Hi everyone! Round one of DMCC has just passed and I'm very happy to say we finished in 3rd place!
This was our first official competition in our freshly built Scion FR-S, and the car proved to be very competitive! All those long hours in the shop and improvements we made on the new car over the off-season were well worth the effort!
The event took place at Sanair raceway. It’s a track that I have had some rough times at so I was hoping to redeem myself with a strong finish. We went into this round with 2 test days under our belt and I was feeling very comfortable and confident with the car. The power of the 2JZ engine was like nothing I had ever felt in a drift car and our steering/suspension setup was better than any car I had ever drifted.
In our first lap out in practice, the FR-S developed a weird noise coming from the back end of the car. We tracked it down to the differential, so my crew replaced it with the spare diff that we brought, but by the time we were done that, the first practice session was over. Going into practice session 2 we knew there wasn't much time to mess about, so we settled on a setup I liked and focused on nailing down the line.
Qualifying time. I went into my first lap of qualifying with the mindset that I would take a safe run and go really hard on the second lap. So I did my run, hit all the clips and overall pulled out a really good lap! I knew my next lap out I could get a little better, but my spotter informed me that DMCC locks in the top 8, and that we had qualified 3rd! So there was no need to do a second lap.
For my first battle of the top 16 I was to go against newcomer to DMCC, Bass Gauthier. I was to lead first, laid down a good lap placing the car in all the right spots with lots of speed, angle and smoke. Gauthier ran a shallow line and was straight a few times so we had the advantage. During my follow lap Gauthier caught me a little off guard. We entered the first corner and Gauthier basically avoided all of the outer zones and picked the fastest way through the track. By the end he had gaped me by about 5 car lengths. The judges saw all of that and awarded me the win!
In the top 8 we were to go against Jonathan Guitard. He has a powerful car and is a decent driver so we knew it was going to be a fight. I led first and laid down a good lap placing the car just where it needed to be. Guitard stuck with me for most of the run, so I knew I was going to have to push on my follow lap to get the win, and push I did! I stuck with Guitard all the way around the course and was awarded the win.
In the top 8 we matched up against Jeff Laflamme. Jeff and I have had some strong, tough battles over the years and this one was going to be no different. Jeff led first, I made a small mistake on entry behind him but otherwise stuck with him all the way around the track. On my lead, Jeff stuck close with me, and the judges couldn't decide a winner so they called a "One More Time". We went at it again and pretty much ran the same 2 laps as before. So again the judges called for a "One More Time". This was the final time we would go and the judges would have to decide a winner. I ran two very clean laps pushing the FR-S as hard as I could, but in the end, the Judges awarded Jeff the win. After the event I spoke with the judges, they had said the battles were very close, and that it came down to some very small factors to give Jeff the win. On a positive note though it was a very good stress test on the FR-S to do 6 laps like that, we had no overheating issues and the car pulled through just fine! All of the fans there said that our runs were the best battles of the day!
After all that we still had to battle for a podium position against Francis Tassé. I was to lead first, I ran a great lap and Tassé was nowhere to be seen. Turns out his car broke and he had to forfeit his second run, so we were given the win and awarded with 3rd place!
Overall it was a great event! We still have some fine-tuning of the suspension to do, and I'm still learning what the car is fully capable off, but overall it was a great start to the season! I'm really feeling at one with this new car and am looking forward to the rest of the season! The fans also seemed to really like the new car too! If you search #DMCC in Instagram, about half the post on there from fans involve my Scion FR-S!
Up next for us is Formula Drift Pro2 in Florida. Really looking forward to seeing how we stack up again some of the best in the world!
Thanks so much for the support!
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