After almost getting a podium finish at Round 3 of the Monster Energy King of Europe Drift ProSeries in Greinbach, Austria, Patrick Ritzmann was determined to come back at Round 4 and accomplish his goal, all while stacking up more points in the fight for the 2015 series title.
Although Patrick has driven at Lydden Hill before, the layout prepared by the King of Europe judges for Round 4 was definitely going to be a challenging one for everyone at the event, especially with the slightly unusual positioning of the last clipping point, meant to bring out the best driving possible from all the competitors.
Saturday practice was underway, and Patrick quickly managed to adapt to the imposed layout. While some time was lost fixing some minor faults back in the paddock, Patrick was already feeling comfortable with driving his best at Lydden Hill, and the only thing left to do was to move on with the qualifying session. With a total of almost 40 drivers trying to squeeze into the Top32 battles, Patrick Ritzmann got a formidable 2nd place result, with a total of 88.47 points, as the only driver scoring higher than that was Team Cartu Drifting’s own Adam Frank in the 1000 horsepower BMW E46 M3. Patrick’s attack speed going into turn 1 was of 117 kph, while the angle of attack was 40.8 degrees. Thanks to this result, he would now be awarded an extra 10 points which would stack up to his overall series points, as foreseen in the King of Europe rulebook.
For the Top32 battles on Sunday, Patrick and the team made the decision to increase the horsepower output by abusing the Nitrous system a bit more than usual, bringing the total power levels up to almost 900. For the first battle of the day, Patrick would take on Sultan Al Qassimi from Abu Dhabi, who was driving the MCNSport Nissan Onevia, which was also using 2JZ power. The battle was over after just two runs, as Patrick Ritzmann gained a crushing advantage over his opponent, winning the first run 8-2, and taking things even further on the second run with a 10-0.
For the Top16, Patrick would now have to face experienced local driver Martin Wonnacott, driving a big four door Toyota, which was of course, also powered by a JZ unit. Still, with a very strong will of getting a podium finish, Patrick just drove his normal runs, and came out victorious once again, after a 7-3 and 10-0 in his favor.
Things were going to get really difficult for the Top8 battles, as the next opponent for Patrick was going to be British Drift Champion Michael Marshall in his 2JZ powered BMW M3 E92. Michael also took 3rd place overall in 2014, when King of Europe made its debut in the UK at Lydden Hill. Patrick Ritzmann was going to be the leader on the first run, due to his higher qualifying position, and even though Marshall displayed some great driving, the judges ruled in favor of Patrick with a score of 6-4. Still, the battle isn’t over until it’s actually over, so the drivers lined up for the second run. With thousands of fans cheering for Marshall from the side of the track, as he is also a local to Lydden Hill, they went off the start line with the 2JZs screaming like mad, already going sideways while in a straight line. Patrick managed to keep a good proximity in the 1st and 2nd corner but then disaster struck. Due to the increase in horsepower, the strain felt by the drivetrain was enough to make it fail. The E46’s gearbox was destroyed, spilling oil on the track going into the last corner, and leaving Patrick with literally no options to get back in the race, and with 0 points on the second run, putting an early end to his Round 4 adventure.
“It came as a shock to me to be in the last segment of the track, going all out, and have my gearbox fail. I was connected to the car so well throughout the weekend , I also enjoyed the track layout, and it would have been definitely interesting for me to move on at least to the semifinals where I would be paired against my friend Markus Muller. I am glad me and him got the Team Victory for the weekend, but I hope I’ll be back soon to claim a podium finish before the end of the season” said Patrick Ritzmann just as the race was over.
By the end of the day, his Top8 opponent, Michael Marshall would go on to take 2nd place overall in the race, with him also suffering a drivetrain failure in the final battle against Adam Kerenyi.
After a total of 4 rounds in the 2015 Monster Energy King of Europe Drift ProSeries season, Patrick Ritzmann is now 5th overall in the series rankings, just 1 point behind triple Championship winner Adam Kerenyi, a remarkable result in itself, seeing that Patrick has only competed in 3 of the 4 races so far.
Round 5 of the 2015 season will be held on the 22nd and 23rd of August near to Budapest, Hungary. With just four more races left , Patrick Ritzmann and his team will do their best to pursue their goal of standing on the podium at the end of the season, thus opening up their future plans for 2016 of running a full competitive ProSeries season.”
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