As the Irish Drift Championship season drew to a close at Mondello Park last weekend there was elation in the Maxxis sponsored Team Japspeed camp as Shane O’Sullivan captured second place overall in the 2013 championship. It hasn’t been an easy ride for Sully this year but, thanks in part to his fantastic results at the first two rounds, he managed to stay within the top three of the championship standings all year.

The final round of the series took the drivers to the ever‐popular Mondello circuit just outside of Dublin, the same venue that hosted round 1 of the series in which Sully took home third place. Hoping for a repeat result, Shane arrived at the circuit on the Friday in order to get some practice in.

Sully wasn’t to be the sole Team Japspeed driver competing in the event either, as his team mate and fellow Irishman Shane Lynch had also made the trip over from the UK along with the Japspeed VH45 powered S15.

Sunday would see the competition run alongside Mondello’s annual Japfest event – the perfect opportunity to show thousands of Irish spectators what drifting is all about! While the day kicked off under cloudy skies and on a very wet track surface it soon cleared up and started to dry out, much to everyone’s delight. The drivers went straight into qualifying, with just a handful of runs available to each of them in order to try and secure a top 16 position that would see them go through to the battles. Sully was on form and was laying down rubber at a blistering pace, with the judges being particularly impressed with his high entry speeds and committed initiations.

Shane was also enjoying a successful qualifying session, with the end result being 14th and a place in the battles. On the other hand, a very relieved Sully found himself securing second place in the qualifying rankings, a much‐deserved result for his hard charging.

Unlike the BDC, the Irish Drift Championship features a Super Lap competition prior to the battles – the drivers get just one chance to put in a blistering lap that will decide their rankings going into the top 16. Both Japspeed drivers were on form and laid down a brace of incredible runs, with Sully securing first place (scoring 28 points out of a possible 30) and Shane grabbing 8th.

The top 16 soon took to the track to get the battles underway, with Sully’s first opponent being Stiggy Evans in his infamous Starlet. Shane stormed away in his lead run with Stiggy eventually spinning, and with the roles reserved Stiggy was unable to shake the determined Irishman. We were through to the top 8!

Shane Lynch’s first battle saw him drawn against WKD Imports’ Barry Leonard. The two were inseparable for the first few battles, with the judges deeming a One More Time necessary. It wasn’t until the third One More Time that Shane made a mistake as he straightened coming onto the final straight, a massive shame considering he’d had the run in the bag up until that point! Barry was through to the Top 8 and it was unfortunately the end of the road for Shane.

As luck would have it (or a lack of luck depending on how you look at it!) Sully found himself drawn against Barry in the Top 8. With the crowd vying for high speed action and more close quarter battles the drivers set off towards the first corer with anticipation running high.
Unfortunately the tension was short lived as Shane’s differential let go right at the start, leaving his S15 undriftable and out of contention.
While it may have been a slightly disappointing end to the day, the team were overwhelmed with Sully’s overall position in the final championship standings in what has been a hugely competitive season!