In what can only be considered a great Race 1 for Kiwi drivers Chris van der Drift and Liam Sceats, both drivers managed to come home in the podium places after a busy race.
With Sceats and his co-driver Gustaw Wisniewski starting in fourth and van der Drift starting in fifth with Todd Kingsford, both cars held position in the first ten minutes. Sceats started the race and was applying heavy pressure to Titus Sherlock in third. This allowed van der Drift’s co-driver to get closer to the battle pack, with the gap under a second after ten minutes of racing.
After fifteen minutes of racing, Sceats sat third in the pro class and fourth overall, with van der Drift’s co driver Kingsford sitting second in the pro-am class and fifth overall. The leading duo of Seppanen and Pan held a three-second lead at the opening of the pit window, with thirty minutes of racing remaining.
Sceats and Kingsford were both able to get past Sherlock, which left them third and fourth overall. Sceats handed the car over to Wisniewski with twenty-five minutes to go, with van der Drift taking his car over soon after in a dash to the end.
Van der Drift was able to climb up to second after a huge stint with fifteen minutes to go, with some great side-to-side action. However, it didn’t take long for van der Drift to get past the lead driver and took the lead with twelve minutes to go.
At the same time, Sittiluck Buncharoen hit the barriers hard and beached his car, which brought out the race’s first safety car. It took considerable time to repair the fence line, and with the clock still ticking down, green flag racing recommenced with two minutes to go.
Van der Drift led the field back to green with two minutes to go, with Sceats’ co-driver in third. After some initial pressure, van der Drift was able to run away with the lead on the restart, bringing home his first victory in the first race of the season.
Sceats, in his debut race in the series, was rewarded with a second-place finish in the pro category. This left him as third place overall.
With both drivers clawing their way through the field, this shows good promise for Race 2, which kicks off at 6:00pm tomorrow night (NZST).
Header Image: Chris van der Drift
