Więcek Makes It Six in Riga as Irish Pair Complete the Top Three

Round 5 brought Drift Masters back to one of its most familiar and unforgiving stages, Riga Baby. One of the most beloved stops of the calendar, this one was bound to bring the madness as soon as we landed.

In the lead up to qualifying weather was less than perfect leaving Biķernieki behaving very differently from the Riga the drivers knew, demanding complete commitment on a surface that remained difficult to predict.

Conor Shanahan led for most of the afternoon before Więcek produced the only 96.0 of the session on his second run. Conor Falvey completed the Top 3, with just 0.2 of a point separating the final two drivers around the Top 32 cut.

Showers across both practice days limited the rubber laid onto the circuit. By Qualifying, the opening initiation could feel slippery before the grip returned abruptly, while the surface changed again through the later transitions.

That inconsistency punished even the drivers with years of Biķernieki experience. Ten of the 44 starters ended Run 1 without a score, leaving a large part of the field under immediate pressure on their final attempt.

Practice had already delivered several heavy moments. Jason Banet's car required an overnight rebuild after a major impact in practice yesterday, while Więcek, Korpulinski, Correia and more also had impacts on track.

The Qualifying session itself was shaped less by major impacts than by incomplete runs, dropped wheels and missed zones. With the track changing from one pass to the next, simply putting together a complete line became the first test.

Więcek's opening 88.7 left him 15th after Run 1, an unfamiliar position for a driver with such a strong Riga record. He responded with a far cleaner and more committed second pass, linking the zones with precision before placing the car deep against the final wall.

The judges awarded 96.0, the only score of its kind all day. It moved Więcek directly to P1 and marked the sixth time he has topped Drift Masters Qualifying in Riga, adding another chapter to an extraordinary record at Biķernieki.

Conor Shanahan set the early benchmark with 93.7 on his first pass and remained at the top until the closing minutes. A 90.2 back-up score confirmed his consistency and secured P2, an important response after his Finland weekend ended before the Top 32. 

Falvey made the largest move inside the Top 3. He climbed from 88.0 to 93.5 on Run 2, attacking the final zone with commitment that has defined his strongest performances this season. Only 0.20 separated the two Irish drivers in second and third.

Lauri Heinonen arrived in Riga needing a reset. His fourth engine failure in four rounds had forced him into Mika Keski-Korpi's spare BMW in Finland, where too little time in the unfamiliar package left the 2024 champion outside the Top 32.

Back in his own car, Heinonen immediately returned to the front with 93.0 and P4. He admitted he was still relearning a car he has driven very little this season, making the result one of the clearest recoveries of the session.

Behind Heinonen, Paweł Korpuliński, Jarkko Jylhä and Kevin Piskolty all finished on 92.5. Their secondary scores decided the order: Korpuliński's 89.7 placed him fifth, Jylhä's 89.0 secured sixth and Piskolty's 83.7 left him seventh.

Itay Sadeh completed the Top 8 with 91.5. In total, 12 drivers reached 90 points or more, but the spread of names behind Więcek showed how difficult it was to repeat the same level across two runs.

Twenty-year-old Estonian Siim Oskar Hääl led the wildcard field in P22 on his Drift Masters debut. The current Baltic, Estonian and Livonia Pro championship leader arrived fresh from victory at the 2026 Ideapark Seinäjoki Drift Challenge and immediately looked comfortable on the Riga stage.

The home crowd also had two new names to carry into Saturday. Eighteen-year-olds Mārtiņš Immermanis and Daniels Baumanis both reached the Top 32, with Baumanis recovering from an incomplete first attempt to score 80.5 on Run 2.

Raman Kandratsenka also progressed in P27, returning with the one-of-one Mercedes-AMG GT drift build that made him one of the standout wildcards earlier in the season.

Banet's team completed an extraordinary repair after his practice accident and returned the car to the circuit in time for Qualifying. A 77.2 kept him on the bubble deep into Run 2, but the rebuilt car remained difficult to place and a 66.5 second attempt brought no improvement.

Simen Olsen ultimately claimed P32 with 77.7. Juha Pöytälaakso missed out by 0.20 on 77.5, while Banet finished only 0.50 below the cut. The result ended his weekend, but getting the car back into the session remained one of the biggest team efforts in the paddock.

The Top 32 bracket is locked. Więcek opens against Olsen, while Heinonen meets Dave Egan in a battle carrying its own history after Egan loaned the Finn a car in Riga last season.

Juha Rintanen and Benediktas Čirba meet again after their Finland semi-final, James Deane faces Marco Zakouril and Jack Shanahan lines up against Duane McKeever in one of the most aggressive pairings of the opening round.

Top 32 coverage begins tomorrow from 13:45 local time on Red Bull TV, with the first battles scheduled for 14:00. After a Qualifying session shaped by changing grip and tiny margins, there is no straightforward route to the King of Riga crown.