The sixth stage of the 2022 Russian Drift Series Grand Prix ended at Moscow Raceway – the weekend in Moscow determined the name of the new RDS GP stage winner, brought one of the regular participants of the championship the first podium of his career and tied the two leaders of the individual classification on points before the season finale.
Sunday’s duels were marked by contact wrestling. A rare pair of riders managed to pass without colliding, and if they did, it was often difficult for the judges to determine the winner without additional OMT races. In such an environment, where it was important to deal not only with the car, but also with your own nerves, several favorites missed at once.
Georgy Chivchyan (Forward Auto) didn’t make it past the top 16. Contact with LUKOIL Racing Drift Team’s Andrey Astapov didn’t allow the legendary Gocha to continue to struggle – a sensational loss no one expected. In this situation, Damir Idiyatulin (SINTEC FRESH AUTO DRIFT) had the opportunity to regain first place in the general classification, but Damir did not manage to pass the top 8. The error of Leonid Schneider of Forward Auto, who caused a clash with Idiyatulin in the top 16, brought victory to Damir. But then the racing grid brought him closer to Roman Tivodar, and here the Forward Auto driver gave his opponent no chance.
In the top 16, Evgeny Losev (SINTEC FRESH AUTO DRIFT) also stopped fighting. As rivals he got BY Motorsport’s Sergey Sak, who as a chaser had little contact with the leader, but when the drivers switched roles Losev rammed Sergey straight into production. With that, participation in the sixth stage of the RDS GP 2022 ended for Losev.
Alexey Vakhtin (FailCrew Darkseid), Nikita Shikov (Carville Racing) and Magomed Omarov (LUKOIL Racing Drift Team) dropped out of the top 16. In the race with Dmitry Ermokhin (BY Motorsport), Omarov first made contact, then completely do a half turn. I crashed into the race with the future winner of the stage and Denis Migal (SINTEC FRESH AUTO DRIFT), for whom the stage was ending at this point.
On this point, the contact struggle in the Grand Prix of the Russian Drift Series at Moscow Raceway did not end. The very first pair in the top 8 had a collision at the end of the rated section – Dmitry Ermokhin (BY Motorsport) crashed into Andrey Astapov (LUKOIL Racing Drift Team), so the judges sent Astapov to the semis. In the next pair there were no collisions, but not without feeling – Damir Idiyatulin (SINTEC FRESH AUTO DRIFT) lost to Roman Tivodar (Forward Auto) and lost the chance not only to fight for victory , but also to fight for a place on the podium.
In the duel between Arkady Tsaregradtsev and Charles Ng, who met again this season, the Hong Kong pilot of STAR PЁR STARS AIMOL, although he lost against the leader of FailCrew Darkseid, but snatched a storm of applause from the audience in the stands with his aggressive and spectacular driving on the Flanker F close to “King”. Sergey Sak (BY Motorsport) and Grigory Gusev (LUKOIL Racing Drift Team) fought for the last place in the semi-finals. To determine the winner of a ticket for the top 4, the judges needed two full OMT races, but in the end everything was decided by “bye run”: Sergey Sak made a mistake and flew off the track at the very finish line. The car overcame the entire safety zone and crashed into a steel stopper – the BY Motorsport team did not have a few seconds to repair the car and bring the driver back into action. So Gusev went to the semi-finals.
True, this luck turned away from Gregory. In the semi-final with Arkady Tsaregradtsev, he crashed into an opponent’s car in the first run. But if the “Tsar” was able to safely reach the finish line of the evaluated section, the car of the LUKOIL Racing Drift Team driver had to be evacuated from the track. There was no time for repairs, so Tsaregradtsev went through the mandatory “bye run” to the final.
Arkady’s opponent for first place was to be determined by two OMT races. Roman Tivodar (Forward Auto) and Andrey Astapov (LUKOIL Racing Drift Team) couldn’t drive so the judges could name the strongest. As a result, even after the second OMT race, the opinions of the referee team were divided. And for the first time in several years, the winner of the duel was determined by the results of qualification – Roman Tivodar went to the final, because he qualified above Astapov.
As a result, the LUKOIL Racing Drift Team partners met in the battle for third place. Considering that Gusev and Astapov had been involved in crashes before in previous legs of the pair races, it was to be expected that the contact was not without contact this time around. Grigory, as a pursuer, made slight contact with the leader before the finish line, and after the finish he came to Andrey’s car much stronger. Following this contact battle, the judges named Andrey Astapov the winner. He finally won his first podium at the RDS GP.
The final went surprisingly well. Roman Tivodar (Forward Auto), who throughout the weekend thrilled fans and scared opponents with his aggressive controls, rode behind Arkady Tsaregradtsev in a very tight and synchronized fashion. Arkady, who kept a respectful distance behind Roman, failed. This decided the outcome of the duel – Roman Tivodar won his first victory of the 2022 season.
RDS GP-2022. Moscow Hippodrome. Personal account. Top 3:
1. Roman Tivodar (Auto Transfer)
2. Arkady Tsaregradtsev (“FailCrew Darkseid”),
3. Andrey Astapov (LUKOIL Racing Drift Team)
RDSGP-2022. Moscow Hippodrome. Team rating. Top 3:
1. “Auto Transfer” – 332 points
2. LUKOIL Racing Drift Team – 308 points
3. “FailCrew Darkseid” – 288 points
According to the results of the weekend at Moscow Raceway, the Forward Auto team scored four wins at once: Georgy Chivchyan won qualifying with a score of 98 points, Roman Tivodar added a triumph at a speed of 154, 8 km/h to victory in the individual competition in the unofficial battle of participants in the “bye run” in the TOP 32, and the entire Krasnoyarsk team won the stage in the team classification.
RDS GP-2022. Personal ranking after six stages. Top 3:
1. Georgy Chivchyan (Forward Auto) – 1043 points
2. Damir Idiyatulin (SINTEC FRESH AUTO DRIFT) – 1043 points
3. Roman Tivodar (Forward Auto) – 1024 points
RDS GP-2022. Team classification after six stages. Top 3:
1. “Auto Transfer” – 2176 points
2. SINTEC FRESH AUTO DRIFT – 1889 points
3. “FailCrew Darkseid” – 1508 points
Before the last stage of the RDS GP 2022, a situation has developed in which five drivers retain the mathematical chances for the title at a time, and four athletes retain the real championship contenders. Georgy Chivchyan and Damir Idiyatulin are tied on points (1043 points each), Roman Tivodar is only 19 points behind them and Arkady Tsaregradtsev at 23 points. And even Evgeny Losev, who loses 197 points, could well become champion if the quartet of leaders does not have a final stage in Sochi.
However, drivers and teams have enough time to prepare well for the decisive battle for the titles. The seventh stage of the Grand Prix of the Russian Drift Series 2022 will be held in a month, on October 15 and 16, on the track of the Sochi Autodrom, where the participants of the championship will have to determine the name of the new RDS GP champion supervised by concrete fenders.
Source : MatchTV
