NIKOLASS BERTANS WINS HIS DEBUT COMPETITION AT THE RUSSIAN DRIFT CHAMPIONSHIP
The 4th round of the Russian Drift Series (RDS) was held at the Ryazan track in Russia over the weekend. It was mentioned earlier that Nikolass Bertans went there as an invited driver for the Aimol team and this was his debut race at the RDS.
The competition started with practice runs on Thursday, which Nikolass unfortunately missed because the sports car had to be delayed for an unplanned long time at the border, but on the other hand, it was a great opportunity to evaluate his potential competitors and their driving style on the track. The car arrived on Thursday evening, it was prepared and Nikolass was ready for the first practice runs on the track.
During the first practice runs on Friday, Nikolass quickly got used to the track, although initially he was not the fastest on the track, because by the way, he also had the least powerful car of all the participants in this competition - only 620hp, but he was certainly one of the most technically stable. As the judges later found out when evaluating the data obtained from special measurements, it was Nikolass who was one of the most stable drivers in training, who showed equally stable driving in every race. During training, the car's power steering pipe burst, but it was quickly repaired and the athlete was ready for the battles.
Saturday started with the qualifying races, in the first qualifying race Bertans showed a very good result - 87 points, but in the second qualifying race, unfortunately, 0 points, because, as the athlete himself mentioned, he overworked himself in the throw, because he tried to ride even better in order to install an even higher judge point rating. In the qualification for Nikolas after the qualification runs of all pilots, the high 10th place.
In TOP32 Nikolass faced the Russian pilot Ilya Polishuk, who was certainly a strong competitor and had shown a solid performance in the practice runs. Nikolass had a very stable following ride, but when switching places, Ilya overdid it a little while following Bertāns and crashed into the protective barrier of the concrete wall in the first throw. A victory for Nikolass, and it meant battles on Sunday in the Top16.
Grigory Gusev was the opponent of Nikolass in the Top16. The fight promised to be very equal, because the Russian athlete is a very good rider, and also took a higher place in the qualification - seventh. Nikolass continued to show his solid performance on the track, a fantastic lead run and a perfectly tracked follow-up that resulted in a win and a TOP8 finish.
TOP8 Nikolass opponent is Masato Kawabata, Kawabata is one of the most experienced drifters in the world, who started his drifting career in 2002, in the homeland of drifting, Japan. Kawabata started his drifting career at the age of 18, when Nikolass was not even born, Nikolass is only 16 years old. In his 43 years, Kawabata has become one of the world's most famous drifters, or as it is often called, a drifting legend. This was a very important race for Nikolass, because not every competition manages to drive, and to fight in tandem with such idols, which the driver himself has watched while growing up and starting to be interested in drifting. Both rides were exciting, but still Bertans continued to show off his perfect rides, his perfectly worked throws, and therefore the victory in this tandem.
Jack Shanahan from Ireland had to face Nikolass in the TOP4 fight. Unfortunately, Jack's car had technical problems which the team was unable to resolve, so Bertans automatically advances to the Final.
The final battle, one of Russia's strongest drifters, Arkadys Tsaregatsev, who currently ranks 2nd in the RDS season standings, now after 4 stages. Nikolass and Arkady had already met on the track, but in another discipline - at the Monster Gymkhana competition in Poland, where Bertans managed to win, which surprised the Russian driver at the time, but said that they would definitely meet on the drift track. The meeting took place only two years later, in Russia, in the RDS final. Definitely one of the most exciting fights at this stage. By making a mistake in the following run, Tsargatsev spins, and Bertans, continuing to show the right line, close follow, victory!
Debut competition in Russia, and victory! A fantastic success that many probably hoped for, but no one expected. Nikolass managed it, with the least powerful car, with his debut on this track and with his first experience in RDS competition.
The article is available here.