The fifth stage of RDS EUROPE 2023 took place: the triumph of Grigory Gusev in Nizhny Novgorod

On the last weekend of summer, the fifth stage of the RDS EUROPE 2023 drifting championship took place on the Nizhny Novgorod Ring. 45 pilots from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia took to the start line.

The undisputed protagonist of the race in Nizhny Novgorod is Grigory Gusev. The pilot of the LUKOIL Racing Drift Team won the qualification, gold in the Individual and Team classifications, as well as the unofficial title of “King of OMT”. But first things first.

The judges proposed a classic configuration for this track, familiar to fans of both RDS GP and RDS EUROPE: fast and technical, allowing you to show fast and close pair drifting and realize the full potential of racing technology. The races were evaluated by Andrey Astapov and representatives of the TimeUp team Maxim Grossman and Danila Skorobogatov.

The stage was notable for a fairly large number of RDS GP legionnaires, Nikolai Gorkovenko, Denis Migal and Leonid Schneider arrived in Nizhny Novgorod, and Grigory Gusev and Anatoly Shcherbak, regular participants in two RDS championships, already habitually started.

It is noteworthy that we saw Gorkovenko, Migal and Schneider on new cars, because participation in RDS EUROPE on cars participating in RDS GP this year is prohibited by the regulations. Therefore, Nikolai, Denis and Leonid brought to the start BMW E46, VAZ 2105 and BMW E36, respectively. At the same time, the pilots also took part in the Team standings. Denis Migal teamed up with Sergei Stilov under the banner of the FRESH RACING team. Leonid and Nikolai, together with Sergey Alachev, defended the honor of the AllCash team – and won the bronze of the stage.

In addition to spectacular and accurate races, the weekend will also be remembered for a rare situation: in the TOP 16 race, Airat Ibragimov and Yegor Gubin received zero points, while in the second heat there was a rather serious collision, due to injuries as a result of which not a single participant could go to the start designated OMT. As a result, two losses and Alexey Kozlov’s passage to the TOP 4 through the bye run, where Feodor Chevychelov became his opponent. As the representative of Kamchatka said “I hate bayrans, you always have to pay for them”, and literally in the next race, Toyota Cresta blocked the steering wheel. The malfunction could not be fixed in 5 minutes, and Alexey went to fight for third place with Sergey Kuznetsov. And again technical problems, reversal, and Sergey Kuznetsov became the winner of the semi-final – the third place and the first podium of the young pilot from Samara in RDS EUROPE. Kozlov, in turn, earns points for Carville Racing, which allow the team to climb to the second step of the fifth stage podium and strengthen their leadership in the championship.

We also note the races of Grigory Gusev and Leonid Schneider – so beautiful, accurate and … similar that three OMTs in a row awaited the pilots. And even following the results of the third re-run, the judges could not determine the winner, and according to the regulations, Grikha went to the TOP 4 – according to the results of the qualification. In general, this weekend the pilot of LUKOIL Racing Drift Team drove a very large number of OMTs: reruns were waiting for him in all stages from the TOP 32 to the final. But this did not seem to exhaust, but energized the representative of Nakhodka, and he confidently carried out race after race until he reached the first step of the podium.

Thanks to a very successful stage, Grigory Gusev climbed to the second line of the RDS EUROPE 2023 standings, and the intrigue before the final became very aggravated – now only 14 points separate the first and second places in the Individual classification. The leader is still Grigory Burlutsky. The third is Ivan Palmin. In the team standings, Carville Racing is in first place by a wide margin, FT is second, and LUKOIL Racing Drift Team is third.

The fate of the title of the new champions of the individual and team classifications of RDS EUROPE 2023 will be decided on September 16-17 during the final stage at the ATRON circuit in Ryazan. And it will be a hot fight on one of the most spectacular circuits!

Results of the fifth stage of RDS EUROPE 2023:

Personal score:

1. Grigory Gusev (Toyota Chaser GP2, Nakhodka)
2. Feodor Chevychelov (Nissan Silvia S14, St. Petersburg)
3. Sergey Kuznetsov (BMW E36, Samara)

Team standings:

1. LUKOIL RACING DRIFT TEAM (Grigory Gusev, Danila Vorobyov)
2. CARVILLE RACING (Ivan Palmin, Alexey Kozlov, Grigory Burlutsky)
3. AllCash (Sergey Alachev, Nikolay Gorkovenko, Leonid Schneider)