Global Warfare has been the mid-season highlight of the Irish Drift Championship for a few years, this year would be no different with a fast, no compromise track. The Irish Drivers would also have the added difficulty of having to defend their undefeated streak as the Drift Allstars drivers were here to take it away from them.
The track layout for this round was the same as round 1 with a few modifications to the clipping points, this resulted in the drivers getting to grips with the layout very quickly despite the wet surface from some early morning rain.
By the time the Semi-Pro class went out for qualifying the track had dried out so the drivers had no reason not to give it their all.
At the end of qualifying it was Lee Scott that topped the tables.
The afternoon’s battles saw many close calls with everyone pushing hard to make it into the top 4 so that they could go through and compete against Europe’s best tomorrow with the Pro class.
Two of the IADC drivers had a great battle with Lee Scott and Mark McBurney showing that they have the skills to compete in the IDC.
In the semi finals Shamus Walsh would take on Paul Styker, a regular IDC driver known for his all out driving style. This time around Paul would be too aggressive on his lead run making contact with the wall, handing the place in the final to Shamus Walsh.
In the other semi final battle, Nigel Moody would battle Dan Moorhead, their first run would be a 10-0 advantage to Nigel as Dan spun early in the run. A safe run from Nigel on the second half of the battle would see him through to the final.
Dan Moorhead and Paul Styker then battled for third place and a chance to celebrate on the podium, Paul would pull away during his lead run and then keep good proximity to Dan as they swapped over, giving him the win.
The final battle saw Nigel Moody lead Shamus Walsh in on the first run, Shamus spun whilst chasing handing a 10-0 advantage to Nigel as they swapped over. On the lead run Shamus would drop wheels off the track securing the win for Nigel Moody.
The Pro class took to the track on Sunday with the IDC regulars showing how its done, it didn’t take long for the Drift Allstars drivers to push and find the limits of the track with the odd dirt drop and wall tap along the way.
The variety and standard of cars entered for this weekend was unbelievable!
Qualifying featured a couple of upsets with Steve Baggsy Biagioni and Aleksander Kantarovski both dropping out with car issues.
At the end of the session James Deane topped the table with a run scoring 96.5.
As the battles commenced it was looking to be a difficult day for everyone as there wasn’t an easy route to the final as Fredrik Sjodin found out early on as Brian Egan knocked him out of the competition.
Fredrik Oksnevad had a great battle against Piotr Wiecek, contact between them would see Fredrik continue through the battles, this would be the end of the day for the driver that many thought could take the win.
Andrius Vasilauskas managed to take out the championship leader, Duane Mckeever, during their battle, an aggressive set of runs would be too much for Duane to match.
Jack Shanahan had quietly bern sending his competitors home all day including Fredrik Oksnevad. Jack had a great chase run keeping it pinned to the door of Fredrik’s Toyota Soarer throughout the run.
In the semi final Andrius Vasilauskas battled James Deane, on their first run some contact was made and Andrius had to head to the pits where John Shanahan dived under the car to get it back on track. He would make it back out but James would still take the win going through to the final.
Jack Shanahan would battle Mike Fitz in the other semi final, His lead run was very strong putting the pressure on Mike during his lead run, it was too much to overcome as Mike spun half way through the run.
The battle for third place between Andrius Vasilauskas and Mike Fitz took place next, it was the last opportunity for a foreign driver to take a place on the podium. Andrius used all 1000HP+ to gain on Mike whilst chasing and as they swapped over it still looked to be a close battle, his lead run was also strong earning him that third place finish and a place on the podium.
The final battle would see the master, James Deane and his protégé, Jack Shanahan battle. They have battled many times but this time the win was on the line, Jack was a few minutes away from potentially taking his first win in Ireland. He left the line in the chase position for the first run of the battle, missing a gear on the run into the first corner and giving away the advantage as a large gap opened between the drivers.
As Jack swapped into the lead position he would pin the throttle and launch his S13 through turn one carrying a huge amount of speed, James tried to follow at the same speed but dropped two wheels at clip two, handing the win to Jack Shanahan.
It was a brilliant drive from Jack all day, he was ecstatic at taking his first win on home soil, surrounded by family and friends, beating Europe’s best drivers and his mentor in the final just made it even better.
That’s all from this round but enjoy some more photos from the event, Round 4, Watergrasshill is the next round that we will be bringing you.
