1st Stage of Russian Drag Racing Championship, which was held on 25-26 June on the racetrack “Krasnoye Koltso” in Krasnoyarsk, was hardly predictable as usual. On Saturday, the weather interfered in the competition, on Sunday the racetrack record was renewed, and a newcomer of the season and the same time citizen of Krasnoyarsk podiumed in front-wheel drive class. During 1st Stage an attempt to renew the national records at ¼ mile was made.
First day was absolutely ruined by the weather: it was raining all day long. According to the rules, no races can be made in such weather conditions. So, the commissioners decided to postpone the qualification runs and hold them on Sunday.
The second day was sunny, so the runs started at 9am. Almost in ideal conditions, Dmitry Samorukov made a new record of the racetrack “Krasnoye Koltso”: his Dodge Viper DT made the quarter in 6.548 seconds (ET, without reaction time), which is 1.4 seconds faster than the previous record made by Vadim Timashev last year. The trap speed was 362.90 km/h – which is also the best result on this track.
These results are also better than the current national record, which was also made by him in October 2015. So, the host of the championship company Dragtimes has made a submission to Russian Automobile Federation in order to fix it. An attempt was made during qualification runs. In case the attempt is approved, Dmitry Samorukov will become two-time record-breaker in Russia.
Other participants also improved their results. Although 1st stage is usually difficult for the drivers and their cars: different parts usually breaks during the preseason tests, so they have not enough time to change them or repair. The same situation has happened again, that is why only 16 drivers have come – out of total 26 submitted for the season.
Although the number of participants was lower, the races were quite frantic. Two women met in FWD (front wheel drive class) semi-final: Yana Kholodkovskaya (Sotova) against Oksana Yakovleva. Two Honda Civics started at the same time, but Yana has misshifted and lost the seconds. Oksana’s car got ahead and won the race.
Artem Demikhov was the opponent of Oksana in the finals: his VAZ 2108 got ahead of her Civic in the middle of the distance and won the race with ET 9.833 seconds. Very good results for FWD cars in Russia, one of few 10 seconds breakers. So, the second place was for the newcomer and the citizen of Krasnoyarsk – Oksana Yakovleva, the third place gone to Yana Kholodkovskaya from Tolyatti.
The most unpredictable results were in AWD (all wheel drive) class. Alexander Albin was not able to start in the quarterfinals due to technical problems with his Nissan Skyline GT-R, while the car of Stanislav Lunev was broken in semifinal. The second semifinal had no winners, as both Aleksey Krivolapov and Oleg Krokhin made the false starts. As a result, Dmitry Mandrikov (Subaru Impreza) won the 1st place almost without any effort. The 3rd place gone to Stanislav Lunev. And the 2nd place was free – due to the drivers failure.
The participants in RWD (rear wheel drive) class also faced the technical problems. The transmission of Chevrolet Corvette Custom Turbo of Andrey Mulenko was broken at the start in the semifinal against Aleksey Onopchenko (Toyota Chaser). In the second semifinal, Dmitry Samorukov (Dodge Viper DT) was much faster than Denis Ponomarev (Nissan Silvia). According to the cup system, he had to race for the 3rd place, but won the run without any effort due to the broken Corvette of Mulenko – so he raced alone and became third.
Final run in RWD class made the audience being nervous: technical problems could appear at any time even on Viper ProMod, or a driver could also make the false start. It has not happened; Samorukov won the start, but had to drop the gas after first 200 meters – due to short shutdown area. The result was ET 6.850@256.95km/h. The second place in RWD class gone to Alexey Onopchenko, third – to Denis Ponomarev.
The second stage of RDRC will take place in Nizhniiy Novgorod on 6-7 August.
Winners’ quotes:
Artem Demikhov, FWD class: “I am very glad to win, it’s my old dream. It took half a year to prepare the car, one week to adjust the settings and we got a serious project in the end. And now my dreams about the win came true, on the 1st stage of RDRC, I was able to break 10 seconds – it’s a very good result for FWD cars in Russia, especially for Russian made cars. Now I dream of going into low 9 seconds. Will try my best to do that in next races. Thanks to my team, thanks to Dragtimes who organize and host such excellent events!”
Dmitry Mandrikov, AWD class: “Quite mixed feelings. On one hand – happy to win, on the other – it was easy and without serious efforts. Very experienced drivers are participating in our class, they make few mistakes, all of them have a huge background, and they can do a lot. I am pleased to run against them. But today some cars were broken, some of drivers made mistakes and we got the 1st place without any fight. So, it was very important to cope with excitement. I did that. Hope in next races we will compete with opponents in real. I like to be tipsy because of racing, when you feel the real euphoria – the taste of win is different in this case. Expect this season to be interesting!”
Dmitry Samorukov, RWD class: “I was aiming for the win in Krasnoyarsk and I got it. Thanks to all involved people: from Krasnoyarsk locals to our team and me myself. This win is very special for me: 2 years in a row, I was failing here. My cars were more powerful, but they did not want to win. Frankly speaking, this time I was a little bit nervous also. I had a feeling something’s gonna happen in semifinal run – and it happened: the car was so fast, that it was hard to stop it, so it got some damage, and everybody saw – I’ve finished with broken hood. But I came over those feelings, my team fixed the troubles, and the final run was ideal. Maybe, it’s the most enjoyable win. The way you start the championship influences the whole season.”
Oksana Yakovleva, 2nd place in FWD class, the newcomer: “From one side, it was very hard, from the other – I haven’t realized it yet, as it was my debut. To say the truth: I wanted to win and I could do that. But, I have not enough experience. I had few trainings, first run was using only half of power, after – more and more. I just cannot deal with such car right now, but my boss Igor Baranov, last year FWD champion, helps me with everything. He explains to me all the details, controls my performance. Want to brag a little: during today tests, I was faster for 0.3 seconds than Igor. He was very happy, as he thinks it’s great when the coachee is better than the coach. And Igor is a very good coach. I am pleased to get the 2nd place on my home racetrack.”
Results of 1st Stage of Russian Drag Racing Championship:
FWD class (FSA class according to RAF classification, front wheel drive):
- Artem Demikhov (Usman’), VAZ 2108
- Oksana Yakovleva (Krasnoyarsk), Honda Civic
- Yana Kholodkovskaya (Tolyatti), Honda Civic
- Georgy Garakishiev (Krasnoyarsk), Mitsubishi Mirage
- Vladimir Vil’ (Tomsk), VAZ 2108
- Vladimir Tretyak (Rostov-on-Don), VAZ 2108
AWD class (FSB class according to RAF classification, all-wheel drive):
1. Dmitry Mandrikov (Novosibirsk), Subaru Impreza
3. Stanislav Lunev (Chelyabinsk), Nissan Skyline GT-R Kiwamaru
4. Oleg Krokhin (Barnaul), Nissan GT-R**
4. Alexey Krivolapov (Vladivostok), Nissan Skyline**
5. Konstantin Katykin (Vladivostok), Nissan Skyline GT-R
6. Alexander Albin (Omsk), Nissan Skyline GT-R
** 4th places are assigned according to competition regulations, note 15.4
RWD class (US class according to RAF classification, rear wheel drive):
- Dmitry Samorukov (Moscow), Dodge Viper DT
- Alexey Onopchenko (Omsk), Toyota Chaser
- Denis Ponomarev (Krasnoyarsk), Nissan Silvia
- Andrey Mulenko (Omsk), Chevrolet Corvette Custom Turbo
- Fazil Aliev (Valdivostok), Nissan Skyline
Russian Drag Racing Championship – the straight-line acceleration competition between cars on the ¼ mile drag strip (402.33 meters) in three classes: front wheel drive FWD, rear wheel drive RWD and all-wheel drive AWD.
Four RDRC stages are planned in 2016 season: Krasnoyarsk, Moscow Region, Nizhny Novgorod and Grozny.
Russian Drag Racing Championship is hosted by company “Dragtimes” and promoted by SMP Racing.
Russian Drag Racing Championship is held under the aegis of Russian Automobile Federation.
Press-office of Russian Drag Racing Championship
press
www.rdrc.ru, www.dragtimes.ru
