2021 Drift Masters European Championship: Round 3 Finals Highlights

📺 Watch Driftmasters European Championship on Red Bull TV: win.gs/dmec-ri...
The third round of the 2021 Drift Masters European Championship rolled into Riga, Latvia this weekend, bringing Europe’s best drivers, tens of thousands of horsepower, an epic circuit layout, challenging weather and some of the most dramatic driving we’ve ever seen. This fan- and driver-favourite stop on the DMEC calendar did not disappoint, and a nail-biting finale saw points leader Piotr Wiecek from Poland narrowly lose out to Irish Red Bull athlete Conor Shanahan after a big impact during the final battle of the day. Another Pole, Adam Zalewski, would round off the podium in third place, shaking up the points standing going into round 4.
Qualifying on Friday brought forth its own drama, with heavy rainstorms coming and going as the 55-strong grid tussled to narrow down to 32 judges favourites. All three of our top qualifiers laid down their runs in the dry, before the heavens opened, causing havoc for the remainder of the grid. Returning three-time Drift Masters champion James Deane topped qualifying with a 91 point run, followed by British driver Max Cotton in P2 with 88 points and Polish driver Pawel Korpulinski in P3 with 87 points.
The Top 32 rundown on Saturday would see an unusually high number of both crashes and mechanical failures, throwing a few surprises into the mix. Still, familiar names made it through into the Top 16 - James Deane, Sebastian Fontijn, Adam Zalewski, the Shanahan brothers, Max Heidrich, Red Bull Drift Brother Elias Hountondji, Piotr Wiecek, and Benediktas Cirba remained, to name but a few.
Former Drift King of Riga Martin Richards would make a surprise early exit in the Top 16, losing out to Zalewski after Richards impacted with the Polish driver after initiation. Benediktas Cirba looked to be a strong contender throughout, making it as far as the Great 8 before losing out to an aggressive and fast Piotr Wiecek. Things looked to be going the way of another Polish driver, Mikolaj Zakrzewski, as he found himself in the Final 4 before ultimately losing out to Wiecek also.
On the other side of the bracket the two Shanahans, Conor and Jack, would meet in the Top 16, with younger brother Conor taking the win over his sibling. James Deane would make an unexpectedly early exit after a mechanical issue during his battle with Adam Zalewski. To further add to the drama, Max Heidrich suffered a substantial crash during his battle with Conor Shanahan, and while he lost the battle he narrowly avoided causing any serious damage to his car.
The Play-Off for third and fourth place was between Polish countrymen Adam Zalewski and Mikolaj Zakrzewski, with Zalewski’s runs being more consistent and earning him the bottom step on the podium.
The final would see points-leader Piotr Wiecek face an eager Conor Shanahan. In run one, Piotr would pull a large lead over Conor, making it look likely that the Polish driver would top the podium once again. However in run two, with Conor leading, Piotr would overcook it going into the final wall-run, making impact with Conor, sending him into the wall. The mistake was enough to hand Conor the win, propelling him to the top step of the podium as the winner of Drift Masters European Championship round 3!
So after 2 fantastic days of action, Shanahan’s victory sees Wiecek’s lead at the top of the DMEC driver standings slashed, and as we prepare to do it all over again tomorrow for Round 4 here in Riga, who knows how the standings will look when the dust has settled once again? All we know is, you cannot afford to miss out on a single second of the action tomorrow; tune in LIVE on Red Bull TV from 10.25am local Latvian time.
#driftmasters #dmec #kingofriga
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[@RedBullMotorsports]

📺 Watch Driftmasters European Championship on Red Bull TV: win.gs/dmec-riga2021

[@rlgleague5794]

K

[@rlgleague5794]

Ok k

[@The_MAD_Qyuber]

Absolutely amazing.

[@SaleenDrift]

Ummm, the lead driver slows down so Piotr hit him and is Piotr’s fault?

[@ELZYREDA]

nah actually 🤷

[@danny-westwood]

Piotr hit him on the previous transition before the final outer zone, breaking something on Conors car

[@rohansayam4804]

Masterpiece.

[@saffarilone]

i like the pilot drone

[@formulaonefanme6133]

My home is in riga thx red bull

[@matizbt]

Piotrek najlepszy ale wpadka sie czasem zdarzy

[@larangan666]

Redbul masa kalah sama pioter,wkwkwk

[@age.1998]

♥️💯💯

[@ivarsmatisons]

Iespaidīgi

[@calliduks9218]

i still dont understand how these races being measured..

[@mcbedeakin]

They are judged based on speed, line, angle and proximity to the car in front. They must approach clipping points in designated parts of the track as close as possible with the rear or front of the car.

[@Tyler_J_Cook]

@@mcbedeakin Speed doesn't have much to do with it. Judges would pick more angle + filling out the zones over how fast you go.

[@rock4401]

I had the same thoughts. I think it's more like judging Olympic gymnasts or ice skaters other than racing.

[@paranormaldino5495]

In short the lead car has to drift a 100 point run(as best as they can) just like in qualifying, they are judged on their line and how good they clear the sectors designated by the judges and how close they get to clipping points and the wall. Angle is also judged, the bigger the angle that doesn't ruin their line or speed the better. They are also judged on style - fluidity, how well do they initiate the drift and commitment. The chase car essentially has to follow the line of the lead car as close as they can and mimic the angle or even better it. A battle consists of two runs, so every driver in a battle does a lead and chase run. Who leads first is determined by their qualifying position(who qualified better leads first)

[@subzero871NL]

well this puts a smile on my face 👌😁

[@TechCarnivore1]

Do you think they listen to eurobeat?

[@tsar2057]

Rooting for Piotr This Season!!

[@shifty1927]

Can someone explain to me how redbull driver won that last heat?

[@dsgamer2221]

Its redbull competition after all

[@paranormaldino5495]

if you mean the final run, then that's pretty easy. Piotr(Polish driver in the S15) jumped on the curb, even if the contact in the last sector wouldn't have happened Connor(red bull driver) would have taken the win anyway, because the judges take that as a big mistake, because it is out of the sector completely. The contact in the last sector, that ended the run for both of them, was Piotr's fault obviously, because he caused the collision

[@tsar2057]

Bc Piotr overcooked it, he had proximity but for the last outer zone he overcooked it.

[@ivarsmatisons]

Cool

[@arifaminuddin7249]

From 🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾 🤜🏽🤛🏽🤜🏽🤛🏽🤜🏽🤛🏽

[@jackleo28]

awesome drone control.

[@Januar.]

Nobody : Subtitle : 00:14 Hahaha

[@cyberbeefpv2810]

Great drone pilot

[@SemNome-oq9bd]

absolutely spectacular ♥️♥️♥️♥️

[@ganggasuwana9458]

Crazier action right here

[@MrAwesome442]

Why so underrated

[@rudolfkalman4832]

Ake prekvapenie kto to vyhral😂

[@sreepadmana123]

3150！

[@Cheeky_slippers]

Гоча где?

[@philippfrei8848]

where is elias and jo with the new m4 beasts?

[@paranormaldino5495]

I believe Elias was the only one who qualified, but got knocked out in Top 32. Today however both qualified and I believe Elias even made it to Top 8, at least so i've heard, im sure someone can correct me what exactly happened, i didnt get to watch it today. I don't we will see much success from these cars this year. You gotta keep in mind they are completely new and untested platforms for drifting. Also some drivers need to get used to new cars, especially if its a new platform. But even today at round 4 we saw major improvements in their performance, so i think at the last round we could see a good result.

[@jeffchilders236]

They make a sport out of anything people running to Walmart buying toilet paper make a sport out of that

[@Tyler_J_Cook]

I love you lois