Ten finalists of the winter Ice Autocross 2014 championship have been determined in the Irkutsk region. After races at the Yershi ice track, they will continue the fight for victory on March 1.

Ten motorists reached the final of the Winter Championship of the Irkutsk Region “Ice Autocross – 2014” based on the results of the races held on February 15-16 at the ice autodrome of the Irkutsk Center for Advanced Driving Skills “Yershi.” The final races will take place on March 1.
As part of the competition, the drivers had to complete qualifying heats over a 600 m distance and synchronized paired races on a 2.5 km track. Based on the results of the competition, Mikhail Gafarov, Dmitry Zhuravsky, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Maria Abakumova, Dmitry Protasov, Denis Borinets, Alexander Sirazitdinov, Dmitry Babansky, Sergei Sukhorukov, Sergei Kharitonov advanced to the final. Those participants who did not make the list of finalists will be able to try to demonstrate their virtuoso car-control skills once again on February 22.
“The first days of ‘Ice Cross – 2014’ went at a high level. The participants were lucky with the weather — the firmer the ice and snow surface in the frost, the more interesting it is for racers to demonstrate their skill in driving on ice,” noted competition judge Alexey Stepanov.
As a reminder, the participants’ cars are divided into five categories. The driver’s task is to show the best time on the looped track. On February 22, the next qualifying heats of “Ice Cross – 2014” will take place (the eight best results in each class are selected). On February 23, the quarterfinals will be held (four semifinalists are selected) and the semifinals (two finalists are selected in each class). On March 1, the final of the competition and the ceremonial awards presentation will take place.
The organizers of the ice races are the Irkutsk Center for Advanced Driving Skills, the first independent Internet television “Made in Irkutsk,” with the support of the Ministry of Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy of the Irkutsk Region.
Based on materials from the press service of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of the Irkutsk Region