As the 2014 season is getting ever so close to its final step, Round 7 has just been concluded in France, on the Bordeaux de Merignac Race Track. Back in France after a successful race in 2013, where both local drivers and fans showed their huge interest towards King of Europe, Round 7 was filled with extremely tight battles, and spectacular driving on behalf of the competitors as always.
Qualifying took place late Saturday afternoon, after everyone properly dialed in the track layout, which ultimately is much faster than it might look like. Francesco Conti absolutely crushed the competition by getting 1st place, with an Attack Speed nearing 150kph! Adam Kerenyi came in 2nd, while Benjamin Boulbes was 3rd. Norbert Kovacik was down in 4th, while local talent Romain Soucasse took 5th overall, just a short distance away from Adam Frank and Steve Biaggioni. The race for the championship has just become slightly less difficult with Nicolo Rosso (Nissan S14) being forced to withdraw from the race because of a total engine failure, problem which also occurred to David Infantes (Nissan S13 LS) and Nicolas Maunoir (Nissan Skyline R34 LS).
Sunday the Bordeaux de Merignac could be looked upon as a real place of pilgrimage for drift fans, who had traveled even from other countries to see the race upfront. One by one, the local french drivers were eliminated from the competition, and only three of them made it to the Top8: Benjamin Boulbes, Romain Soucasse and Aviles Clement.While Francesco Conti eliminated Clemen Aviles, and Norbert Kovacik did the same thing to Romain Soucasse, it seemed that Boulbi would suffer the same fate as in 2013, where he was defetead on his home ground, but this time going up against Adam Frank.
Extremely tight battles for the semifinals of this Round 7. An older battle in King of Europe, Francesco Conti versus Norbert Kovacik. Norbert, still struggling with the heavy BMW M6 which delivers less than 600 horsepower, could not defeat Conti, even though the race was dragged to an One More Time due to the extremely close battle between the two King of Europe Veterans. After an all out Monster Energy battle in the Top8, Adam Kerenyi came out on top, and his semifinal opponent became Adam Frank. The Team Cartu Drifting driver Adam Frank managed an amazing performance and combined with an unexpected mistake on Kerenyi’s side, he won his first ever battle against the two time European Champion.
Norbert Kovacik could do little to stop Adam Kerenyi for getting yet another podium, and so he would have to settle for 4th place eventually. Both Adam Frank and Francesco Conti were hoping to get a 2nd consecutive victory for this season, but in the end, it was Francesco who took the win, after two very impressive runs in front of the thousands of people who came to see the
race.
Going into the final round of this 10th anniversary season, there have been some changes made to the Rankings. Although Adam Kerenyi still retains 1st place, with only mathematical chances of loosing the title, Francesco Conti is now in 2nd place, with Adam Frank at 32 points behind and also with Benjamin Boulbes and Steve Biagioni not far behind. In the overal Team Rankings, the Italian Drift Dream Team have further widened their advantage over Dotz Drift Team, but anything can still happen in the final race.
Round 8, which is the 2014 ProSeries Final, will be held on the Valencia Race Track in Spain, marking the return of the championship in that part of Europe, after the two consecutive events in Castelloli, 2012 and 2013.
Text and photo updates from the race can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/koedrift