FIA Press Releases
-
Nikolass Bertāns goes one better at home to clinch 2025 FIA IDC crown
Sport newsIn a tightly contested final, 20-year-old Bertāns, who finished a close second to James Deane in 2021 when the FIA IDC last visited Latvia, produced a superb chase and lead run against 17-year-old Baumanis to secure his first-ever IDC crown at the wheel of his BMW based on a HGK Eurofighter chassis.
“It’s a good step up in life and another title in the bag so I am really happy that I ended the season on a good,” said Bertāns after the final. “Thank you to Daniels for an amazing final; I have been looking forward to driving with him all my career because he was just starting out when I was in Pro and now, we are in the final on the big stage."
After seeing off Egypt’s Karim Hany after a re-run in the first round of elimination tandems, Bertāns had to overcome a serious of tough battles on his journey towards the final, namely against Polish duo Jakub Przygoński and Pawel Korpuliński in the Top 8 and Top 4 bouts respectively.
A brilliant chase run against Przygoński in the Top 8 was the key to progressing to the final four, while an equally impressive lead run with Korpuliński in close company gave Bertāns his ticket to the final.
Similarly, Baumanis came through a nail-biting semi-final with El Salvador’s Nasser Alharbali Urias in his BMW E46. Contact between the two in the first run left Alharbali Urias needing to make repairs to his car while Baumanis was deemed responsible. After the second run resulted in a dead-heat, Baumanis eventually prevailed in the third battle, relegating Alharbali Urias to dispute third place with Korpuliński.
Both Alharbali Urias and Korpuliński were so evenly matched in their two runs, that the judges forced a deciding winner-takes-all tandem to determine the final step on the podium. Korpuliński just got the better of Alharbali Urias to win over the judges to grab third.
After topping qualifying on Friday afternoon, Alharbali Urias had earlier survived a scare in the opening Top 32 run of the day, against Greek driver Christos Chantzaras, hitting the long wall at the end of his chase run. Chantzaras was deemed to have decelerated too much, therefore backing into Alharbali Urias, paving the way for the latter to progress.
Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Abdul-Karim Jahan nearly produced a big surprise in his Top 8 tandem battle with Korpuliński, before the Polish driver made it through after a more accurate second run.
Prior to exiting the competition in the semi-final stage, Przygoński had engaged in arguably the most exciting tandem of the day in the Top 32, facing off against Japanese driver Hokuto Matsuyama. Both drivers (at the wheel of their Toyota GR86 and Toyota A90 Supra respectively) delivered pin-point lead runs and aggressive chases but it was Przygoński who went through.
Elsewhere in the first round, there was yet more drama for Rubén Bolaños who, for the second day in a row, suffered technical problems during his first run. The Spanish driver took the regulatory five-minute repair window but his BMW E46 would go no further, handing Georgian driver Mevlud Meladze in a similar BMW E46 a free passage to the Top 16.
In the Top 16 tandems, Meladze was then in strife himself, this time against eventual runner-up Baumanis. The pair made slight contact, and both spun out. A mistake at the initiation from Meladze on the re-run allowed Baumanis to progress.
Ahmed Al Amri was a non-starter in his Nissan Silvia S15, while Hungarian competitor Tamás Magyar’s Mercedes 190 was ruled out after a heavy crash against the long wall in his battle with Lithuania’s Andrius Vasiliauskas.
FIA Intercontinental Drifting CupDriftIntercontinental Drifting CupAll fia sport
SEASON 2025SportCircuit1SportFIA Intercontinental Drifting CupCircuitAll fia sportSEASON 2025DriftIntercontinental Drifting Cup01Saturday, October 4, 2025 - 6:09pmSaturday, October 4, 2025 - 6:09pm -
IDC: Alharbali Urias takes top spot in qualifying
Sport newsThe 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.
FIA Intercontinental Drifting CupIntercontinental Drifting CupDriftAll fia sport
SEASON 2025SportCircuit1SportFIA Intercontinental Drifting CupCircuitAll fia sportSEASON 2025Intercontinental Drifting CupDrift01Friday, October 3, 2025 - 7:04pmFriday, October 3, 2025 - 7:04pm -
From Invisible to Accountable: Measuring Global Road Safety Performance
Mobility newsEvery day, more than 3,000 people lose their lives in road crashes, and millions more sustain serious injuries. These figures represent a significant public health challenge, yet road safety often remains overlooked in global discussions. Why? Because what isn’t measured is rarely managed.
Companies, governments, and organisations around the world track emissions, energy use, and even wellness indicators, but road safety performance has largely fallen outside the frame. This gap has left us without a common language to hold ourselves accountable, until now.
The FIA may be known as the governing body for world motorsports, including F1, but we're making mobility safer, more affordable, and sustainable for everyone. On behalf of road users across 149 countries, we champion consumer rights, changing driving behavior at scale, and bringing life-saving motorsport safety innovations to the road.
The FIA Road Safety Index was created in 2022 with the support of the FIA Foundation to fill this void as a direct response to the Stockholm Declaration of 2020. It provides a clear, systematic way for organisations to measure their safety footprint: the real-world impact their activities and value chains have on road safety. By identifying where risks exist, the Index helps organisations set concrete targets, take meaningful action, and monitor results over time.
We know road deaths and injuries are preventable. The science, technology, and strategies already exist. What has been missing is accountability, a way to measure and compare progress consistently across organisations and countries. The FIA Road Safety Index provides that mechanism.
The methodology is straightforward but comprehensive. It asks organisations to make clear commitments, collect and report safety data, and examine their sphere of influence across supply chains and operations. Whether you are a logistics company managing a fleet of trucks, a retailer sourcing products through transport networks, or a service provider with employees on the road, the Index helps you understand and reduce the risks linked to your operations.
Road safety cannot be left to governments alone. Employers, manufacturers, service providers, and investors all play a role. By applying the FIA Road Safety Index, organisations can ensure that the people who move for them – their employees, contractors, customers, and communities, do so safely.
The Index is designed for the global market because road safety is a global problem. Worldwide the principles are the same: safer roads, safer vehicles, and safer behaviour save lives. It is a universal tool for continuous improvement and benchmarking, ensuring that safety standards rise everywhere, not just in isolated pockets.
For businesses, adopting the Index is not just about compliance or reporting. It is about leadership. It is about showing that you value the lives of your employees and customers.
With multiple organisations currently engaged with the Index, including, Amazon, Uber, Ikea, Waymo, Shell, and the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), the FIA continues to evolve and will expand from a 3 to a 5 star rating in 2026 with the assessments covering five areas: Commitment, Footprint, Planning, Monitoring of Safety Performance, and Safety Culture Management & Supply Chain Coverage.
The question is no longer whether road safety should be measured, but how quickly organisations will make it a priority.
Road SafetyMobility
Mobility1MobilityMobilityRoad Safety00Friday, October 3, 2025 - 12:49pmFriday, October 3, 2025 - 12:49pm -
Record entry list for fifth edition of FIA Intercontinental Drifting Cup
Sport newsFor the second successive edition in Latvia, a burgeoning market for the drifting discipline, a total of 45 drivers, representing 32 different countries and five continents will take part with 11 countries also contesting the Nations Cup, which runs in parallel to the individual competition.
Leading the 45-driver strong entry list is the defending FIA Motorsport Games gold medal winner Jakub Przygoński in his 900hp Toyota GR86. Representing Poland and nominated by the Polish Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (PZM), Przygoński, a former Dakar Rally regular, began his drifting career in 2008 and set a Guinness World Record for the fastest drift (at 217 km/h) in 2013.
Representing the spiritual home of drifting Japan, will be Hokuto Matsuyama, piloting his Toyota A90 Supra. A Toyota test driver, Matsuyama is the 2022 Formula Drift Japan champion and has been a regular D1GP contender over the years. He is also known for his precision and consistency, which are key elements in the drifting discipline.
Sure to be in the mix are double Polish Drift champion Paweł Korpuliński, multiple Ukrainian drifting champion and 2019 FIA Motorsport Games drifting gold medallist Dmytro Illyuk and the experienced Lithuanian competitor Andrius Vasiliauskas, while reigning Hungarian Pro Drift champion Tamás Magyar and triple MSUK Pro Drift champion Lwi Edwards add to the exceptional talent on display in Latvia. Another driver with FIA Motorsport Games experience, in the 2019 edition, is Swedish driver Christian Erlandsson who is the 2024 Swedish championship runner-up.
All eyes will be on local driver, Nikolass Bertāns, affectionately known as ‘Nik Nak’ in his HGK Eurofighter who will be looking to go one better than he did in 2021 – the last time the FIA IDC was held, also on Latvian soil. Bertāns took the fight to eventual winner James Deane at the tender age of 15 and has since amassed title in Latvia, Lithuania and the Baltic and North European Zone regions.
With Drifting – the only FIA-sanctioned discipline where results are not determined by the stopwatch – one of the fastest growing forms of motor sport, particular emphasis has been placed on developing nations with a view to expanding the participation and diversity of the sport.
New for the 2025 edition, FIA Member Clubs acting as National Sporting Authorities in their respective countries were able to nominate competitors for the FIA IDC. The change in the sporting regulations by the FIA was made with a view to increasing the diversity of the entry list and encouraging the growth of drifting as one of the most accessible motor sport disciplines in the world through continued engagement from its Member Clubs.
One such Member Club is the Icelandic Motorsports Association (AKÍS) who will send a driver to the FIA IDC for the first time, with recently crowned double Icelandic Drift champion Hrafnkell Runarsson aiming to showcase the equally vast growth of the discipline in his country.
Other new additions to the grid are Uzbekistan and Austria. Farrukh Urunov is no stranger to international competition, having represented Uzbekistan at the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games in the Karting Endurance discipline, while Daniel Brandner has become something of a fan favourite across the European drifting scene.
Representing Mozambique is Zanil Satar, a seasoned veteran of FIA drifting competitions who has previously competed in both the IDC and the FIA Motorsport Games.
First held in its spiritual home in 2017, the inaugural FIA IDC event at the famous Odaiba district of Tokyo, Japan kickstarted an annual gathering of the biggest stars in drifting to compete on the global stage. Local driver Masato Kawabata was the first winner.
Since then, the FIA IDC returned to Tokyo in 2018 and visited Tsukuba in 2019 (both won by Georgy Chivchyan) before expanding to a truly intercontinental competition when it visited Latvia for the first time in 2021 (won by James Deane). With Riga developing into one of the strongest venues in Europe, it is perhaps only fitting that the FIA IDC makes its return to Biķernieki with its exclusive “Long wall” configuration for the fifth edition of the Cup.
Proof of the growing popularity of Drifting and the FIA IDC is the expanding entry list for the 2025 edition, which reaches record levels of drivers. A total of 45 drivers representing 32 countries are set to take part, with Ukraine, Norway, Latvia, Brazil, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Finland and Hungary all fielding more than one driver each and therefore competing for the Nations Cup Title.
The weekend kicks off on Thursday October 2 with the first of two practice sessions before competitive action begins in earnest with the Qualifications on Friday October 3. A dedicated Tandem practice session follows on Saturday October 4, warming up the Drivers qualified for the Final Top 32 runs, after which the winner will be determined.
The Nations Cup title will be determined by the combination of the 2 highest scores in Qualifications and Top 32 positions from their respective pool of drivers.
Solo runs are judged on a number of elements, including driving skill, speed, angle and accuracy in hitting ‘zones’ or “boxes” drawn by the Judges, which the front or rear wheels of the car must slide through. Tandem runs ‘battles’ are judged on each car taking turns in the lead on the prescribed course, while remaining as close to the other car as possible, without making contact. A majority vote at the end of the battle is required to progress to the next round.
Qualifications and the Top 32 battles will be livestreamed on the FIA IDC YouTube channel.
FIA Intercontinental Drifting CupIntercontinental Drifting CupDriftAll fia sport
SEASON 2025SportCircuit1SportFIA Intercontinental Drifting CupCircuitAll fia sportSEASON 2025Intercontinental Drifting CupDrift01Wednesday, October 1, 2025 - 11:30amWednesday, October 1, 2025 - 11:30am -
ICA decision-2025-03 – Hearing 16 09 25 – Luka Scelles - 2025 OK-Junior European Championship Mondokart.com
Sport newsHearing
Case ICA-2025-03: Appeal lodged on behalf of Mr Luka Scelles against Decisions No. 211 and No.214 dated 7 June 2025 of the Stewards of the event of Viterbo (Italy), counting towards the 2025 OK-Junior European Championship Mondokart.com.
On 7 June 2025, during the Viterbo round of the 2025 FIA Karting European Championship – OK Junior, Driver No. 218, Luka Scelles, was involved in an on-track incident with Driver No. 246, Emiliano Hernández. The Stewards issued Decisions No. 211 and No. 214, determining that Driver No. 218 had caused a collision that forced Driver No. 246 to retire from the session.
Driver No. 218 appealed these decisions, arguing that the collision resulted solely from Driver No. 246’s aggressive manoeuvres while attempting to block an overtaking attempt, and therefore claimed the penalties were unjustified. The FIA, in response, affirmed the correctness of the Stewards’ assessment, confirmed the penalties were proportionate under the FIA Karting Regulations, and requested that the ICA dismiss the appeal and uphold the original decisions in full.
On 7 June 2025, the Appellant lodged an appeal against the Stewards’ Decision before the ICA.
Decision of the International Court of Appeal
The Court, after having heard the parties and examined their submissions, decided:
- to declare the appeal admissible;
- to uphold Decision No. 211 dated 7 June 2025 of the Stewards of the Viterbo Competition (Italy) counting towards the 2025 Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship – OK Junior.
The International Court of Appeal was presided over by Mr Xavier BONE MATHEU (Spain), and included, Mr Martin MAISNER (Czech Republic), Mr Kyle NOVAK (USA) and Ms Waltraud WÜNSCH (Germany).
The full decision is available here.
FIA Karting European Championship - JuniorICAInternational Court of Appeal
SEASON 2025SportCircuit1SportFIA Karting European Championship - JuniorCircuitInternational Court of AppealSEASON 2025ICA00Tuesday, September 30, 2025 - 6:04pmTuesday, September 30, 2025 - 6:04pm