STORY OF THE SEASON

The SM Series 2021 took place over 6 races between November 1, 2020, and March 28, 2021. For the 2021 season, several changes were introduced. In qualifying, 3 judges were used, and once the bracket phase began, a maximum of 10 judges were involved in deciding which driver from each pair would move forward. These judges were responsible for overseeing the entire season's eMotorsport drifting competitions. The OMR LAST8 phase was modified to simply become the LAST8 phase, and it followed the usual format of TOP16, TOP8, TOP4, and the FINAL. The amount of penalty points was also experimented with, testing reductions of -10, -15, and -20 points. However, by the end of the season, the ideal point reduction still wasn't clear, as the goal was to avoid subjective judging based on emotions. The scoring should be verifiable, as judges' score sheets showed the errors in the runs, rather than relying on statements like "in my opinion."

Additionally, a significant new rule was introduced in qualifying: drivers were now penalized with -6 points instead of -10 if they entered the clipping zone with only one tire touching the zone's front edge and exited with one tire leaving the rear edge.

One of the most exciting additions for the 2021 season was that the winner of the series would receive a €1000 prize (funded by the organizers). This created an exciting atmosphere throughout the season. A new host and live stream creator, Niko Häkli, joined to provide high-quality broadcasts on Facebook and YouTube for all the season's races. The game developers released a new version of the LFS game towards the end of the season (version 0.6v), and this allowed players to stop using the SLADI Masters.exe file, which had previously been requested directly from the developer, Scawen, to add some custom features. The new version allowed the GTR cars to have 60-degree steering angles and all tires to be used, so the old SLADI Masters.exe was no longer needed.

The season opener, Round 1, took place on November 1, 2020, with 26 drivers. Many new faces joined the competition for the Finnish Championship and the €1000 prize. Newcomer #73 T.Kalliokoski started strong by taking 1st place in qualifying, but another newcomer, #74 I.Porttila, took the overall win in the bracket phase. In Round 2, the veterans sharpened their game, with #16 J.Hautanen winning qualifying and #15 T.Luukkanen winning the race against #73 T.Kalliokoski in the final. The battle continued fiercely in Round 3, where #15 T.Luukkanen once again claimed the top spot in qualifying, but #73 T.Kalliokoski came out on top in the final.

In Round 4, #15 T.Luukkanen once again dominated qualifying, but this time new driver #64 J.Järvenpää grabbed the victory in the race. After Round 4, it looked like the championship could be claimed by one of three drivers: Luukkanen, Kalliokoski, or Järvenpää. Round 5 saw #15 T.Luukkanen winning qualifying again, while #64 J.Järvenpää took his second race win of the season, making the point standings extremely close: #73 T.Kalliokoski led with 521 points, followed by #15 T.Luukkanen with 493 points, and #64 J.Järvenpää with 469 points. No one could predict how the final round would unfold.

Round 6 was held on a challenging track (D3) with 6 clipping zones and entry speeds of up to 180 km/h. In qualifying, the top 3 drivers were: #15 T.Luukkanen, #73 T.Kalliokoski, and #64 J.Järvenpää. These three drivers were fiercely competing for the title and the €1000 prize. In the TOP4 bracket, rumors spread that #73 T.Kalliokoski had spun out and hit the wall, leading many to believe his championship hopes were over. The atmosphere in the Discord channel was reportedly very tense.

The battle continued in the second TOP4 match between #15 T.Luukkanen and #64 J.Järvenpää, with Luukkanen needing to win to have a chance at the title. However, newcomer #64 J.Järvenpää performed better and advanced to the final. At this point, no one knew how the points would end up, as the unexpected turn of events had left everyone guessing.

In the final, #64 J.Järvenpää defeated the Russian competitor and took the win. With the title on the line, it was unclear whether Järvenpää had done enough to secure the championship. The tension was so high that #73 T.Kalliokoski struggled to give an interview on the live stream. When the points were counted live, the shocking news was revealed: despite Järvenpää's victory in the final, his 3rd place in qualifying wasn't enough to win the title. Instead, #73 T.Kalliokoski won the €1000 and was crowned the 2021 SM Series champion. The point gap was so close that it's possible the competition will be revisited in the future. The final was a dramatic moment that will be remembered by everyone who followed the season or watched the live stream of the final.