Race report: Round 6 of 2013 Hyundai Lateral Drift Championship

November 30 at Mega Tent Libis, Quezon City was the final Round 6 of the Hyundai Lateral Drift Championships, which made history again by being the first and longest drifting series in the country. Since 2006 drifting started in the Philippines, Lateral Drift Production has been in the forefront of this motorsport craze. This marks their 8^th year milestone for the production team and will continue to be stronger until year 2015 in partnership with Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. the distributors of Hyundai Cars here, as the title sponsor.

This year’s series brought the competition to another level. A credit to that is bringing in international judges from Japan. Kimihiro Obata and Hiromi Kajikuma, the drift couple and veterans from Formula D and D1 Gran Prix, were able to set the judging standard to an international level. All our local competitors gained much drifting knowledge from them. The competition showed much skill level and excitement from the drivers.

The Amateur division started the event first and AM championship leader Mark Bernardo of Team ConceptOne / Saffiro tires had his eyes on this year’s overall Amateur Championship. All he needed to do was to qualify the highest among his fellow competitors.  He clinched the amateur series and he did his best in qualifying as his cars ran perfectly the whole day. Overwhelmed that he already won the championship, he was satisfied even if he didn’t make it to the podium. In third place was Karr Montaner of team Turbo café, with Raoul Olbes of Team GMW in second place and the youngest drifter age, 16 year old Luis Gono of Team Autoplus / Motul taking first place.

In the Pros Division, championship leader Gio Rodriquez of Pilipinas Got Talent 4 and Team Atoycustoms who was also in a similar situation. Leading the whole entire season, he had a cushion overall the contenders. Defending Champion Alex Perez of Team Yellow Cab was so close to his points tally that either who qualifies well could win this year’s Pro Championship. At the end of qualifying, it was time to pass the torch to the new overall Pro Champion Gio Rodriguez. He displayed his high speed, on-the-edge drifting in front of everyone. Rodriguez finished in third place for Round 6, follow by Alex Perez in second place and John Boban of team DriftMOB in first place for round 6.

The 2013 Hyundai Lateral Drift Championship is powered by the Genesis Coupe and co-presented by Standard Insurance and Wave 89.1 FM. Other sponsors include AtoyCustoms, Concept One, Saffiro Tires, Dickies Clothing, DC Shoes, Barney’s Burger, Baby Got Watch, and Aguila Auto Glass, with media partners The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Motioncars.inquirer.net, Top Gear Philippines, Stoplight TV, Auto Review, Pinoy Extreme, Creator Studio, Gadgets Magazine, Kotse.com, TimeAttackManila.com, Power Wheels Magazine, Motorcycle Magazine, Sprocketph.com, The Manila Times, Daily Tribune, The Manila Bulletin, Philippine Star,  LegitManila, Turbo Zone GMA News TV, C! Magazine, Urbanpinas.com, and Racin’Beat.