As the lights go down and the track cools off from the 2024 Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge, out come the sideways superstars. The Garrett Advancing Motion International Drifting Cup promising screaming engines, trashed tyres, and the very best door-to-door driving artists battling as one of the strongest drift fields ever seen on Australian soil.
This year we are using the popular "Cup" format with 4 pools of 6 pre-seeded drivers. The drivers earn 2 points for a win, 1 for a tie and 0 for a loss as they try and build a score to qualify for the Top 8 Elimination battles. Wins matter and can be a tie-breaker, so there is no holding back, and there's no single passes here: it's all head-to-head.
ALL your favourite drivers are guaranteed multiple battle opportunities which maximises, the time you’ll see them in action. A normal drift event is usually 5 battles to win but, to grab the trophy here, a driver might need to win up to 8 times!
Here are the pools (correct at time of publishing) so that you can keep an eye on who your favourite drivers are up against. Each pool should see everyone battle time allowing:
Pool A- Luke Veersma (defending champion), Kase Pullen-Burry (D1NZ Champion), Saxon Moyes, Roger I’anson, Ben Meir, Angus Kidd
This pool shapes up as the battle of the young guns with Luke, Kase and Saxon all born in the 2000s and representing a new breed of driver coming through. Don’t sleep on I’anson , Meir or Kidd though, all of whom have had regional event podium results.
Pool B - Matt Harvey (2023 runner-up) , Daigo Saito (multiple international event winner) , Shaun Potroz (NZ) , Ben Barnes, Alex Sciacca , Matt Grice
Daigo Saito is a global benchmark for all drifters and there isn’t a single driver in this group who wouldn’t be targeting a win over him to call the event a success. Matt Harvey will want to go one better than 2023 while the other drivers are all just waiting to make a name on the big stage.
Pool C- Masashi Yokoi (Japan) , Brad Tuohy ('22 winner), Rob Whyte, Jaron Olivecrona (NZ), Brendan ‘Bogga’ O’grady, Michael Ginn
A D1GP champion, a WTAC champion and an Australian champion is enticing enough before you add in the madness of Bogga and Jaron who are often the highest HP cars in their respective competitions at 1300+ and Ginns JDM style machine. This is probably the most unpredictable of all the pools.
Pool D- Brodie Maher (Australian Champ) , Mad Mike Whiddett ( NZ- FD Japan Champ) , Matty Hill. Mitchell Jeffery, Ben Odgers, Flash Smith.
Fast, frantic and very specific style are the hallmarks of this pool. The blazing Brodie Maher comes in with near 500hp per-litre and faces the competition debut of Mad Mike in the 1400hp bullet Mazda 3 Pikes Peak car. Matty Hill knows what it takes to win and has qualified #1 here before while Jeffrey, Odgers and Smith will relish the chance to grab a big name scalp.
GO AHEAD and try and pick a top 8: we bet you can’t as we couldn’t agree in the office. The hottest and most stressful seat in the house will the judges'. We’d suggest you grab your favourite spot on the hill or settle in at home on the couch with the Bosch Motorsports Livestream for what promises to be some of the best door-to-door side-winding action you’ll ever see.
Comments