The FIA’s first-ever regional drifting competition has its first winner. Kazakhstan’s Oleg Khridochkin, driving a Nissan 200SX, won the inaugural FIA Central Asia Drifting Cup at Sokol International Circuit near Almaty, which ran from 25 to 27 September.
A final against the odds
The final was an all-Kazakh affair between Khridochkin and Mikhail Pak (Nissan 350Z). Khridochkin’s power steering failed on his first run, and his mechanics had just five minutes to fix it. They could not fully restore it — so he went back to the line and drove the second run with the steering almost dead.
Convinced he had lost, Khridochkin congratulated Pak before the decision came in. The judges scored both runs and gave him the win. He admitted afterwards that he won largely on physical strength, wrestling the car through the course.
Results
- 1. Oleg Khridochkin (Kazakhstan) – Nissan 200SX – 6.5 million tenge
- 2. Mikhail Pak (Kazakhstan) – Nissan 350Z – 4.5 million tenge
- 3. Alexander Bochkarev (Kazakhstan) – 3.5 million tenge
A new region on the drifting map
Twenty drivers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Russia took part over three days, with qualifying followed by head-to-head battles. The event was co-organised by the motorsport federations of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and the FIA inspected the venue in early September ahead of the debut.
Days after the event, Sokol’s management met FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem at the FIA Asia-Pacific Congress to discuss bringing more FIA events to the circuit. For a region that has long hosted grassroots drifting, the Central Asia Drifting Cup is a clear step onto the global stage — and a template other regions, including ours, will be watching.
Lead image is illustrative. Photo: Calreyn88 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).