Ivan Lau claims Goodyear International Drift series' R2

2011-08-04 19:56:59 Author: admin Source:

The Goodyear International Drift Series(GIDS) held at the Melaka International Motorsports circuit (MIMC) over the weekend kicked off Round 2 of the inaugural Formula Drift Asia feeder series. Following the first round at Putrajaya last month, the GIDS has been scheduled for three rounds to run its course to support the upcoming Formula Drift Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

Having finished second last time out in Putrajaya, Ivan Lau made it stick at the MIMC this time around with a dominant final battle win against fellow Bridgestone drifter Tan Tat Wei. In the third and fourth placing tandem, Team Goodyear Malaysia's Ariff Johanis came through with the final podium spot, producing two determined drives to beat crowd favorite and the 'Prince of Drift' Tengku Djan Ley.

The GIDS brought out the very best of Malaysian and neighboring countries' drifters, featuring the likes of  Rocker Low, Ng Chun Lai, Mervyn Nakamura, Team Goodyear Singapore's Ivan Lim and GT Radial Indonesia's Renaldi Arinton. Team Goodyear Malaysia was again well represented by its familiar drivers' line-up of Ariff Johanis, Jane Azrina, Hanizam Hamzah and Michael Gan.

As drift enthusiasts and fans poured into the MIMC grandstands and along the hillside by afternoon, the qualifying session got underway to see who are the best 16 of 40 drifters to make the cut. Two groups were accounted for and each drifter had a couple of runs to score maximum points to move into the top-16 stage. The MIMC was deemed a fairly new circuit to most drifters as they remained cautious in their first runs. Only on the second run, the drifters were at their comfort zone to pound the track with exhilarating action, power slides and hitting the clipping points.

Following an hour and a half of non-stop qualifying action, the top 16 drifters were declared, and Team Goodyear Malaysia drifters all qualified, saved Jane Azrina. The favorites Tengku Djan, Tat Wei, Lau, Fazreen Ismail, Johanis topped of the qualifiers' list, with Djan leading the troupe on 91 points. They were joined in the sweet sixteen by Lim Chee Leong, Lim Zee King, Nakamura, Ng Chun Lai, Mohd Zaiham, Lim, Hanizam, Gan, Zul Ipoh and Chester Lim.

Prior to the start of the sweet sixteen tandem battles, the runners promptly drove their mean machines round the track and stopped in front of the grandstands to greet the fans. Gametime soon resumed as the competitors rolled out to assume positions on the starting grid with the first fixture between Djan and Chee Leong. Djan virtually took command from the get-go, leaving Chee Leong in the wake of the dust from his S13. The 'Prince of Drift' would go through to the top eight stage.

Next up it was Gan against Zee King, King was no match to Gan's experience as the Team Goodyear Malaysia drifter dispatched him for the next stage. However, moments later, Gan's A31 developed a clutch problem and was forced to retire from the competition. King would go through and face Djan in the great eight stage.        

Elsewhere, Nakamura had no problems with Chun Lai, while Tat Wei easily sent Zaiham packing. In the second group, Hanizam lost out to Fazreen in a double 'One More Time (OMT)' session. Both drifters on a similar A31 were fighting end-to-end in three close call sessions, but in the end Fazreen had a marginal favor from the judges. Ivan Lau then quickly disintegrated his opponent Renaldi Arinton, while Ivan Lim did a similar clinic on underdog Zul Ipoh. Johanis held on for the final spot in the great eight stage with a convincing win against Chester.

And the Great 8 tandems were set, it would be Djan versus King, Nakamura taking on Tat Wei, Ivan Lau facing off with Fazreen and Johanis up against Ivan Lim. Interestingly, there were no surprises in the great eight tandems with Djan, Tat Wei, Ivan Lau and Johanis all winning their respective battles for the final four.

The final four tandems witnessed some of the most exciting drifts and powerplays between the top four drifters throughout the GIDS Round 2. The first run of the Djan-Tat Wei square-off, Djan pulled an impressive slide and almost impossible drifting maneuvers to gain an advantage on Tat wei. Tat wei answered back in the second run with his own mad drifting skills. The two had finish their runs and awaited the judges' decision, and eventually Tat wei was declared the winner.

In the other tandem, Ariff and Ivan Lau would face each other on a rather rare occasion. Ivan, who's currently in top form, proved too much for Johanis as the Team Goodyear Malaysia man had to yield, especially in their second run where Johanis clearly made some mistakes. So, it would be Tat wei and Ivan Lau for the RM10,000 prize money and GIDS Rd2 champ title, and Johanis and Djan for the final consolation prize.   

The 3rd placing Johanis-Djan tandem saw Djan pulled off an impressive first stint to obtain a slight advantage, but Johanis, also on an S13, had an encouraging run to match the Fed.D drifer. But, in the final run, Johanis led and the Team Goodyear Malaysia man drifted intelligently, forcing Djan wide off the gravel and then sprinting to the line for the victory. Meanwhile, Djan's car had hit the tyre barriers and had to be parked on the gravel, not the most prolific outing for the perennial top drifter of Malaysia.

The Ivan-Tat wei tandem had less action with Ivan Lau pretty much running the show and Tat wei becoming an on-looker. At the end of it all, Ivan Lau received RM10,000, Tat wei took home RM6,000 and Johanis deposited RM3,000. In addition, all three drifters got a set of Goodyear Asymmetric tyres.