Fermoy, aka ‘The Concrete Jungle’, is Round 2 of the Irish Drift Championship. The track here is unforgiving, uncompromising and unforgettable.
This venue is normally a cattle market but for this weekend it had made into an incredible track, fast to begin with before becoming tight and technical.
There were a total of four wall runs with each of them claiming plenty of rear lights and rear quarters over the event.
If that wasn’t enough of a challenge, there is a huge bump as they come off clip one and head toward the walls, in the past cars have broken their suspension from this bump alone.
The drivers that are pushing for the championship would need to push hard this weekend as the risks were high, with the rewards even greater!
The Semi-Pro drivers took to the track on Saturday morning for their practice session.
By the end of the session the drivers were getting the hang of the track, the sun was out and it was heating up in time for qualifying.
As the drivers took their two passes to impress the judges, it would become clear that many of the drivers had nailed the line around the track and fully committed to it, with nine drivers putting in 80+ runs.
Boss Motorsports’ Gary Dunne, topped the tables after both runs with a score of 89.67, consistency was also a strong point this time for Gary with a score of 84.08 on his first run.
Declan Byrne had held the top spot for the majority of qualifying with his run of 89.50 on his first attempt, his second run was 89.33. Could Declan be in contention by the end of the day?
Round 1 winner, TJ Berney, had qualified well in seventh place, showing himself as a strong contender at this stage of the championship.
Another notable qualifier was Paul Stryker in tenth, he hasn’t competed in a year and comes out with a run of 79.33 after building his car in the week before the event.
In the Top 32 battles there was only one battle where the higher qualifier didn’t progress into the Top 16. Daniel Waldron had qualified in 31st but managed to knock out 2nd place qualifier, Declan Byrne. Declan led first with a good run, pulling a gap right from the start, Daniel came off the line midway through the run to try to close the gap but it sacrificed some clipping zones. One the second run Declan spun out on initiation handing the win to Daniel Waldron, proving anything can happen in this sport.
In the Top 16 there were some more great battles, William Rose and Liam Devlin came up against each other, the two BMW drivers giving it their all. William led first with an impressive run, hitting all the clips at a good pace. Liam closed up throughout the run getting right onto the door as they crossed the finish.
As they swapped William sacrificed several clips in order to keep up resulting in a One More Time. This time around it was more of the same close battles, the judges sent this for another One More Time. This time it would need to be decided one way or another, the drivers had to give it their all if they wanted to advance further through the competition. William tagged the wall on his lead run, straightening the car slightly but got it back quickly. Liam made a false start on his lead run as the pressure built, William would be the one to throw it away as he straightened on initiation.
TJ Berney and Paul Styker had an eventful battle, TJ led first with a good run, tagging the wall at clip three and losing part of his bumper as Paul dived onto his door time and time again. Paul led next, he is known as a wild driver so you can be sure he wasn’t going to hold anything back. As they came through clip two, Paul didn’t slow enough and hit the wall at clip three before spinning out.
The Great 8 had plenty more action, Gary Dunne and Chris Burnett battled to see who would get into the Top 4, with neither of them having done so in a while. Gary’s lead rung was very strong with plenty of pace and hitting all the clips. Gary then maintained closer proximity on his chase run, giving him the advantage.
The first battle of the Top 4 between Gary Dunne and Barry Hennessy was another example of how well Gary had been driving all day with Barry making a few mistakes behind him. Gary then earned his place in the final by maintaining good proximity throughout the run.
On the other side of the tree, Charlie Geary and TJ Berney would battle to see who would go against Gary in the final. Charlie led first as TJ put in another consistent run behind him, Charlie did pull a small gap though. TJ’s car broke a drive shaft as he left the line on his lead run handing Charlie the win.
TJ Berney fixed the car before his battle with Barry Hennessy for third place on the podium, Barry kept on TJ’s door through the first run of the battle before pulling away on his lead run, earning himself that spot on the podium. TJ Berney would be happy with fourth and those valuable points toward his championship.
The final between Gary Dunne and Charlie Geary was one not to miss, Gary led first with a great run, hitting the clips and pulling a gap over Charlie, who missed a few clips whilst trying to catch up. Charlie led next, he needed to pull something special out here to take the win, he had a good run through the course but Gary kept with him, taking the win.
The drivers took their places on the podium and celebrated in front of the crowd, the top four drivers all got the opportunity to compete the following day along with the Pro drivers.
Sunday morning and it was looking to be another good day for drifting although the weather forecast was predicting storms in the area.
The Pro drivers took to the track for their practice session, filling the air with smoke on every run, it wasn’t long before the rubber had built up around the track and against the walls, making it even more difficult if they went off line.
Tomas Kiely was one of the first to damage his car as he came in too hot into clip three, he hit the power and spun the car around, hitting the hay bale with the back of his car. It could have been so much worse!
Dai Yoshihara was aiming to take down the Irish streak at this round in the D-Mac S13, he was looking strong in practice despite having limited runs due to some issues with the car.
Jack Shanahan was aiming to score as many points toward his championship as possible this weekend after a disappointing first round.
During practice he was looking stronger than anyone, he proved this in qualifying with a run of 95.17 on his first attempt.
He maintained first place as the majority of the drivers completed both of their runs, he didn’t need to go out and do anything crazy on his second qualifying run. Fortunately for the crowd, that’s not who he is! He went out there and put in an amazing run, tagging the walls with huge angle and plenty of speed. This earned a score of 98.67!
Championship leader, Duane McKeever, qualified second with a score of 95.00.
Keilan Woods always puts it all on the line, his second qualifying run scored 91.17 after hitting 94kph through the speed gun, 9kph faster than anyone.
The storms came after qualifying putting down enough water to flood the track and cause the battles to be delayed for a while as they cleared the track. Once it was clear we got the Sudden Death battles, the battle that made the biggest impact was Charlie Geary, a Semi-Pro driver, knocking out Dai Yoshihara. Both drivers spun on the first run as Dai was leading, Charlie then pulled away on his lead run.
The Top 16 battles would see Jack Shanahan knock out Richard Bradley in the tricky conditions, Richard spun on his lead run as the rounded the final corner.
The track was drying out as Brian Egan and Kevin Quinn battled, Kevin putting in a good performance in his freshly built S13. Brian pulled a huge gap on his lead run earning himself a place in the Great 8.
Keilan Woods and Paul McCarthy battled next, Keilan had an impressive first half of his lead run, tagging the walls before spinning out on the last corner.
John McCarthy and James Deane’s battle would see an unexpected early exit from competition for James. His chase run was possibly the best of the day, diving onto Johns door multiple times. On his lead run he put the RX7 on the walls in the first half of the run before the engine failed coming onto the fourth wall. He hit the wall hard as the car caught fire, the marshals were quick to react, putting the fire out before any substantial damage to the car could happen.
A brief clean up followed to ensure that no oil remained on the final corner before the battles resumed.
Duane Mckeever knocked out a struggling Peden Nielson who had been filling his car with water after every run due to the head gasket failing.
Jack Shanahan would pull away from Darren Coates in the Great 8 battles, giving him an early advantage. They swapped over and Jack showed a perfect example of how to chase, maintaining great proximity even when Darren hit the wall.
Mike Fitz had a great battle with John McCarthy, putting his RX7 on the door of John’s BMW. Mike then put the power down on his lead run but it wasn’t enough to take the win this time. A One More Time was called where Mike made big contact with the wall on his chase run, it was enough for John to go through to the final four.
Tomas Kiely and Duane McKeever battled for the final place in the final four, a 16 year old vs a previous champion. Duane led Tomas first, an impressive performance from both drivers followed up until the fourth wall run where Tomas spun.
Jack Shanahan and Paul McCarthy battled for a place in the final, Paul kept with Jack through his lead run. They swapped over, Jack then took his chase run to another level pushing Paul through the course, it was enough for Jack to go through to the final.
John McCarthy and Duane McKeever battled to decide who would join Jack Shanahan in the final with Duane leading first. He came in fast through the first couple of clips, John made an error at clip 3 straightening the car causing it to hit the end of the next wall finishing his weekend.
The final between Jack Shanahan and Duane McKeever was shaping up to be the highlight of the weekend. Jack led first but made an error after the first clipping point, straightening in front of Duane.
It would be difficult to take the win after that mistake but it didn’t stop Jack from giving it his all during his chase run. Jack made contact with Duane through clip two and continued to follow closely throughout the rest of the run.
Duane Mckeever took the top step of the podium with Jack Shanahan in second, followed by Paul McCarthy in third.
If you want to see the Irish Drift Championship for yourself, get along to Global Warfare at Mondello Park on the 2nd & 3rd of July. Until then enjoy a few more images from the event.
