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 Teesside Autodrome for Round 3 of the championship.
Scott Sargent
Scott went out in the practice session early in the day to get used to the track layout, the weather wasnt on his side as it had rained throughout the early hours of the day.
As the session continued the track dried and with qualifying around the corner it was time to lay down some decent laps.
Scott gave it his all during his two qualifying passes, unfortunatly it wasnt enough against the high level of competition that we are seeing this season, 33rd place would be his result.
The car is working great and Scott is happy with the changes that have been made to it so far this season.
Its not long until Round 4 and he will be pushing hard to improve his position in the championship at Driftland.
Andrzej Mania
Andrzej had a great time at Teesside, enjoying the time on the track, learning the judged line and getting some twinning practice in during the morning session.
He was struggling with too much grip throughout the day making it difficult to push the car out to all of the clipping points.
When it was time to qualify he headed out onto the track, toward the end of the run the hydro failed which resulted in him hitting the wall afer the final clipping point.
It was all down to the second run, he played it safe putting in a good run to ensure that he would complete a scored run.
The result was 34th place, narrowly missing out on the top 32 battles. Andrzej enjoyed the day anyway, the track time helps improve his skills and learn the car, all of that will help as we head into the last few rounds this season.
Arron Stevens
Arron had a 5 hour drive upto Teesside for this round, arriving late at night, by the time he woke the paddock was full of teams preparing for practice.
During the practice session he struggled with the track, the demanding line was proving harder than it first looked.
The qualifying session would see him put in a good second run putting him in 13th place.
The top 32 battle would be again Owen Counihan, Arron put in a strong lead run before chasing hard, Owen would spin out coming through clip 2 handing the win to Arron.
The top 16 would see Arron battle Andi Halkett, Andi is known for being a strong competitor, if that wasnt enough of a challenge the rain started making the track slick like ice.
A One More Time was called after both drivers made mistakes in the wet conditions, during the repeat battle Arron would miss a gear dropping back and giving Andi the advantage. A few changes to the car are planned before the next round so we should see Arron come back even stronger for the remaining rounds.
Dean Newport-Hall
Dean arrived at the track early, taking to the track in the slippy practice session. He felt happy dispite this and his confidence improved as the track dried out.
Going into qualifying he would run a safe lap during the first run just to get a score on the board.
His second run was the one to watch, pushing hard he managed to score 71.3, resulting in 9th place.
The top 32 battle would be against Lee Lawrence, strong runs from Dean from both the lead and chase positions would see him advance to the top 16.
Martin Flinn would up next but by now the rain had started. Dean misjudged the grip going into the first corner, spinning and handing the win to Martin. More upgrades will be coming before Driftland so you can expect to see Dean pushing hard toward the end of this season.
The next round of Driftcup is being held on September 12th at Driftland, take a look at www.driftcup.co.uk for more information.