We continue our series of articles following 4 drivers as they compete within DriftCup and try to earn their way into the British Drift Championship. This time the drivers headed to Three Sisters Race Circuit in Wigan to compete in Round 2.
Andrzej Mania
Andrzej struggled early in practice with too much grip, the unknown of a new circuit made him play it safe and put on some soft compound tyres. He soon swapped to some harder compound as the circuit had higher grip than expected.
He went out for qualifying, confident now that the issues from round 1 had been fixed. His first run scored a 61.3 putting him in 21st position.
The Top32 battles would see Andrzej line up against Lee Lawrence and his S14, Andrzej kept close on the chase run before maintaining a similar gap on the lead run.
The judges called for a One More Time but Andrzej had to withdraw as the rear right suspension had broken.
Andrzej is hopeful of another strong run at Teesside for round 3, if there are no mechanical issues we are sure he is capable of putting on a challenge toward the end of this season.
Arron Stevens
Arron had spent some time getting used to the car at round 1, during the morning practice at Three Sisters he was showing an improvement.
The extra seat time paid off when he qualified 9th with a score of 69.0.
In the battles Arron would line up along side Sebastian Scott in the Top 32, Arron kept close to the Skyline on his chase run and pulled a small gap on his lead run, earning him the place in the Top16.
The Top16 battle would be against Danny Grundy, who would maintain closer proximity on his chase run, knocking Arron out of competition.
Arron is getting to grips with the car after a few rounds of competiton and we look forward to seeing him compete in the remaining round of Driftcup this year as he could be a strong contender.
Dean Newport-hall
Dean really enjoyed the smooth flowing track at the Three Sisters Race Circuit, although early on he had too much rear grip, a quick tyre pressure adjustment had that sorted out.
During qualifying he went out and put in two safe runs, 26th place was the result and that would put him against Richard Dalby-Smith for the Top32.
Dean kept the pressue on during the battle, forcing Richard into a small mistake and taking him through to the Top16.
The next driver he would come up against was Andi Halkett, a Driftcup veteren. Dean put in a strong chase run but then dropped 2 wheels on his lead run, handing the win to Andi.
Dean would like to thank everyone in the team for their help leading up to the event, their sponsors for their continual help and the organisers of Driftcup for putting on the event.
Scott Sargent
Scott had managed to put some time into upgrading the car before Round 2, a new lock kit from Team Sunset was installed and tested.
Some more issues were highlighted during testing that were then fixed the night before heading to the track.
Unfortunately the hydro broke during practice, making it difficult to qualify.
He is looking forward to competing at Round 3 with the improved, more aggressive E30.
Lets hope the mechanical gremlins are all ironed out, a few strong results could make all the difference with three rounds remaining in the 2015 season.
The next round of Driftcup is being held on August 2nd at Teesside, take a look at www.driftcup.co.uk for more information.