VIP Formula Drift Singapore Day 2

VIP Formula Drift Singapore's final day kicked off under a hot sun and hopefully stayed sunny all along, preventing the wet fiasco of the qualifying sessions.

From the moment the track opened, the drivers eagerly lined up to get as much practice time on the dry track as possible, but also to experience their competitors' skills as this time they were allowed to train in tandem. The dry track allowed the drivers to express their skills with clouds of tyre smoke to the enjoyment of the crowds that filled the grandstands and walkabout areas.

Team GT Radial's five qualified drivers were back to ripping the asphalt and the atmosphere in the pits was electrifying as more last minute tweaking and some eventual fixing had to be done with every practice round. As usual, drivers from different teams were sympathizing, sharing thoughts and giving each other advices on their performances, but much more attention was paid to the drifting skills of the ones practicing on the track, each team analyzing the styles, speeds and angles of the others to see how to outshine them in the next three phases of the competition: the Sweet 16 followed by the Top Eight which inevitably led to the Final Four and the podium.

The fierce tyre-burning competition pushed both drivers and cars to the limit, and some inevitable rubbing action had the mechanics in the pits rushing to repair damages on the cars, such as Kohkae's Cefiro which needed a quick radiator replacement after hitting another competitor's car.

On a side note, one aspect of Formula Drift that I really enjoy is the friendly atmosphere between the teams and drivers, where everything is shared, from advices to apologies in case of crash. This is something that is being lost in quite a few motorsports disciplines as drivers get too caught up in the competition. All I hope is that drifting will stay a fun sport in the future, keep it up drifters!

At the end of the round of 32, the organizers called for the public's attention to the jumbo-tron for a lucky draw. The winner's name appeared and Ms. Grace Tay made her way to the centre of the track to receive her prize. This is when her boyfriend, local drifter part of Team Stamford Tyres, Adam Toh who couldn't compete for this season of Formula Drift as his car wasn't ready, arrived at the wheel of his Nissan ER34 Skyline and burned the asphalt around her before alighting and, in front of the crowd, dropped a knee and proposed to her. Under the cheers of the grandstands, the engaged couple then headed off in a plume of tyre smoke. Congratulations to Adam and Grace, who totally stole the show on this day!

After the break, the competition got back in gear, and the number of drivers kept on being thinned with every passing round, and when the smoke cleared, four men were still standing: Team SPARK Motorsports's Daigo Sato and Ken Gushi, Team M150's Saranon Pornpatanarak and LTM Bridgestone's Ivan Lau.

The duel for third and fourth place pitted Ivan Lau in his AE85 with Ken Gushi and his Chaser. Ivan's skills, which propelled him to the Final Four club, were unfortunately no match to Ken's amazing performance which had the American claim the third step of the podium before the cheering crowd could enjoy the run for the gold that opposed Saranon to Daigo. 

“Ken had a slow start”, stated Ivan Lau after his run, ”and I came in too hot in the straight. I slowed down on the first clipping and missed a gear. I had to then upshift to fourth – that mistake cost me the third place today.”

The first run had the Thai driver leading, but he couldn't shake away from the Altezza, which seemed to stick to him like his shadow, never more than a few meters away. When his time came to lead, Daigo Sato left the S15 Silvia eating the smoke of his tyres and created a gap that Saranon never managed to close, leaving the Thai drifter with the second place as the Japanese climbed to the top of the podium.

After receiving the title, Daigo shared: “Happy for the win as it is the first leg of the series, and I am happy to have gotten off to such a great start. It is amazing to be racing on an F1 circuit and the crowd really got behind Formula Drift. It was an encouraging victory, considering that none of them have competed in Singapore before. I am planning on keeping up my performance for the whole series this year with the Spark Motorsport team.”

With Daigo Sato finishing first and Ken Gushi third, Team SPARK Motorsports claimed the Team Title for this leg of the Formula Drift ASEAN Series with 183 points, a title that will be contested during the next three rounds of the series by the other teams during Formula Drift Indonesia in October, Thailand in November and the finale in Malaysia in December.

Enjoy the gallery!