IDC: Alharbali Urias takes top spot in qualifying

Nasser Alharbali Urias topped qualifying for the 2025 FIA Intercontinental Drifting Cup in his Nissan S13, ending up half a point ahead of Kuba Przygoński at the end of an enthralling opening day’s action at the Bikernieki circuit in Riga

The first day of competitive FIA IDC action since 2021 – also held at Bikernieki and organised by the Latvian Automobile Federation – determined the top 32 qualifiers for Saturday’s individual element of the event, with big names such as Daniel Brandner and Lwi Edwards failing to make the cut.

Judged on three main elements – line, style and angle – only five drivers scored over 90 points at the end of two qualifying runs. El Salvadoran driver Alharbali Urias ended the day with the highest score (95 points) after the first run while Przygoński (Toyota GR86) edged out his rival in the second to score 94.5 points.

Just behind Przygoński in the qualifying standings was fellow Polish driver Paweł Korpuliński in his Nissan 200SX, putting together two consistent runs to finish the day with 93.5 points.

The best of the Latvian drivers was Daniels Baumanis (BMW E46) in fourth while Nikolass Bertāns was 10th after his best run scored 85.5 points.

Frederik Strelkov secured fifth in the day one classification courtesy of a strong second run, one place ahead of Ole Peter Vatn, but the biggest recovery drive came from Timur Lypskyi who made it through to the final 32 after scoring zero points in his first run.

The Ukranian driver struggled at the start of his run and was deemed not to have finished sideways at the end, leaving him with work to do in the second run. Come the afternoon, Lypskyi found his groove and delivered a much-improved performance to take his place in the individual finals on Saturday.

It was a similar story for former Drift Japan champion Hokuto Matsuyama, who had a scrappy opening run in his Toyota A90 Supra, before bouncing back in the second run. Despite a better run in the afternoon, the experienced Japanese driver only just snuck into the top 32, placing 31st with 63 points.

Spannish driver Rubén Bolańos suffered a suspected oil leak before the start of his first run on his BMW E46, also scoring zero points. He made it through to the top 32 with a strong second run, however, placing him 13th in the intermediate classification.

Of those to miss the cut, three drivers failed to score a point. Farrukh Urunov (Toyota GT86), Vladimir Codreanu (BMW E30) and Artur Havrylenko (Toyota GT86) were left to rue missed chances.

Saturday’s action begins at 10:00 local time with Tandem practice for the FIA IDC Top 32 field, whereby two cars per run will complete a chase and lead format. The Top 32 Tandems are scheduled to take place from 13:30 and will be livestreamed on the official FIA IDC YouTube channel.