VIP Formula Drift Singapore Day 1

Last week end, Formula Drift ASEAN Series was back for its fourth installment in Singapore with, as every year, new evolutions and rules to keep the sport fun and interesting, as seen during the pre-race press conference.

This year saw 44 drivers from all over Asia converge to the F1 Pits and set up shop to gun for the title. More than just the drivers, the teams were also making sure all went well for those representing them as the World's first Team Championship was just kicking off.

As I tagged along with Team GT Radial, I had the chance to sympathise with the team's six drivers: Jason Tan from Singapore, driving a pink S15 Silvia that graced the pages of Gordini's Pit Stop a few weeks ago, Ee Yoong Cherng from Malaysia and his awe-inspiring V8-powered R32, Muhammad Zaiham Hamdam a.k.a. Bullzai, also from Malaysia, drifting a mighty V8-swapped S15 Silvia, Josh Boettcher (JB), all the way from Australia, at the wheel of his S15 Silvia, Raden Muhammad Bachtiar Akbar, a.k.a. Dean, from Indonesia, drifting an E36, one of the only two conti cars in the competition, Rio Saputro also from Indonesia, driving a Cefiro, and last but not least Malaysian Kevin Rajoo and his 180SX.

The practice session kicked off on time and the usual dance of drifting and tweaking got into gear as the first batch of drivers experienced the course. The first feedback I got was that the track was quite tricky, with patches of grip followed by slippery zones, putting pressure both on the drivers and cars to keep angles high and damage low. 

As if things could not get harder for the drivers, a pack of dark grey clouds decided to join in on the drifting fun and interrupted the practice session with a concerto of lightning and heavy downpour. The frustrated teams had to take shelter in the pits as the track was being flooded and tried to kill time by tweaking the cars, fixing what needed to be fixed, changing tyres or proceeding to do any task that would kill time long enough to see the clouds finish their wet performance.

At long last, the clouds decided they had had their share of fun and the practice rounds were fired up again on an even more treacherous track that sent cars spinning out or sliding straight out of control. The wet asphalt, aside from being tricky to handle for the drivers was also stealing part of the show for the spectators who braved the bad weather as the tyres couldn't smoke properly.

Nevertheless, the drivers kept on giving their best and carried on to tackling the top 32 qualifying session. The wet track did not give in and refused to be tamed, keeping the qualifying scores low and a lot of drivers had to make the difficult choice between a conservative style that could potentially disqualify them or aggressive drifting that could send them spinning out, which also results in no points being awarded.

At the end of the session, only 31 drivers managed to handle the course well enough to earn points and carry on to the next level.

The three men that emerged on top of the qualifying were Tan Tat Wei and his Goodyear Malaysia rotary-powered AE86, Ivan Lau and his LTM Bridgestone AE86 and Team GT Radial's Ee Yoong Chern and his V8 R32.

Among the 28 other qualifiers were Team GT Radial's Bullzai, JB, Dean and Jason, who was also the only Singaporean to qualify in the top 31 this year.

VIP Formula Drift Singapore concluded the first day on these results, and all teams and drivers headed back for a well deserved sleep to be ready to tackle the exciting next and final day of competition.