The new Finnish stage was completely unfamiliar to all championship participants. The track stood out with its challenging terrain, and the service area set up in the middle created an unprecedented atmosphere for both athletes and spectators.
Qualifying started very promisingly – Benediktas scored 88.5 points on his first run. However, in the second run, the team noticed a car malfunction, so the decision was made not to risk the equipment and not to continue the attempt. He received zero points for the second run, but the first result was enough to maintain 24th place and enter the top 32 participants of the stage.
In the knockout rounds, Čirba showed excellent pace. In the TOP32 stage, his opponent was Irishman Conor Shanahan, but the duel ended before it began – the opponent’s car was stopped by a technical failure.
In the TOP16 stage, the Lithuanian outperformed Norwegian Simon Olsen, defeated one of Poland’s strongest athletes Piotr Więcek in the quarterfinals, and eliminated Finland’s crowd favorite Juha Rintanen in the semifinals.
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In the final, Benediktas faced another member of the Shanahan family – Jack Shanahan. After a tough fight, the Lithuanian took second place and raised the Lithuanian flag on the podium.
This result is very significant not only because of the silver medal won but also because Benediktas Čirba returned to the “Drift Masters” championship podium for the first time since the 2022 stage held in Riga. The return among Europe’s drift elite once again confirmed that the Lithuanian remains one of the continent’s most skilled side-slip masters.
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