Roman Tivodar
Drift legend · Russia
A gold and white Takayama Forward Auto Silvia S15 with 950 hp.
A Sochi driver who rose from a Nissan Laurel to the Takayama Forward Auto team, Roman Tivodar won the 2025 Cup of Russia in pouring rain and has been a Red Bull athlete since 2021.
Tivodar was born in 1996 in Sochi and grew up on D1GP, Best Motoring and Video Option. He bought a Nissan Silvia S13 at seventeen, which remains his favourite car, worked as a driving instructor at Sochi Autodrom, and entered his first competition in 2017 in a Nissan Laurel C35, finishing second at the Drift Battle Series in Ust-Labinsk.
He was vice-champion of the 2019/20 Sochi Drift Challenge, and in 2020 Georgy Chivchyan invited him into the Forward Auto team for RDS GP because Masato Kawabata could not travel from Japan during the pandemic. He finished sixth in his debut season, won the Igora Drive stage, and was named Breakthrough of the Year. He became a Red Bull athlete in April 2021.
His best season was 2022, with fourth place overall and a public vote for the Pilot prize. In 2025 he won the Cup of Russia at Rostov Arena in heavy rain, beating Korneev, Shabanov, Losev, Tsaregradtsev and Grossman, and said he could finally call himself a champion. In 2026 he took second in the VTB Final and lost the RDS FEST Super Battle of Champions final to Anton Kozlov.
At a glance
- Role: Cup of Russia 2025 winner
- Region: Russia
Career highlights
- 2020: RDS GP debut and stage win. Sixth overall and a win at Igora Drive for Forward Auto.
- 2021: Red Bull athlete. Joined the Red Bull Russia roster in April.
- 2022: RDS GP fourth overall. 1,123 points and the audience Pilot prize.
- 2024: Cup of Russia runner-up. Second behind Georgy Chivchyan at the first Superfinal RDS.
- 2025: Cup of Russia winner. Won the Teboil Superfinal RDS at Rostov Arena in the rain.
Signature cars
- Nissan Silvia S15, Forward Racing (2021 to 2026)
- Nissan Silvia S13 and Laurel C35 (2014 to 2017)
Video
Source: RDS GP driver profile