ahead of the reigning champions SINTEC FRESH AUTO DRIFT.
RDSGP-2022. Personal account. TOP 3:
RDSGP-2022. Team rating. TOP 3:
The 2022 Grand Prix Russian Drift Series season is over. Ahead is the solemn ceremony of rewarding the winners, during which the results of the championship and the title holders will be officially approved. After summarizing the results, the RDS GP team, drivers and teams will begin preparations for the 2023 Russian Drift Series Grand Prix, which promises to be no less interesting and eventful.
Source : MatchTV
