After taking top spot in Qualifying yesterday, Irish native Jack Shanahan fought through an incredibly strong path of drivers today s he made his way to the final at Fallfors’ Drivercenter Arena AB circuit where, after a one more time (OMT) battle, he overcame good friend and fellow Irish driver Duane McKeever to take the win at the first ever Swedish Drift Masters European Championship event.
On his path to an incredible victory in Sweden, Shanahan would be forced to take down fan-favourite Finnish driver Ville Kaukonen at the Top 32 stage and Marco Zakouril at the Top 16 stage, before moving on to overcome another Finn in the form of Juha Rintanen at the Top 8 round of competition, setting up a mouth-watering battle with James Deane in the Top 4 to see who would make it to the final.
As we moved to find out who, of the two, would take their place in the final, Shanahan would simply prove too strong for Deane to cement his place in the final against McKeever, who he would overcome on the second time of trying to claim victory here in Fallfors.
Rounding out the Top 3 podium finishers would be Norwegian driver, Tor Arne Kvia after he overcame Irish driver, and one of the best drivers in the world, James Deane in today’s play-off battle, after a dramatic finish to the day for an emotional Kvia who was visibly delighted to take the final podium position having been plagued with mechanical issues on his way there.
With half of the 2022 Drift Masters European Championship season now in the books, the series switches focus to Round 4, which takes place at Latvia’s Bikernieku Trase Circuit in the country’s capital, Riga, on July 29th & 30th.
2022 DMEC driver standings (after 3 of 6 rounds)
Piotr Wiecek POL 245
Jack Shanahan IRL 232
Conor Shanahan IRL 212
James Deane IRL 196
Duane McKeever IRL 177
