The 2015 Irish Drift Championship came to a close the best way possible, multiple drivers could take the title in the final round and if it wasn’t enough of a challenge they invited along some international drivers to mix it up a bit.
Mondello Park has hosted many of the Irish Drift Championship rounds but none like this, a record number of fans that had turned out to see the Final Fight, all to get a chance to see the champions get crowned.
Jack Shanahan held first place going into the weekend but everyone wondered if he could hold onto it with Tomas Kiely, James Deane, Duane McKeever and Shane O’Sullivan all trying their best to take the title from him.
Daigo Saito, Robbie Nishida, Dean Kearney were a small selection of the international drivers taking part, all hoping to take the win on Irish soil.
Before the Pro competition it would be the Semi Pro and Rookie classes on the Saturday, this season has seen a higher level of competition with some 90 drivers entered across the two classes and only 32 going through to battles.
During the battles the Semi Pro title would be decided during the top 16 in a battle between first place Anthony Galvin and second place Kevin Kindregan. Anthony would go through giving him enough points to take the championship, he would continue to battle well making it all the way to the final.
Joining him would be William Rose, this would surprise many but not the fans that are used to his all-out driving style.
The final battle would be the highlight of the day, taking place at sunset. Both drivers gave it their all with great lead and chase runs, the champion would round out his season perfectly taking the win.
The drivers took their opportunity to celebrate on the podium along with Kevin Quinn in third place.
Sunday came round and the Pro drivers would head out for morning practice, one thing was missing and that was Jack Shanahans car, after some issues they had to park the car. Jack borrowed Ryan Caldwell’s S13 and took to the track to get as much practice as possible, although it didn’t take long.
Qualifying followed shortly after, setting the field for the top 32 battles to come in the afternoon.
The battles would soon start to decide the championship with Duane McKeever being ruled out due to James Deane and Tomas Kiely advancing through, giving them enough of a lead over Duane.
Alan Lenihan ended his 10 year drifting career in style knocking out Daigo Saito in the top 32 after Daigo struggled with a few issues with the car.
Jack Shanahan would exit the competition in the top 16 against Anthony Galvin, everything had been working against him this weekend but more on that in a later article.
The next key battle would decide the championship, James Deane vs Tomas Kiely. Tomas had brought his new 813hp S14 along to help his charge for the championship and it was impressive! The smoke from the back of this car and the speed just made for a great show as he battled arguably the best driver in the world.
They had to run the battle twice more as the drivers couldn’t be separated.
Unfortunately for Tomas the engine let go on his chase run, a flash of fire could be seen as he came out of the final corner. James pulled away and crossed the line, giving him the battle and the championship.
The final battle would come down to James Deane and Shane O’Sullivan, could James make it a perfect day winning the event as well as the championship? Could Shane win his first event on home soil? It wouldn’t take long to find out, James kept it pinned to Shane’s door for all of his chase run, pushing him round the track, it would be enough to give him the win.
The crowds flooded onto the track to congratulate the drivers and share in the podium celebrations. James Deane took his place on the top step with Shane O’Sullivan in second and Nigel Colfer in third.
It was a great end to the season, you can be sure that Jame’s rivals will return stronger next year! Until then you can enjoy some bonus images from the event.
