Prestigio EEDC (Eastern European Drift Championship) Round 1 went down this weekend in Riga, at the Bikernieki race track.

The legendary track proved to be challenging as it is one of the fastest drift tracks in Europe and one of the most technical for tandem drifting. 

More than five thousand fans came to watch the racing live and the start of a new season for the car drivers, plus thousands of viewers live-streamed the drifting action over the course of the weekend on the EEDC channel.

2013 series champion Gvido Elksnis took first place, Kristaps Bluss was second and Juha Rintanen was third. The final battle pitted Kristaps Bluss against Gvido Elksnis. After some very close battles Elksnis bested Bluss for his first victory of the season.

The battle for third place was between Juha Rintanen and Ivo Cirulis which was won by Juha. Top qualifier Pawel Trela received a special Prestigio prize.

With a new Bikernieki drift track high-speed entry record of 162km/h by Kristaps Bluss and very tight spacing between the cars and walls, there is no room for mistakes, making the opening round of the Prestigio EEDC season one of the most exciting drift events of the year in Europe.

Next stop on the Prestigio EEDC calendar is Round 2 in Minsk, on June 1. All drivers are itching for a spot on the podium, so expect a lot of excitement as usual!

Stay tuned for the next episode of Prestigio EEDC 2014!

Round 1: Prestigio EEDC Riga Event Results

1. Gvido Elksnis (Latvia) 

2. Kristaps Bluss (Latvia)

3. Juha Rintanen (Finland)

The Prestigio EEDC series 2014 future dates:

June 1 – Airport Minsk-1, Minsk, Belarus

July 5 – Niemuno Ziedas race track, Kaunas, Lithuania

August 24 – A.M.G. RabócsiRing, Mariapocs, Hungary

September 6 – Warszaw, Poland

October 5 – Brno Circuit, Brno, Czech