Lugano, Switzerland, 14th of July
Just two weeks after the event in the UK, it was time for King of Europe to move on with Round 4 of this 10th season, and the country of choice was Poland. Poland is actually where Francesco Conti made his European debut, back in 2012, even though back then the event was held on the Poznan race track. Francesco made a storming appearance, and, after claiming 2 titles in Italy, he left a solid impression by taking 2nd place, after loosing in the final battle against Maciej Bochenek.
Going back to Poland meant that the competition was going to be fiercer than ever. Francesco Conti has had several encounters with Polish drivers in the past, with different outcomes every time. After having a pretty rough start of the season, the two times Italian champion and European Champion knew he had to push as hard as possible in Poland and get as many points to help him get back on top of the rankings. With an interesting layout, especially looking at the first section of the track, which integrated a hill, on top of which the drivers would have to initiate the drift while going as close as possible to the outer wall for the perfect line, Tor Jastrzab promised to offer the drivers a more than memorable experience.
Behind the wheel of the Liberty Walk kitted, Supercharged BMW M3 E92 GT4, Francesco Conti started practicing early Saturday morning, more ambitious than ever to get back on the podium. Faster and faster after each run, Francesco was still unable to utilize the full potential of his machine, due to the wet track conditions. With almost 50 drivers at the event for the weekend, Francesco Conti managed to qualify 10th overall, with a total of 83,66 points. According to the telemetry system, Francesco had attained the Best Average Speed of any driver, 71kph.
The weather changed completely for Sunday, and there were no more rain clouds to interfere with the race. In the first battle of the day, Francesco Conti was going up against the Ukrainian Drift Champion, Aleksandr Grynchuk, who had brought his Turbocharged Nissan 350Z to the race, after an absence of 2 events from this 2014 season. Grynchuk had qualified 20th overall, but still, he is not a driver to be underestimated. Both drivers drove really consistent throughout their battle, and the judges called for an One More Time in order to decide who the winner will be. The score was even in their 4th run, but Conti had managed to get a small advantage, 6-4, in their 3rd run, and so he was on to the Top16. And things were not getting any easier for the 2013 King of Europe Champion, as Francesco would now have to face Slawomir Grausam, who knocked out the famous Japanese driver Masashi Yokoi in Top32. Conti had the upper hand in the first run, winning 7-3, and even though Grausam got a 6-4 in the 2nd run, Francesco was advancing to the Top8.
Moving on to Top8, the situation was looking to be very challenging indeed. After dealing with the Ukrainian Champion, Francesco Conti was now up against the reigning Polish Champion, Bartosz Stolarski, who was driving his Turbocharged LS Nissan S14, rated by some at over 1000 horsepower. These two drivers have encountered each other before, but in the last race, Stolarski came out on top, even though Conti won the championship at that moment. Without any doubt two of the most amazing, mind-blowing professional drifters in Europe, and why not, the world, Conti and Stolarski lined up, while their fans were cheering from the audience. This is the kind of race that no one can predict. The only certain thing was that it was not going to be finished with just 2 runs. 6-4 for Stolarski and then 6-4 for Conti, and it was on to an One More Time. Huge clouds of smoke, and ear-bashing rev-limiters made for a memorable experience, and you could have sworn this was the final battle of the weekend just by seeing them go. Stolarski got a minor advantage in the 1st run, with a 6-4, and even though Conti pushed as hard as he could, the score in the 4th run was 5-5, ending Conti’s weekend earlier than he would have wanted. Further on, it looked like Stolarski was unstoppable for the weekend, as he would eventually win the race, after going through two more competitors. After the race Francesco added: “For sure this has been a difficult weekend for me, with some very strong opponents, the track was really fun to drive on, and I really had faith in my ability to climb on the top spot of the podium. The battle with Stolarski was very intense, and I thought I’d be the one to win, even without going to an One More Time. But this was not the case, and I will just have to make up for lost points in the upcoming races”
With 4 Rounds down and 4 to go, Francesco Conti is now in 4th place overall, out of a total of more than 100 European drivers, with 260 points collected so far, which is just 162 points behind 1st place. In the team rankings, only 73 points separate the Drift Dream Team from 1st place, and it looks like the odds are high that Francesco will get a 3rd Team Championship Title this year. Francesco is also second in the Dotz Speed Attack Challenge, just 2 points behind Adam Kerenyi. Also 2nd in the Federal Tyres ProSeries Cup, where the gap is a bit higher, but nothing which cannot be recovered during the next few races.
For Round 5 and 6 of the 2014 season, Francesco Conti will be travelling to Hungary, to the Belko Touge and the Tokol airport, for a double race weekend, where the championship can be made or broken for him and the team.
For more details about Francesco Conti and his sponsors please follow these pages:
Francesco Conti Official FanPage: www.facebook.com/FrancescoContiDrift
Liberty Walk : www.facebook.com/LibertywalkLBperformance
Forgiato Wheels: www.facebook.com/pages/Forgiato-Wheels/269071476661
Francesco Contis Media Partners for 2014:
EverythingDrift.com : www.facebook.com/EverythingDrift
Carswatcher.com :www.facebook.com/Cars.Watcher