Youth prevailed as Nikolass Bertāns beat Daniels Baumanis in an all-Latvian closing to win the 2025 FIA Intercontinental Drifting Cup in Riga – the largest and most worldwide version of the occasion to this point. Paweł Korpuliński secured third place, whereas Latvia additionally claimed the Nations Cup victory on house soil
In a tightly contested closing, 20-year-old Bertāns, who completed an in depth second to James Deane in 2021 when the FIA IDC final visited Latvia, produced an excellent 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 step up in life and one other title within the bag so I’m actually pleased that I ended the season on ,” mentioned Bertāns after the ultimate. “Thanks to Daniels for an incredible closing; I’ve been trying ahead to driving with him all my profession as a result of he was simply beginning out once I was in Professional and now, we’re within the closing on the large stage.”
After seeing off Egypt’s Karim Hany after a re-run within the first spherical of elimination tandems, Bertāns needed to overcome a critical of robust battles on his journey in the direction of the ultimate, specifically in opposition to Polish duo Jakub Przygoński and Pawel Korpuliński within the Prime 8 and Prime 4 bouts respectively.
A superb chase run in opposition to Przygoński within the Prime 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 via 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 ultimately 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 Prime 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, due to this fact backing into Alharbali Urias, paving the best way for the latter to progress.
In the meantime, Switzerland’s Abdul-Karim Jahan practically produced a giant shock in his Prime 8 tandem battle with Korpuliński, earlier than the Polish driver made it via after a extra correct second run.
Previous to exiting the competitors within the semi-final stage, Przygoński had engaged in arguably probably the most thrilling tandem of the day within the Prime 32, going through 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 nevertheless it was Przygoński who went via.
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 identical BMW E46 a free passage to the Prime 16.
Within the Prime 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.
