Youth prevailed as Nikolass Bertāns beat Daniels Baumanis in an all-Latvian remaining to win the 2025 FIA Intercontinental Drifting Cup in Riga – the most important and most worldwide version of the occasion thus far. Paweł Korpuliński secured third place, whereas Latvia additionally claimed the Nations Cup victory on house soil
In a tightly contested remaining, 20-year-old Bertāns, who completed an in depth second to James Deane in 2021 when the FIA IDC final visited Latvia, produced an outstanding chase and lead run in opposition to 17-year-old Baumanis to safe his first-ever IDC crown on the wheel of his BMW primarily based on a HGK Eurofighter chassis.
“It’s a superb step up in life and one other title within the bag so I’m actually completely happy that I ended the season on a superb,” mentioned Bertāns after the ultimate. “Thanks to Daniels for a tremendous remaining; I’ve been trying ahead to driving with him all my profession as a result of he was simply beginning out after I was in Professional and now, we’re within the remaining on the massive stage.”
After seeing off Egypt’s Karim Hany after a re-run within the first spherical of elimination tandems, Bertāns needed to overcome a severe of robust battles on his journey in the direction of the ultimate, particularly in opposition to Polish duo Jakub Przygoński and Pawel Korpuliński within the High 8 and High 4 bouts respectively.
A superb chase run in opposition to Przygoński within the High 8 was the important thing to progressing to the ultimate 4, whereas an equally spectacular lead run with Korpuliński in shut firm gave Bertāns his ticket to the ultimate.
Equally, Baumanis got here by a nail-biting semi-final with El Salvador’s Nasser Alharbali Urias in his BMW E46. Contact between the 2 within the first run left Alharbali Urias needing to make repairs to his automobile whereas Baumanis was deemed accountable. After the second run resulted in a dead-heat, Baumanis finally prevailed within the third battle, relegating Alharbali Urias to dispute third place with Korpuliński.
Each Alharbali Urias and Korpuliński had been so evenly matched of their two runs, that the judges compelled a deciding winner-takes-all tandem to find out the ultimate step on the rostrum. Korpuliński simply obtained the higher of Alharbali Urias to win over the judges to seize third.
After topping qualifying on Friday afternoon, Alharbali Urias had earlier survived a scare within the opening High 32 run of the day, in opposition to Greek driver Christos Chantzaras, hitting the lengthy wall on the finish of his chase run. Chantzaras was deemed to have decelerated an excessive amount of, subsequently backing into Alharbali Urias, paving the way in which for the latter to progress.
In the meantime, Switzerland’s Abdul-Karim Jahan practically produced an enormous shock in his High 8 tandem battle with Korpuliński, earlier than the Polish driver made it by after a extra correct second run.
Previous to exiting the competitors within the semi-final stage, Przygoński had engaged in arguably essentially the most thrilling tandem of the day within the High 32, dealing with off in opposition to Japanese driver Hokuto Matsuyama. Each drivers (on the wheel of their Toyota GR86 and Toyota A90 Supra respectively) delivered pin-point lead runs and aggressive chases however it was Przygoński who went by.
Elsewhere within the first spherical, there was but extra drama for Rubén Bolaños who, for the second day in a row, suffered technical issues throughout his first run. The Spanish driver took the regulatory five-minute restore window however his BMW E46 would go no additional, handing Georgian driver Mevlud Meladze in an analogous BMW E46 a free passage to the High 16.
Within the High 16 tandems, Meladze was then in strife himself, this time in opposition to eventual runner-up Baumanis. The pair made slight contact, and each spun out. A mistake on the initiation from Meladze on the re-run allowed Baumanis to progress.
Ahmed Al Amri was a non-starter in his Nissan Silvia S15, whereas Hungarian competitor Tamás Magyar’s Mercedes 190 was dominated out after a heavy crash in opposition to the lengthy wall in his battle with Lithuania’s Andrius Vasiliauskas.
