The 2023 RDS GP season brings new names, new teams and new cars.
< p class="p3">– The Grand Prix of the Russian Drift Series will traditionally open the new season at the Moscow Raceway.
– Three dozen pilots have been announced for the first stage of the RDS GP-2023.
– All RDS GP teams have changed their roster and prepared new vehicles
MOSCOW, Russia, April 25, 2023 –Russian Drift Series Grand Prix (RDS GP) opens the new season. Traditionally, the first stage of the country's main drifting championship will be held in Moscow on the Moscow Raceway near Volokolamsk, where the best Russian pilots and thousands of their fans will gather on April 29-30.
Together with the fans in the stands of the autodrome, tens of thousands of drift fans around the world will watch the events live. For those who will not be able to personally attend Moscow Raceway, a live broadcast of all sessions of the weekend — from qualifying and TOP 32 on Saturday to TOP 16 and final races on Sunday — will be held on the RDS TV platform.
Champion Changes
Arkady Tsaregradtsev, who remained faithful to his Nissan FireLady Z, will start the new RDS GP season as the current champion. Tsaregradtsev's partners will be two debutants of the Grand Prix of the Russian Drift Series: Ilya Popov in a Nissan 370Z and Vladislav Popov in a Nissan 350Z. As a result, the FailCrew x DarkSide team will be represented by three pilots from Sochi in three Nissan cars.
Three identical Nissan Silvia S15 coupes will be put to the start by the TAKAYAMA FORWARD AUTO team, the reigning RDS GP champion in the team standings. Three-time champion of the Russian Drift Series Georgy Chivchyan will be partners with the winner of the RDS GP stages Roman Tivodar and the debutant of the series Timofey Dobrovolsky, who previously competed in the inter-regional RDS EUROPE competitions.
New names in familiar teams< br />
The LUKOIL Racing Drift Team, Carville Racing and STAR PЁR STARS AIMOL have also adjusted their lineups: each team has one new driver. Moreover, the participants of the last season of the RDS EUROPE series will debut in the LUKOIL Racing Drift Team and Carville Racing. =»p2″>Andrey Astapov and Grigory Gusev in the Moscow team in the LUKOIL Racing Drift Team will be partnered by Denis Sorokopud, who triumphantly won the first ever RDS Wild Card at the RDS GP stage in Myachkovo in 2022. It is noteworthy that his opponent in that battle, Danila Vorobyov, joined the same team, but in RDS EUROPE. As for technology, here the legendary team is also preparing surprises. Toyota and Lexus sedans will be replaced by BMW coupes during the season — Andrey Astapov and Grigory Gusev are building two new BMW 3 Series (E92).
And in the St. Petersburg team Carville Racing, the proportions of German and Japanese cars are reversed. Most of the team remains loyal to German sports cars, and at the same time, in 2023, the pilots will clearly illustrate the history of the BMW coupe: Nikolai Gorkovenko will continue to drive the modern BMW 2 Series (F22), and RDS GP debutant Anton Kozlov has prepared the classic BMW 3 Series (E30), which will become one of the decorations of the new season. The third pilot of the team is Nikita Shikov on Toyota GR Supra (A90).
It is possible that during the season, the monopoly of Carville Racing and Nikita Shikov on the GR Supra in Russian drifting will be broken by the SINTEC • Fresh Marketplace team, which officially announced the preparation of the new Toyota Supra (A90). However, the team will start the championship with already familiar cars: Evgeny Losev will drive the first stage on Toyota Supra (A80), and Damir Idiyatulin and Denis Migal will drive Lexus IS modified in the off-season.
In the colors of STAR PЁR STARS AIMOL, the public favorite Charles NG (Hong Kong, China) will spend the next season, who will continue to develop success behind the wheel of the Russian drifting hypercar Flanker F. Boris Abramov, who prepared the new BMW 3 Series (E92), as well as winner of the RDS GP stages Dmitry Ermokhin on Nissan Silvia (S15).
In 2023, the AUTOPROFI TEAM team is expanding its presence in the Grand Prix of the Russian Drift Series — Stepan Azarov and his Nissan 370Z will be joined by Ilya Fedorov driving a Nissan EvoSilvia.
Familiar names in new teams
In 2023, two new teams will appear at the Russian Drift Grand Prix at once, which will include , however, by no means beginners of the big drift will enter.
Ambitious Leonid Schneider, who became the «discovery of the year» in the 2022 season, this year moved to Toyota Mark2 and will lead his own TimeUp team to the start. Together with him, the colors of the team will be defended by Danila Skorobogatov in a Nissan Silvia (S15) and Maxim Grossman in a Toyota Mark2, spotters and winners of winter drift tournaments, well-known in the drift community.
The leader of the new VSTeam team, Alexey Vakhtin (Toyota Altezza), is already well known to the RDS GP public, and his partner will be the debutant of the series Evgeny Spirin, who prepared the Nissan 180 SX for the new season.
Four pilots were declared in the individual competition at the first stage of the championship: Anton Klyamko in a BMW 2 Series (F22), Anatoly Shcherbak driving a Nissan Silvia (S15) , Vladislav Shubaderov on Nissan Silvia (S15) and Anton Dmitrienko also on Nissan Silvia (S15). «>The practice of the panel of judges unchanged throughout the season, which was first tested in 2021, will remain in the RDS GP 2023 season. This year, active athletes will work on the judging tower, combining the judging of the RDS GP with participation in the competitions of the inter-regional series RDS EUROPE.
Over the course of seven stages, Maxim Akhtyamov, Anton Novikov and Vladimir Safonov will evaluate the performances of the participants in the Grand Prix of the Russian Drift Series in qualifications and pair races. All three have vast experience in both refereeing and drifting performances.
Schedule of the 1st stage of the RDS GP 2023 at the Moscow Raceway:
Saturday, April 29
- 8:30-10:00 – training
- 10:00-13:00 — qualification
- 14:00-15:00 — official opening of the competition and autograph session
- 15:30-18:30 – pair races TOP 32
April 30, Sunday
- 9:00-10:30 — training
- 11:00-12:30 — official opening of the competition and autograph session
- 13:00-14:30 – pair races TOP 16 16:00-18:00 — pair races TOP 8/TOP 4/final
- 18:30-19:00 — awards ceremony
About Moscow Raceway
The Moscow Raceway has become the first European-level track in Russia. Opened in 2012, the track is FIA Grade 1 (International Automobile Federation) and FIM B (International Motorcycle Federation) certified, making it suitable for Formula 1 and World Superbike racing.
During the existence of the autodrome, it has hosted stages of the leading international series DTM, WSBK, World Series by Renault, FIA WTCC, FIA GT, Blancpain Series, as well as Russian RDS GP, RSKG, RSBK, Russian Endurance Challenge and TRD Endurance.
RDS GP statistics at Moscow Raceway
2020 (RDS Moscow Cup)
- Qualification: Evgeniy Losev (96 points)
- Top 3 pair races: Georgy Chivchyan (winner), Damir Idiyatulin, Evgeny Losev
2021
- Qualification: Georgiy Chivchyan (94 points)
- Top 3 pair races: Arkady Tsaregradtsev (winner), Evgeny Losev, Georgy Chivchyan
2022 (stage 1)
- < li class="li1">Qualification: Damir Idiyatulin (100 points)
- Top 3 doubles: Damir Idiyatulin (winner), Roman Tivodar, Georgy Chivchyan