Deane machine drifts to victory
After a gruelling two days of false starts, crashes and things catching fire, a Cork driver has been crowned King of Riga at the 2020 Drift Masters European Championship (DMEC).
Mallow man James Deane had his work cut out for him when he went head to head with some of Europe’s most talented drivers last weekend, including two fellow Cork men, brothers Conor and Jack Shanahan.
The infamous Bikernieki Circuit in Riga, Latvia, was the scene for this year’s DMEC which, due to Covid-19, had to be curtailed to a single event.
Saturday started with Polish racer Piotr Wiecek as the competition favourite after he qualified in first place on Friday with an impressive 94-point run.
Wiecek reached the final after defeating fellow Polish driver Adam Zaleski, while Deane faced off against compatriot Jack Shanahan to secure his own place in the final.
The final was a hard-fought ordeal, but the Mallow man took his chances and secured the win, while Jack took the third place playoff when Zaleski damaged his car and was unable to continue.
One of the rising stars in the drifting world, Corkman Conor Shanahan, had a tough day in Riga, failing to perform to his usually high standards.
However, the youngster said he was looking forward to 2021.
“To be honest I wasn’t that confident and I pushed a bit too hard. These things happen and we will come back stronger in 2021. I know I’m good enough to beat the top guys out here,” said Shanahan.
The DMEC is one of the world’s most high-profile drifting competitions and has been attracting athletes from across the globe since its inception in 2014.
Since then the competition has evolved from a three-round series on a small, custom built circuit, to a continent-spanning championship with six large-scale events each year.
This year’s event was broadcast live on Red Bull TV who offered in-depth coverage including on-screen graphics displaying speed, drift angle and the proximity of cars to each other.
To create this innovative viewing experience, all parts of the track and all cars were laser-measured to create virtual versions counterparts which are then tracked in “data-crunching” software using tags on the moving cars.
Roughly 1,700 metres of fibre cable, 350 metres of power cable and 3,280 metres of ethernet cable were installed along the track in preparation for the competition.