Two out of two for Cypriot Multi-Champion Giorgos Christoforou, who proved that he has what it takes to chase the Drift Kings championship he lost last year.
During three days, June 9-11, we had the third race of the year for the Drift Kings International Series in France and, more specifically, at the Anneau du Rhin circuit with Drift Cup MSO. With 160 drivers registered, the show and the battles were on another level!
The design of the course made it difficult for almost all drivers as it had extremely high entry speeds, fast corners, very difficult open lines and extremely tight clip zones. A very demanding design that few drivers have managed to assimilate. Only two Drift Queens got a score in the qualification, while in Pro2, almost only French drivers got a score!
The program of the match started on Friday, 09 June at 16:00 with the briefing of the contestants by the judges. At 17:05, practice sessions were made for the Pro2 and Queen categories, followed by the practice session from the Pro category at 18:45. The day ended with another update from the judges on what they saw from the contestants and what they were asking of them in the competition.
On Saturday, the program started at 08:00 with practice sessions of the Pro2/Queen category and at 09:30, the Pro category took its turn. At 11:30, the judges were briefed on the single-graded passes, followed by a series of practice sessions from all categories to top off the day with the qualification session.
On Sunday, the last day of the race, the program started with a briefing from the judges on the tsuiso races. This was followed by tsuiso training by all the drivers who went through the qualification, and the day continued with the races, where the winners in all classes were announced.
In the pure racing section, starting with Pro class qualification, former Drift Kings champion Steve Leiber was amazing, taking first place with a score of 92 points and the highest speed of all at 182 kph. In second place was Giorgos Christoforou “ELA KOKO” with 89.20 points and an entry speed of 176 kph, clearly showing his intentions for the weekend. Gediminas Levickas completed the trio with 89 points and an entry speed of 160 kph.
In the Pro2 category, in first place with 82.6 points and an entry speed of 163 kph, we find Enzo Surace. In second place we find Peter Grimm with 79 points and an entry speed of 155 kph, while Dion Kajtazi completed the trio with 76.4 points and an entry speed of 172 kph, which was also the highest in the category!
In the Queen category, only two contestants got a score in their passes. Alena Renaude took first place with 74 points and an entry speed of 157 kph, and Mirella Vernacchia second with 52.6 points and an entry speed of 138 kph.
In the races starting from the Pro category, we saw the winner of the previous race Giorgos Christoforou “Ela Koko”, continue from where he left off in Serres. The Cypriot Multi-Champion and last year’s Drift Kings International Series runner-up was truly unstoppable, with an outstanding presence throughout the three-day event. He quickly eliminated Roger Strub, Steve Pasquier, Patrick Meyer and Anthony Rocci to reach the grand final. There he once again showed his class by beating the well-known talented Italian Massimo Checchin with his Subaru Impreza 2JZ, 10-0 and 5-5, to take first place.
In the small final, French Cedric Latcha and Anthony Rocci faced each other, with Cedric the final winner, who completed the podium!
In his statements, the winner of the competition, Giorgos Christoforou “Ela Koko”, told us: “First of all, I thank all Cypriot-Greeks for the hundreds of messages. It gives me great joy that they are happy with our victories abroad!! I think it is a huge success that will go down in history, a match that broke every previous record. A three-day event for drift lovers, in front of over 15,000 to 20,000 spectators, where we managed to win! Certainly, to get to the final, we had a perfect team where the slightest problem was fixed immediately so that we could do as much training as possible, as it was a very demanding track with a lot of kilometres. I have managed to beat the highest entry speed I got in 2017 in Serres with 172 kph, and in one of unofficial practice lap, I had a speed of 185 kph! I feel that all the efforts of my family and friends to build a car for Europe are justified and this is the best reward for us. We closed the gap we had with the leader of Drift Kings and now we are in the first place, and I hope to continue like this! Next race for us is on July 15-16 in Hungary on a track that does not forgive the slightest mistake. Again I would like to thank the people who follow our journey abroad, and I hope to make them proud, but an even bigger thank you goes to my sponsors!!! Texaco, Alcofilters, C.CRacing, P.Neofytou, BrandPerformance, Garrett, Turbosmart, Digital Signs, Poumbourides tires services, Vp Racing Fuels Cyprus, S.Kotzias Insurance”.
In the Pro2 category, we had some really incredible battles with the drivers providing a lot of spectacles, where Dylan Mougenot was a feast for the eyes after overcoming Jeremy Ducret, Alena Renaude and Gabriel Bernard to reach the grand final. His opponent was another excellent French driver Eric Girard, whom he beat in a Drift demonstration race. In the small final, Gabriel Bernard and Jerome Arribert faced each other, with Jerome and his BMW powered by dual GSXR1000 engines being the winner and completing the Pro2 podium.
Pro2 class winner Dylan Mougenot said: “It was a great and competitive race with a very high standard of drivers. From the qualification to the race, the battle on the track was tough, but I’m happy because I was able to put the stress aside and above all, I had a lot of fun on this very fast track in front of an enthusiastic crowd. I want to thank my wife and children, who follow me 100% in my passion and my father, who manages all the things you can’t see so I can drive”.
The next race for the Drift Kings International Series is scheduled for July 15-16 in Hungary at the Mariapocs circuit. In conclusion, we will remind you that a stunning new world record has been set at an international drift event, with a jaw-dropping 160 drivers revving their engines at the starting line. Unbeatable record? Well, we might break it in 2024; see you there, same place, same weekend with DRIFT CUP MSO
