On June 21, the ceremony of presenting the annual national award “Sport and Russia” took place in Moscow, which is awarded to organizations and industry professionals who have made the most significant contribution to the development of sports in the Russian Federation. The director and owner of the Russian Drift Series, Dmitry Dobrovolsky, won the award in the category “Professionals of Sports and Healthy Lifestyle” and was awarded by the expert jury “For personal contribution to the development and popularization of motor sports (the discipline of “drift”).”
I am grateful to the expert jury of the award for highlighting our discipline and our championship. I believe that this award is not so much my personal merit as recognition of the achievements of the entire RDS team and the Russian Automobile Federation, together with whom we do a great job of promoting and popularizing motorsport in our country and drifting in particular. There is still a lot to be done, but I am confident that in the next few years both the number of athletes and the number of new engineering solutions in the automotive industry will increase, and the quality of judging and organization of competitions will reach a new level throughout the country. Dmitry Dobrovolsky 
In 2024, the Russian Drift Series celebrates a decade and a half as the leading championship in the drift discipline and the largest motorsport event in Russia. Last year, almost 70,000 people attended the two series competitions — RDS GP and RDS Europe, and hundreds of thousands of controlled skiing fans around the world watched the live broadcast. Professional and amateur drifting competitions are held in cities throughout Russia: from Moscow and Sochi to Vladivostok. According to various estimates, up to 5 million Russians are interested in this motorsport discipline.
Thanks to the active work of the Drift Committee of the Russian Automobile Federation, chaired by Dmitry Dobrovolsky, in 2020 drift was officially recognized as a sports discipline in the Russian Federation. In 2023, with the direct participation of Dobrovolsky, work was completed to formalize and approve the uniform “Rules for Drifting Competitions” in the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation and the Russian Automobile Federation, which formed the basis for the regulations of competitions at various levels.
The high level of organization of the domestic championship allowed RDS to become the country's first official promoter of the World Cup — the FIA Intercontinental Drifting Cup (FIA IDC). In 2021, Dmitry Dobrovolsky’s team successfully held the World Cup at the Bikernieki circuit in Riga. More than 30 pilots from 18 countries took part in it.
In its 15th The Russian Drift Series entered the season with the first ever RDS Winter Cup, which took place in the center of Moscow on the territory of the Luzhniki Olympic complex. Beginning athletes received a unique opportunity to demonstrate their skills in battle with world champions and stars of Russian drifting. The victory in the tournament was won by a young debutant who did not immediately decide to participate in the competition. The event had a great resonance and served as an incentive for young people to move into organized motorsport.
The 2024 sports season will end with the “RDS GP vs RDS Europe” Super Cup, which will be held for the first time as the Russian Drift Cup.