14-YEAR-OLD BERTANS QUALIFIES FOR THE FINALS OF "GYMKHANA GRID" THROUGH A HARD FIGHT
For 14-year-old drifter Nikolass Bertans, autumn has started with a busy schedule of competitions. Last weekend, at the Biķernieki track, in the 6th stage of the Latvian Drift Cup, he managed to win the third place in the "ProAm" class, but already this week the young athlete went to Poland to compete in the prestigious "Gymkhana GRID". The competition started successfully, as the sixth result was presented in the qualification on Wednesday evening, which will allow them to compete in the grand final on Saturday. Unfortunately, the other Latvian driver Kristiāns Burkovs finished in 17th place.
The Grand Gymkhana GRID World Final is now in its tenth year and has seen athletes such as event founder Ken Block and rally/rallycross world champion Peter Solberg triumph. "Gymkhana" is a special competition format that combines elements from drift, slalom and highway. The time spent on the specially designed course should be as short as possible, however, the specifics of the configuration require a large part of the course to be done on the sideslip. There are two entries in the competition - AWD and RWD - and Bertāns will compete in the RWD or rear-wheel drive class.
Although most athletes qualify for the world finals through their national or regional championships, Nikolass Bertans path to Gymkhana GRID was different. "We received Wildcard's invitation and were immediately announced on their social networks. There was nothing left but to ride and participate," admits the young athlete with a laugh. When asked if his team specially prepared for this race, Nikolass admits that "technically we did not change anything, but we polished the car visually and changed the design colors".
Considering the strong competition and the fact that out of more than 30 pilots, only 16 will qualify for the final, Bertans goal before his debut in such a high-level competition was clear - to qualify for the final. Although he managed to qualify as sixth, it did not come easily. "In practice I showed the 16th result, so we tried to change the tire pressures to improve the speed. In the second of three practice runs, we made a mistake with the choice of tire pressure, which resulted in a painful stop in the concrete wall. After the accident, the team quickly managed to fix the car for the third and final practice run," said Nikolass about the practice runs.
"After the first qualifying race, we were only in 16th place, which could not have been enough, and as it turned out later, it would not be enough to qualify for the final either. The team decided to drastically change the car's settings and drive with tires of a different composition and size. It was decided to take a risk and go full bank, all or nothing. I stood on the starting line with a completely different tire and pressure and I was driving with tires that I had never driven before. I knew that the team trusted me and now everything depends only on me! I managed to drive well, I improved my previous result by 15 seconds and qualified sixth. We took a risk and this time the risk paid off. I want to say a special thank you to Bartos Ostalovski, who helped us a lot," Bertans remembers the dramatic qualifying moments, adding that this day was like "going through thorns to success".
The first three in qualifying were just over a second short, so the young athlete is determined to fight for the top places: "After qualifying, I'm in a good mood and ready to fight for the podium in Saturday's final." Among Nikolass main competitors are drivers such as one of the world's best drifters, Daigo Saito, and Monster Energy star Steve "Baggsy" Biagioni, who took victory in qualifying. The finals of "Gymkhana GRID" will start on Saturday with a parade at 15:00, while the TOP 16 races will start at 16:25.
Asked about the third place won in the 6th stage of the Latvian Drift Cup, Bertāns replies that "this time there was more time to sleep and I didn't have to drive straight from school. I had already ridden the track of the witch's cauldron before, we had rehearsed everything in training and I was ready for the result".
In the qualification, Nikolass managed to get the fourth place and in the first tandems, with a small dose of luck, managed to fight to the TOP 4. There, against the well-known Rolandas Bērziņš, he had to go off the track due to too much speed, as a result of which he experienced a loss. In the fight for the third place, however, a convincing victory against the Estonian Simon Kost, which allowed him to climb to the third step of the podium. "We wanted, of course, a higher result in order to move up in the overall standings. Right now I'm holding on to third place, but the points are tight. Since there is an opportunity to be the first, then you have to use it," the 14-year-old athlete clearly defines his goal for the end of the season.
The article is available here.