Round 2 of the British Drift Championship headed north of the border and into Scotland but not to its almost traditional round at Knockhill, this time it was over to Driftland for the first professional competition event at the track.
If you have been hiding under a rock for the past couple of years then we will bring you upto speed. Driftland is the only purpose built drift track in the UK with multiple layouts available at any time, its played host to the Driftland Bash and has attracted some world renowned drifters such as Ryan Tuerck and Luke Fink.
The track layout for this weekend had the drivers leave the start line with a long run down to the first clip, a flick initiation onto a wall run before running the outside line through clip two.
The track narrowed and tightened toward the end of the long corner with clip three on the outside edge of the track, the gravel was waiting for anyone running wide here.
Clip four forced the drivers onto an outside line as the track tightened into a hairpin before then transitioned to the left and onto clip five.
A wide line was then required to make it out to clip six, located on the wall again.
The Pro-Am class kicked off the action on Saturday with their practice session in the morning, a dry track gave the drivers plenty of time to get used to the layout with the runs getting faster, bigger angles and smokier as the session went on.
Conner Shanahan had become the focus for a lot of people as he was making his debut in the British Drift Championship at this round, his older brother Jack had set the expectation high but would Conner live up to it?
In the practice session he quickly proved that he was able to consistently link the track, he was relaxed as the drivers lined up for qualifying.
His qualifying runs were spot on, resulting in second place.
Another youngster, Ryan Caldwell, would take the top spot.
The battles would see the focus shift away from the usual drivers of Ben Manual and Matt Walker as other drivers really shone through this time. Matt Denham was looking strong on his chase runs throughout the battles.
Top qualifier, Ryan Caldwell, got knocked out of the battles and didn’t continue his good form through to a podium place.
Richard McCourt had qualified well in 5th but was knocked out by Brad Wallbank in his backup E36 after a One More Time.
As the battles progressed it would end up with Steve Will, Conner Shanahan, Matt Denham and Scott Cartledge in the final four.
Steve Will took a spot in the final after beating Scott Cartledge, he would be joined by Matt Denham after he beat Conner Shanahan.
Conner would go on to take the third place step on the podium leaving the final battle left to decide the remaining places.
Steve Will pedalled his E36 well around the tight track to take the win over Matt Denham, a great result on his return to the championship.
The drivers took the chance to celebrate on the podium before they would have to prepare their cars for competition the following day against the Pro class.
The Pro class took to the track for their Practice session early on Sunday morning, it wasn’t long before these drivers got the line around the track and soon increased the speed and angle.
It was looking to be a great day of competition for this class.
Marc Huxley would be looking for a strong weekend to maintain his lead of the championship but there were so many other drivers looking to take that place away from him.
Jack Shanahan was pushing hard to recover from a difficult time at Round 1 with him not getting the result he wanted, would it be different this time?
In qualifying Jack showed his skill, talent and determination to put in a 90+ run on his first attempt, nobody managed to challenge him on their attempts. A good start to the competition for Jack!
Marc Huxley had qualified second with Mike Marshall in third.
Marc Huxley would make an uncharacteristic spin in the Top 16 against Wayne Keeber, the track conditions had changed and he misjudged the grip levels. It would result in an early exit from the competition and put Wayne through to the Top 8.
As the battles went on it soon became clear that the Top 4 would be Jack Shanahan, Matt Carter, Gary Dunne and Simon Perry.
Simon and Gary had both been consistent throughout the day but Gary would managed to take the third step on the podium.
Matt Carter and Jack Shanahan battled for the final with Jack emerging victorious, taking the top step of the podium and the championship lead.
The drivers celebrated their results on the podium, it had been a great weekend for shaking up the championship order and a great one for the Shanahans.
Keep following the championship to find out if they can get both championship class wins this season.
