The eagerly awaited start of the Driftcup season took place at Rockingham Motor Speedway, Northamptonshire on Saturday.
A custom track utilising the outer paddock would provide a challenge to the drivers as they to contend with different surfaces, bumps and an off camber entry.
The cars would run downhill before initiating through the long first corner featuring clip 1 & 2 on the outside of the track.
The corner tightens into a hairpin featuring clip 3 on the inside of the exit before transitioning into the right hairpin, clip 4 was located in the middle of the circuit to encourage the drivers to allow room for the chase car to close up.
The field of drivers is looking strong this season with plenty of people returning for a second season such as Chris Taylor and Mark Webb.
There are also a few ex-BDC drivers entered that have taken a few years out from competitive drifting and will need to earn their licence again.
As well as the more experienced drivers there are plenty of new faces around the paddock too, this seasons entries sold out in minutes so it’s proving to be a very popular championship and the only way to advance into the British Drift Championship.
There has always been a lot of variation in the chosen cars for Driftcup drivers, this year it only got better with the addition of a Ford Escort Cosworth and a Toyata KE70.
Practice got underway once the fog had lifted enough to see the track although it hung in the air well into the late morning.
There were a few spins during the session as people tried to find the right line to from clip 1 to 2 without going too wide on the hairpin and missing clip 3.
After a few runs the drivers started to practice tandems runs in preparation for the afternoons battles.
A short break before qualifying gave the drivers enough time to change tyres and the nerves to build ahead of the session. They would get two non-consecutive attempts to score as highly as possible in front of the three judges, Paul Smith, Ryan Pothecary and Dan Firmager.
The judges would have to watch for the smallest errors to narrow the field down from 52 drivers to 32 for the battles.
Once qualifying was over it would be Chris Taylor at the top of the table with a score of 85.7.
The highest newcomer was Callum Marshall, driving his BMW E36 to third with a score of 79.3.
In the Top 32 battles there were multiple times where the lower qualifying driver won the battle, showing just how competitive it is this season.
Arron Stevens and Mark Illand were two examples of this with Nathan Cox and Fraser Jamieson advancing into the Top 16 battles.
On the other side of the tree the number one qualifier, Chris Taylor, would battle Mike Walton. Chris led first with a smooth run although Mike stayed close throughout the run.
On Mike’s lead run he ran wide through clip 1 & 2, dropping a wheel of track and handing the win to Chris.
In the Top 16 battles Frazer Jamieson and Ian Lonsdale would have an interesting battle, Frazer span on his lead run and it would appear to have handed the win to Ian as they swapped over. As they came through into clip 3 Ian would spin giving them both a zero score for their lead runs and resulting in a One More Time.
The OMT battle was much closer with both drivers maintaining good proximity in their chase runs, the judges chose in favour of Frazer and he would advance through to the Top 8.
Justin Richardson would gain his place in the Top 8 by beating Chris Taylor, Chris had a good lead run but spun on his chase run at clip 3.
Oliver Evans would be the first driver into the Top 4 after beating Charles Funnell.
Mark Webb would join Oliver in the Top 4 after a great chase run against Frazer Jamieson.
Experienced Driftcup competitor Peter Hayden would be the next driver to seal his place in the top 4, beating Geoff Lane.
The final driver to make it into the Top 4 probably had the hardest battle to get there, Justin Richardson and Tom Hutchinson couldn’t be separated on the first battle or even the second. It came down to the third run of their battle before the judges decided to put Justin through to the Top 4.
Mark Webb and Oliver Evans would battle, Mark had been looking strong all day and would advance through to the final.
Justin Richardson and Peter Hayden would then battle to see who would be joining Mark in the final, experience won on this occasion and Peter advanced through.
The battle to decide third would be won by Oliver Evans.
The final battle between Mark Webb and Peter Hayden was too close to call on their first attempt so the judges called for them to go OMT.
On their second set of battles Mark kept a close proximity on his chase run giving him the advantage and the win.
The drivers took their opportunity to celebrate on the podium in front of friends, family and the fans.
The Aford Awards Hard Charger Award was given to Barry Stevenson for his all out driving style throughout the day.
The top four drivers will all get to compete at the first round of the British Drift Championship on April 8th & 9th to try to qualify and earn their BDC licence.
The next round of Driftcup takes place at the Adrian Flux Arena in Kings Lynn on May 14th, come along to the track and see the action for yourselves! Until then enjoy some more photos.
