Heading into the 4th round of the 2015 Irish Drift Championship it might have seemed like a bit of a 3 horse race with Jack Shanahan, Tomás Kiely and James Deane all within 20 points of each other and the odds of any one of them taking a significant step towards dominating the 2015 series were high. Somewhat unpredictably that’s now how things were to go down last weekend.

Arriving early at Corrin Events Centre, Fermoy (or the ‘Concrete Jungle’ as it is known) on Saturday morning Japspeed driver Shane ‘Sully’ O’Sullivan and the team at Drive ‘N’ Style were soon setup and ready to get out for the all-important open practice session. A few minor tweaks to the car between Round 3 and 4 appeared to be paying off and the RB25-powered Japspeed S15 filled the air with Maxxis Tyre smoke…with a touch of exhaust flames to go with it.

Unfortunately a minor glitch with the power steering would cut practice shorter than intended for Shane. With the issue soon fixed there was plenty of time to sit back and take in the sights and smells of the Pro-Am class competition.

Having enjoyed eerily optimistic sunshine the day before the weather took a much loathed turn for the worse come Sunday morning with rain firmly on the agenda. With increasingly wetter conditions out on track Shane knew it could all go either way in qualifying. Thanks to a couple of spectacular runs Shane qualified confidently and well into the top 16 placing himself midfield in 7^th position…well clear of the sudden death battles.

Despite the damp conditions throughout the day Shane continued to forge his path to the podium facing Paul Murphy in the top 16 battles.

With the track conditions taking their toll on both drivers, Shane advanced through to the top 8 to face Daryl Barnett on the next leg of his journey.

Throughout the battle there was little daylight to be seen between the two competitors. Facing a difficult decision the judges called Shane forward to the top 4 finals.

Drawn against Paul McCarthy Shane knew he would have his work cut out. With neither driver giving any quarter there was little to separate the two. The judges had a tough call and unfortunately this would be decided to Shane’s disadvantage ending an exhilarating weekend with Shane just missing out on the top spot but taking home silverware and 2^nd place overall!

The Irish Drift Championship returns to Mondello Park on Sept 26^th-27^th for the 5^th and final round of the 2015 season. In the meantime we are busy preparing for British Drift Championship Round 4 at Lydden Hill on 22^nd-23^rd August.

Tickets and more information are available at www.thebritishdriftchampionship.co.uk.