The 2022 RDS GP champion and the leader of «Evolution Yuka ADV by Obsessed Motorsport» drove in his best attempt with 99 points out of 100. Four pilots of the RDS Europe interregional series, competing on a wild card at the 5th stage of the Russian Drift Series Grand Prix, made it to the TOP-32. LUKOIL Racing Drift Team became the only team that reached the TOP-16 in full force.
Qualifying for the fifth round of the Russian Drift Series Grand Prix (RDS GP), which is taking place at the Moscow Raceway circuit near Moscow in its «reverse» configuration, brought Arkady Tsaregradtsev his second victory in the 2024 season. The leader of the Evolution Yuka ADV by Obsessed Motorsport team added Saturday's triumph on the track near Volokolamsk to the qualification he won at the third round of the series at Igora Drive. The 2022 RDS GP champion demonstrated outstanding consistency — the pilot scored 98 points out of 100 possible in his first attempt, and improved his result to 99 points in his second run.When I made my first attempt at 98 points, I didn't feel anything special because I knew there were still some strong guys behind me — the same Fresh Racing, who «qualify» well — and I had a small reserve. When they passed, I had already exhaled a little, but when Maxim Grossman made his attempt, I realized that I had to step it up. It's good that I knew where to correct — the downturn and the climb. Overall, it almost worked out. Arkady Tsaregradtsev 
The second and third places in the qualification protocol were taken by TimeUp representative Maxim Grossman and Takayama Forward Auto leader Georgy Chivchyan — both received 98 points from the judges for their best runs. In total, 20 pilots got into the unofficial «90+ club», and Kirill Matskevich got a ticket to this prestigious drift community in a dramatic way. The RDS Europe pilot, who debuted in the main Russian drift tournament on a wild card, zeroed out his first attempt due to a mistake, and in his second run he was no longer cautious and gave a bright run — the judges rated it at 91 points. As a result, Matskevich became the only one of the four representatives of the «junior» series, performing at the 5th stage of RDS GP on a wild card, who drove for 90 points or more. However, two other representatives of the Shabanyata team, Georgy Bibayev and Egor Gubin, as well as their colleague from RDS Europe Artur Zelenyi (STAR PЁR STARS AIMOL), also successfully passed to the stage of paired races TOP-32.
For the Fresh Racing team, which is now leading in the team standings, qualifying did not go very well — none of the pilots managed to break into the top ten. Damir Idiyatulin became 13th, Denis Migal — 24th, and Evgeniy Losev — only 28th. Taking into account such low qualifying results, the grid of doubles races on Saturday turned out to be quite unusual, which influenced the outcomes in some TOP-32 duels and the balance of power in Sunday battles.
In the intra-team and intra-family derby of Vladislav and Ilya Popov, things even went as far as flying off the track. The judges named Ilya Popov as the strongest in this heat, who will again meet his teammate from «Evolution Yuka ADV by Obsessed Motorsport» in the TOP-16 — this time with Arkady Tsaregradtsev. The Tsar himself got the better of Nikita Shikov (Carville Racing) in the TOP-32 stage, whom he had not met in paired races since 2017.
Artyom Shabanov (TimeUp) and Damir Idiyatulin (Fresh Racing) took an important step in their championship race — both made it to the TOP 16, so the fate of leadership in the individual competition will be decided on Sunday. Shabanov will have an intra-team battle with Leonid Schneider, and Idiyatulin will have to measure his strength with the powerful series debutant Sergei Kuznetsov (AUTOBAN AIMOL).
The weather also contributed to the unpredictability of the results. The rain that fell during the paired races mixed up the cards — some athletes managed to ride dry, for others the track became wet right during the hit, and for some the races even turned into heats. There were some mistakes, including departures from the track and contacts, but serious accidents were avoided — everyone was able to continue the fight, although the results in some pairs were unexpected.
A pleasant surprise was the performance of Boris Abramov, who defeated Maxim Grossman (TimeUp) and reached the TOP-16 for the first time this season. As well as Anton Dmitrienko, who defeated Dmitry Ermokhin (AVTOBAN AIMOL). And for Vladislav Erofeev, a ticket to the Sunday duels was the first in his career in RDS GP. However, all three will have tough opponents: Abramov will have a duel with Sergey Sak (AVTOBAN AIMOL), Dmitrienko will meet Andrey Astapov (LUKOIL Racing Drift Team), and Erofeev will face Grigory Gusev (LUKOIL Racing Drift Team). Considering that Denis Sorokopud also made it through the selection in Saturday's races, the LUKOIL Racing Drift Team will be the only one to be represented in full on the second day of the weekend.
One of the highlights of Saturday's duels was the confrontation between Roman Tivodar (Takayama Forward Auto) and Evgeny Losev (Fresh Racing). In conditions of the beginning precipitation, the most experienced pilots made incredibly tight runs, in which Losev took the upper hand. It was not an easy day for Carville Racing — Anton Kozlov and Grigory Burlutskiy met already at the TOP-32 stage, and Kozlov emerged the winner of this duel.
RDS GP 2024. Stage 5. Moscow Raceway. TOP-16:
- Arkady Tsaregradtsev — Ilya Popov
- Leonid Schneider — Artem Shabanov
- Sergey Kuznetsov — Damir Idiyatulin
- Evgeny Losev — Anton Kozlov
- Boris Abramov — Sergey Sak
- Anton Dmitrienko — Andrey Astapov
- Georgy Chivchyan — Denis Sorokopud
- Grigory Gusev — Vladislav Erofeev
The fight for the prize places of the fifth stage of the Russian Drift Series Grand Prix 2024 will continue on the Moscow Raceway track today, August 11. The TOP-16 paired races determined the pilots from which pairs of participants in further stages were formed, right up to the final.
