The British Drift Championship returned to the birthplace of the series at Teesside, Middlesbrough for Round 3 of the 2015 season, this is a favorite of ours aswell as the fans and drivers.
The track sits lower than the spectator area ensuring everyone can see all of the action. A long straight leads into a long righthander that tightens to a hairpin. A left hairpin follows before opening out into a sweeping bend before crossing the finish.
This year the judges were looking for an outside line, the track was made up of six outer clips, this forces the lead driver wide and gives the chase driver plenty of chances to close up onto the lead drivers door.
Practice started on Saturday morning for the Pro-Am drivers, they had plenty of time to learn the required line before qualifying.
Qualifying followed, by now the track had heated up and so had the action with everyone pushing for a place in the Top32.
A few people struggled with the line or had some issues with their cars during the session, including James Roberts, his rear wheel would seperate at speed dropping the car onto the circuit.
He would get the car repaired quickly and return for his second qualifying attempt, scoring 66.3 putting him in 16th place.
Adam Simmons would be at the top of the score sheet, with a run of 93.3, after everyone had completed both of their runs.
One of the drivers that stood out in the qualifying order was Jamie Owen in second, by qualifying he has ensured his place in the British Drift Championship having won at Driftcup Round 2.
Jamie would continue is good run at Teesside by winning his first battle in the British Drift Championship against Chris Smith. He would get knocked out in the Top16 by local lad, Darren Rickaby.
Top qualifier, Adam Simmons, would have a tougher day than expected. Ian Rutherford gave him a close battle going a one more time in the Top16.
He would then go up against Slide Motorsport team mate, Matt Stevenson, in the Top8. This would be as far as Adam would go with Matt advancing to the Top 4.
The other drivers that would join Matt in the Top4 were Martin Wonnacott, Louis Geldart and Brad Wallbank.
Louis Geldart put in a strong chase run against Martin Wonnacott but his lead run decided it all. Whilst chasing Martin got lost in the smoke and ran wide coming to clip three, hitting some tyres, luckily it was only cosmetic damage so he would be able to battle for 3rd.
Brad Wallbank would lead the first run of his battle with Matt Stevenson, Matt would pile on the pressure, keeping on Brad’s door during his chase run. Matt would then pull a gap over Brad during his lead run, putting him through to the final.
Brad Wallbank and Martin Wonnacott then battled for the remaining place on the podium. Martin pulled a gap on his lead run through the first half of the track before running wide allowing Brad to close up. Brad would then lead with Martin close behind, diving onto his door at every opportunity, a few mistakes from both drivers would mean a One More Time would be called.
Brad would throw it away when he dropped two wheels whilst chasing through the first turn, Martin then put in a safe chase run to take the win and the 3rd place on the podium.
The final battle would see Louis Geldart lead first, Matt Stevenson would have a mechanical issue with his car, stopping on the hairpin. Matt would then lead with Louis only needing a safe run to get the win.
The top four driver would then advance through to the next day against the Pro drivers but not before the chance to collect some trophies and spray some champagne.
Sunday would see plenty of action from the Pro drivers, they were on it from the start of the practice session in the morning to the end of the day.
The qualifying session would see some impressive driving with Martin Richards topping the tables with a run of 98.3.
Jack Shanahan had an outstanding run of 95.0 with a gearbox that was rapidly failing.
Martin Wonnacott, Matt Stevenson and Louis Geldart would all qualify after advancing from the Pro-Am class the previous day.
The battles commenced, it didn’t take long before there were some top class battles. Matt Carter took out number 1 qualifier, Martin Richards, in the Top32.
A rerun of last year’s battles between the Supra of Mark Luney and the RA28 Celica of Marc Huxley also took place in the Top32. Marc Huxley would be knocked out and Mark Luney would advance all the way to the Top 4.
On the other side of the tree Jack Shanahan would go for a One More Time against Paul Cheshire before advancing through.
Jack would also take out Dan Firmager and Wesley Keating on his way to the Top 4, although his gearbox only had second gear. This resulted in him being fast on his lead runs and pulling away but struggling on his chase runs where the speed was determined by the lead car.
Making up the Top4 would be Michael Marshall and Matt Carter after they had knocked out some very competitive drivers.
Matt Carter and Mark Luney would battle to decide who would go through to the final, Mark Luney would lead first. Matt Carter initiated early behind Mark maintaining good proximity throughout the run.
Matt would then lead Mark Luney, Matt dropped a wheel at clip 1 as Mark closed in on his door, toward the end of the run there was some small contact between the cars. The judges decided that Mark Luney would go to battle in the final.
Michael Marshall would earn his place in the final after Jack Shanahan’s clutch gave up on his lead run. It’s not the way that drivers like to win a battle but mechanical failures are a part of motorsport.
Matt Carter would get the third place on the podium due to Jack not being able to battle.
The final between Michael Marshall and Mark Luney was a close battle, Michael Marshall would lead first putting in a good clean run on the judged line whilst Mark Luney chased with a small gap.
They swapped places and Mark Luney would lead, pulling a small gap through the first part of the track before making a mistake at clip 4 and hitting the wall. This would be enough to give Michael Marshall the win.
The prize presentation followed with Nankang Tyre Drift Team collecting the team trophy.
Fraser Stark was awarded the Afford Awards Hard Charger for his outstanding chase runs throughout his battles in the Pro-Am class.
The top 3 drivers then took their places on the podium to celebrate their results.
Get yourself along to an event and experience first hand the speed, smoke and sound of these amazing machines. The next round of the British Drift Championship is at Lydden Hill for Round 4 of the British Drift Championship on the 22nd and 23rd of August. Until then we will leave you with plenty more photos from the event.
