James Deane takes third position in Drift Allstars European Series opener

14 June 2015
Essex Arena Raceway, London

This weekend saw Falken Motorsports driver and current European drift champion James Deane begin his 2015 Extreme Drift Allstars European Series campaign at the British Drift GP.
Drivers from all over the world converged upon London for this year’s inaugural event at Essex Arena Raceway, where the Drift Allstars team worked tirelessly to create a one-off custom drift track that would test the drivers to the best of their ability in front of a huge local crowd.
Straight out of the gate James was on-form during morning practice, hanging the rear wing of his 2JZ-powered Nissan S14 over the wall on the first clipping point and gently nudging his rear bumper against the metal guard rail on his very first run. Running Falken tyres, Deane performed near-flawless laps of the raceway, earning the respect and admiration of the crowd and securing third place in the rankings going into the top 16 battles.
After eliminating local driver Danny Grundy in the top 8, James faced Australian and former European champion Luke Fink in the semi finals. Despite fierce competition, the duo had never met before and the result was an unbelieveable pair of runs that wowed the crowd and the thousands tuned in around the world on livestream. Drifting around the track, inches apart, a slight bit of contact that dislodged James’ front bumper was enough for the judged to award Luke the win.
James then went on to face Finland’s Juha Pöytälaakso in the third-place playoff, securing the win with two aggressive runs and taking third place on the podium.
“After spending the off-season tweaking the car it’s great to be back in the fight to retain my European title,” commented James. “This was a tricky, technical and unforgiving circuit, but we got to grips with it quickly and I was pleased with my performance. The Falken tyres performed perfectly with high levels of grip. I pushed a bit too hard against Luke (Fink) but nonetheless it was a great event and it’s amazing to be on the podium again. A huge thank you to Falken Motorsport and all of my sponsors as well as all the fans here and back home that supported me on the livestream.”
James’ 2015 campaign now continues with a trip to Eskilstuna Motor Sport Arena in Gröndal on 4-5th July for the Swedish Drift GP.