June 26th
The Big Smoke-Wimbledon Raceway London-Results
Juha Rintanen Takes the win and the championship lead
After 4 years at the now world renowned Wembley street drift circuit a change of venue left an few people questioning the venue change. Little did people think the London event would be bigger then ever despite the Olympics next month and European football games on the same day..
Round 2-The big Smoke London had an amazing turnout , and with such a demand on tickets an additional grandstand had to be opened to meet capacity at the venue. Again online media was huge and the class leading livestream from the event went down a treat with fans tuning in from all around the world! Over the duration of the day the channel reached 40,000 impressions and reached peak viewership in Finland following fellow countryman Juha Rintanen.
The event kicked of mid day with many upsets already in store. A last minute change of car from Luke fink wopuld mean he was behind the wheel of the Burton power Starlet.Phil Morrison would miss the event due to mechanical issues in testing during the week and the biggest news of all Dan Chapman was back in the LBD Achilles tire Nissan V8.2011 Champion James Deane would return after his round 1 mechanical problem.
Right out of the box it was Luke Fink who laid down the standard in Qualifying taking P1 in qualifying with an amazing run, running the whole wall and in the process taking the wing of the car.
Nigel Colfer in the Marangoni Tire Nissan S13 would take P2 after some big changes in the car after round 1. 2011 Champion James Deane took 3rd after another wall scraping display and taking some of the trackside branding with him around the track.
Walton smith in the Jap Performance Subaru would fail to qualify after swapping cars just before qualifying meaning he would lose quite a few points in the championship chase.
First up was Luke Fink against Nathan Chivers. Chivers went in a bit too hot in his second run and tagged the wall sending him into and spin resulting in a big shunt and collecting fink in the incident. Later it would be announced Fink had to retire after the car was irrepairable after the damage.
Another big upset was Dan Chapman being knocked out by local hero Matt Chiappa.Dan not used to the power and grip of the new Achilles Tire Radial S13.A slight Mistake from Chapman would send him home early.
James Deane and Peter Green also had a very close battle and it was James who progressed in his Full Stop Auto/Falken Tire Mazda FD RX7 after a very close battle
Rintanen beat Brad Mcqueen a=in a pretty straight forward battle after the power of his Achilles Tires S14 had too much for local driver Brad McQueen
Martin Richards in the Altenzo Tire/Pure Performance had a very close battle with Pete Barber in the Aero-kit Toyo Tire Nissan S14.Petes vast experience on this tight circuit would show through after a very close battle between the two.
Another local driver Gavin Cummings would defeat Spanish Champion Louis Lopez after a small mistake in the top 16.After qualifying so high Lopez was very disappointed with his mistake and missing his place in the great 8.
Nigel Colfer and Alan Sinnot would also march forward to the great 8 after strong battles with Shawn Spitteri from Malta and Steve Evans having to retire after his Car being retired.
Great 8 Battles
Battle of the Night seemed to come down between 2011 Irish Champion Alan Sinnot ans 2011 Drift Allstars European Champion James Deane. Both good friends knowing each other very wel and each others driving styles.
This battle would go again and again until after several one more times Alan Sinnot in His Nexen Tire AE86 Corrola would take the win over the Falken Tire Mazda RX7 of James Deane
Pete Barber would get a by – run after both Chivers and Finks car both did not get fixed in time for the later battles.
Juha Rintanen would take an easy win over Gavin Cummings after Gavin the local driver had a steering problem in the second run.
Nigel Colfer would have to tackle Matt Chiappa in the final great 8 battle. Both hungry for there best results of the season, but it was Colfer in his marangoni tire Nissan S13 that would march forward to the final 4
Final 4
In the first Semi final of the final 4 it was Juha Rintanen hungry to claim his first final of the year.Rintanen would have far too much speed and power for Pete barber to keep up. In the end Rintanen would progress to the final in the Achilles tire/LBD Nissan S14
In another all Irish semi final Alan Sinnot championship leader would face off against Nigel Colfer.Nexen Tire Vs Marangoni Tire. After a numerous very close runs between the two it was nigel who found the xtra speed which was the deciding factor in taking the win
Final
In the final it was evident this was going to be a very tough battle.Juha the fly finn a new driver in the series and Colfer a seasoned driver after finishing second in 2012. In the first run it was Colfer who led and pulled a significant lead but towards the end of the run the Flying finn rintanen pulled a gap back.
Juha would lead in the final run and put it all on the line running wide line and carrying as much speed as possible in the Achilles tires Nissan S14.
As the championship moves on to the next stop at Punchestown Raceway in Ireland can Rintanen carry his momentum with the Achilles Tire /LBD team and face off against the tough Irish drivers on home soil.
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