The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either a single game, a series of games, or a tournament, and may use a single-elimination system or one of several other different playoff formats. Playoff, in regard to international fixtures, is to qualify or progress to the next round of a competition or tournament.
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the race, although penalties may award it to the second fastest driver, as the pole position is statistically awarded to the driver starting in first position. The number-one qualifying driver is also referred to as the pole-sitter. The pole position starts the race "at the front of the starting grid. This provides the driver in the pole position the privilege of starting ahead of all the other drivers".
Drifting is a driving technique where the driver intentionally oversteers, with loss of traction, while maintaining control and driving the car through the entirety of a corner or a turn. The technique causes the rear slip angle to exceed the front slip angle to such an extent that often the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn. Drifting is traditionally performed using three methods: clutch kicking, weight transfer, and employing a handbrake turn. This sense of drift is not to be confused with the four wheel drift, a classic cornering technique established in Grand Prix and sports car racing.
Formula DRIFT is an American drifting series, and was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that introduced D1 Grand Prix to the United States. The new entity would solely own, operate and launch the first official drifting series in North America. Formula DRIFT is not associated with the FIA series of formula racing championships.
The D1 Grand Prix, abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled Professional Drift, is a production car drifting series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Daijiro Inada, founder of Option magazine and Tokyo Auto Salon, and drifting legend, Keiichi Tsuchiya hosted a professional level drifting contest in 1999 and 2000 to feed on the ever increasing skills of drifting drivers who were dominating drifting contests in various parts of Japan. In October 2000, they reformed the contest as a five-round series. In the following year for the following round, the introduction of the two car tsuiou battle, run in a single-elimination tournament format, a common tradition for tōge races which became popular with car enthusiasts.
A wild card is a tournament or playoff berth awarded to a team or individual that does not qualify through an automatic bid. In some events, wildcards are chosen freely by the organizers. Other events have fixed rules. Some North American professional sports leagues compare the records of teams which did not qualify directly by winning a division or conference.
The NASCAR playoffs, formerly officially known as the Chase for the Nextel/Sprint Cup, is a championship playoff system used in NASCAR's three national series. The system was founded as The Chase for the Championship on January 21, 2004, and was used exclusively in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2004 to 2015. Since 2016, NASCAR has also used the playoff system in the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series.
D1NZ is a production car drifting series in New Zealand, a sanctioned championship under Motorsport New Zealand, the official FIA appointed governing body of motor-racing in New Zealand. It began early in 2003 as a small competition consisting of several drifting teams from all over the country in order to organise and regulate Drifting events in the country. Since then it has continued to grow larger and more professional, now involving professional teams and internationally ranked drivers.
Carl Rydquist is a Swedish-American eight-time auto racing champion, a SAG-AFTRA on-camera stunt and precision driver and a Nurburgring Industry Pool driver. Rydquist beat more than 1,100 racers in a go-kart challenge created by Eurosport to promote their Super Racing Weekend FIA GT and ETCC sports coverage.
Max Emilian Verstappen is a Dutch and Belgian racing driver, currently competing under the Dutch flag in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Verstappen has won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won consecutively from 2021 to 2023 with Red Bull, and has won 62 Grands Prix across 10 seasons.
The FIA Motorsport Games Drifting Cup was the first FIA Motorsport Games Drifting Cup, to be held at ACI Vallelunga Circuit, Italy on 1 November to 2 November 2019. The event was part of the 2019 FIA Motorsport Games.
The 2018 Formula D season was the fifteenth season of the Formula D series. The season began on April 7 at Long Beach and concluded on October 13 at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale after eight events. The series celebrated its 100th championship round at Wall Speedway.
The 2019 Formula D season was the sixteenth season of the Formula D series. The season began on April 6 at Long Beach and concluded on October 19 at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale after eight events.
The 2022 Formula D season was the nineteenth season of the Formula D series. The season began on April 2 at Long Beach and concluded on October 15 at Irwindale Speedway after eight events.
The 2022 FIA Motorsport Games Drifting Cup was the second FIA Motorsport Games Drifting Cup, which was held at Circuit Paul Ricard, France on 26 October to 30 October 2022. The event was the part of the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games.
The 2023 Formula Drift season was the twentieth season of the Formula D series. The season began on April 8 at Long Beach and concluded on October 14 at Irwindale Speedway after eight events.
The 2024 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship will be an esports tournament for the mobile multiplayer online battle arena video game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
The 2024 Formula Drift season is the twenty-first season of the Formula D series. The season began on April 13 at Long Beach and will conclude on October 19 at Irwindale Speedway after eight events.
The 2024 Drift Masters season is the tenth full season of the Drift Masters series. The season began on May 11 at Circuit Ricardo Tormo and concluded on September 14 at PGE Narodowy custom built track after six events.
The 2024 FIA Motorsport Games Drifting Cup will be the third FIA Motorsport Games Drifting Cup, held at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Spain on 23 October to 27 October 2024. The event was the part of the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games.
Europe 
Lauri Heinonen (2024)
Ireland 
Current season 
