The Irish Drift Championship made its triumphant return last weekend as the best Irish drifters descended on Mondello Park to begin their 2017 campaign, putting man and machine to the limit all in the name of motorsport.

Over the winter Shane ‘Sully’ Sullivan and his team have been hard at work giving the time served Japspeed S15 a complete overhaul including replacing the tried and tested RB engine to squeeze a roaring 2JZ power-plant into the heart of this iconic drift weapon.

Working through the night before the event the team arrived at Mondello Park with a significant lack of testing, Shane had no choice but to head straight out to practice in order to get to grips with the new setup. It wasn’t long before Shane’s familiarity with this chassis began to shine through. The new powerhouse was on form; giving Shane the confidence to push harder and harder with every lap.

Practice was time well spent as Qualifying came around – filling the air with bellows of Maxxis Tyre smoke and the sounds of a screaming 2JZ; Shane scored and impressive 84 points on his first run and 91 on his follow-up run. An outstanding performance which saw Shane qualify 3^rd overall and safely into the Top 16.

Headed into the Top 16 Shane came face to face with Paul Conlan behind the wheel of his 2JZ S15 – it was clear from the outset this would be a battle to remember. An impressive performance as both drivers pushed ever harder. Unfortunately Shane’s charge for the podium would come to a premature end albeit by a narrow margin.

Everyone at Team Japspeed would like to congratulate Jack and Conor Shanahan, as well as Anthony Galvin on taking podium. All round a phenomenal start to the 2017 series.

All things considered this is an awesome result for Shane and the Japspeed.ie team. With the S15’s capability now unequivocally clear the IDC grid best be on the lookout come Round 2.