On Easter, April 20, 2025, at the first stage of the LET’S DRIFT summer drift championship in St. Petersburg in Pulkovo, a car's tire flew off the rim and immediately returned.
The organizers noted that they had never encountered anything like this in drifting: usually, after losing a tire, the racer is forced to retire or continue the race without a wheel. In this case, the tire remained in motion because the racer Perepelitsa did not slow down. The car matched the pace of the detached tire, which bounced on a bump and returned to the rim.
Racer Artem Perepelitsa only learned about the incident after completing the race, after studying the recording. He admitted that he did not feel the loss of the wheel during the maneuver. According to him, the tire slipped off before the finish due to touching the curb: there is a raised concrete strip along the asphalt on the track, where the rim breaks and the tire comes off at a certain trajectory.
The organizers emphasized that the chance of such an event repeating is estimated as "one in a million." Social media users are already joking that it was not without divine intervention — after all, the "miracle" happened on Easter.
Read more on the topic:
Footage of the latest racing version of Lada Iskra appeared: in two color palettes at once
