silveR_S12
Spectator
The first round of Finnish Pro Drifting Association's series took place last Saturday at Motopark in the eastern part of the country. The fast flowing 3rd and 4th gear track was a tough challenge for a season opener but the level of drifting was again better than ever before in the country and the judging criteria had to be pushed yet further to find a winner. Here's a quick run through of who did good and some other interesting stuff.
Winner, again, Riku Ranne in his Cosworth powered Ford Escort Mk2. This dude has got a dream start to his first pro season with victories from both the pre-season D1UG event and now the first points round of FPDA. The win didn't come easy though, as Riku was only able to qualify 10th overall due to big suspension issues early in the day and therefore faced tough opponents throughout the top16.
Here you can see him shadowing qualifying #2 Mikko Viitala's supercharged M5-powered Opel Kadett in the top8.
Second place finisher Janne Veikkanen must have surprised everyone except himself with his performance on the day. A HUGE improvement in his drifting quality couldn't have come at a better time and Janne powered his S14 Silvia through the top16 field all the way to the finals.
Third place went to Tapio Murtoo. His Skyline R33 has gone through some evolution during the winter, and the looks obviously aren't meant to please everyone. There's nothing about the car that can't be described with the word "insane" though, and that includes the driver. The engine in this LHD converted "Skydillac" is a Procharger boosted LS2 V8.
New cars in the series includes this 1JZ-powered Lexus IS200 of Marko Kivi.
Another fresh face was Kenny Virtanen with his supercharged Mustang. Kenny was able to take 6th place in the qualifying but was eliminated in the top8 of the finals.
Some of you might remember Jaakko Raitanen's TransAm from the previous event's coverage. It wasn't his day this time as he was eliminated in the top16 already. His driving was still rather spectacular at times. (sorry for the big image).
I'll be posting some videos when they start coming out.
Winner, again, Riku Ranne in his Cosworth powered Ford Escort Mk2. This dude has got a dream start to his first pro season with victories from both the pre-season D1UG event and now the first points round of FPDA. The win didn't come easy though, as Riku was only able to qualify 10th overall due to big suspension issues early in the day and therefore faced tough opponents throughout the top16.
Here you can see him shadowing qualifying #2 Mikko Viitala's supercharged M5-powered Opel Kadett in the top8.
Second place finisher Janne Veikkanen must have surprised everyone except himself with his performance on the day. A HUGE improvement in his drifting quality couldn't have come at a better time and Janne powered his S14 Silvia through the top16 field all the way to the finals.
Third place went to Tapio Murtoo. His Skyline R33 has gone through some evolution during the winter, and the looks obviously aren't meant to please everyone. There's nothing about the car that can't be described with the word "insane" though, and that includes the driver. The engine in this LHD converted "Skydillac" is a Procharger boosted LS2 V8.
New cars in the series includes this 1JZ-powered Lexus IS200 of Marko Kivi.
Another fresh face was Kenny Virtanen with his supercharged Mustang. Kenny was able to take 6th place in the qualifying but was eliminated in the top8 of the finals.
Some of you might remember Jaakko Raitanen's TransAm from the previous event's coverage. It wasn't his day this time as he was eliminated in the top16 already. His driving was still rather spectacular at times. (sorry for the big image).
I'll be posting some videos when they start coming out.
