It all came down to the grand final fight of the season. As the night fell down in Krško all the spotlights were pointed towards Igor Tabak and David Barle. This two drivers put it all on the line in their chase for the championship on again very crowded Raceland racetrack.

It was far from being an easy job for both of the guys as among other 25 drivers the competition was strong. Both of the drivers struggled with some technical issues and for being a race to the top there was also a reliability race.

Starting the qualification session already 3 drivers forfeited due to breakdowns, unfortunately also Dražen Pavičić’s new 750+hp E46 M3. This time Austrian Clemens Kauderer showed that he will be man to beat as he qualified on the top spot with Igor Tabak and Miloš Djordjevic following him tight 2nd and 3rd. David Barle managed only 6th witch ment for Tabak that he only needs to proceed into GREAT8 and the title is his.

TOP16 battles started well for Tabak as he faced a very talented rookie Tomislav Kovačević who fought brave and showed that he has good skills, but it wasn’t enough to beat Tabak. On the other side of the sheet Barle was going against his teammate Miha Petač who also showed no mercy battling Barle and caused him some grey hair, but Barle was just better.

In the GREAT8 we saw final before final, Tabak vs. Barle even though everything was already decided and Tabak was already a champion he was willing to go all the way to the top spot. In his first run while entering the first corner the rear halfshaft of his BMW was gone. His team than called 5 minutes for repairs and even David Barle called his 5 minutes for him (by these gentleman move he won the moment of the race award for sportsmanship), but it still wasn’t enough just by few minutes so Barle entered the FINAL4. In the GREAT8 we also saw last season champion Uroš Berdajs fighting his way to the finals with his new weapon and battled Djordjević for a pass to FINAL4. It was an exciting battle which was won by Djordjević.

Tight battles followed in the FINAL4. Djordjević against Kauderer started with Miloš making a mistake at the very beginning by missing the initiation point, but Kauderer couldn’t take the full advantage of that and already straightened in the second corner followed by Djordjević doing the same. So in the second run details mattered and Kauderer proceeded to the finals. Second pair of the semi finals had a one more time as both drivers, Barle and Pogačar were equally scored. In the end Barle was facing Kauderer in the finals and Pogačar had to battle Djordjevič for third.

After a tight final battle David Barle won his very first race on his home soil, but unfortunately that wasn’t enough for him to make the championship title stay back home in Slovenia as Igor Tabak was crowned 2017 Adria Drift Series Champion under the fireworks.

Rookie of the race was once again awarded to Alen Gregorić.

Round 5: NIGHT SHIFT event results

The third season of Adria Drift Series came to an end. See you back on the blacktop in 2018. For more information, visit: www.adriadriftseries.comand find Adria Drift Series on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.