DriftCup continued their impressive 2015 season with a visit to the Three Sisters Race Circuit in Wigan. It was the first time that a drifting competition had been held on this track and we are sure it wont be the last.
The track layout was revealed during the drivers breifing and it proved to be more challenging than our first impressions would have us believe.
The drivers would initiate into the left kink with an inside clip before running out to clip two on the outside of the hairpin. As the track opens out the drivers would still have to stay wide, dropping a while here made for some exciting moments as Chris Parry found out. He put a wheel into the ditch before the kerb, launching the rear of his AE86 into the air, this would earn him the Aford Awards Hard Charger Award.
As the right hander continued to open out the drivers would have to bring their cars back accross the track to an inside clip before crossing the finish line.
During the morning practice session alot of the drivers were struggling to link the track, many were caught out by the amount of grip on track.
After practice each driver had two qualifying runs, Jason Clark arrived half way through this session after some car issues, he managed to qualify 13th ater just 1 practice run. Mark Webb also impressed by qualifying in 6th place in a borrow car after some gearbox issues during practice.
The top qualifier was Brett Perry with two very consistent runs scoring 77.0 & 77.3.
The crowds turned out to watch the afternoon battles and they were not going to be dissapointed with the level of competition.
After many great battles it would come down to a top 4 featuring Andi Halkett, Brett Perry, Dan Joyce and Round 1 winner Jamie Owen. Andi Halkett would defeat Dan Joyce while Jamie Owen knocked out Brett Perry after Brett missed a gear on his chase run.
Brett would beat Dan easily after Dan made a mistake and left the track before losing his front bumper.
The battle for the final was a great display of drifting between Andi Halkett and Jamie Owen, both drivers put in good lead runs whilst maintaining good proximity whilst chasing. The judges had seen enough to pick a winner.
The podim would feature Brett Perry in third, Andi Halkett in second & Jamie Owen on the top step for the second event in a row. These drivers along with Dan Joyce have all gained the opportunity to compete at Round 3 of the British Drift Championship at Teesside the following weekend.
The next round of DriftCup is at Teesside on the 2nd of August, its sure to be another great example of the talented drivers in the lower levels of competition in UK Drifting. Come along, meet the drivers, get a closer look at the cars. These guys could be future drift champions!
Until then we will leave you with some more photos.
