DriftSouth 2021/22: Round 1, Ruapuna B Track

The opening round of the 2021/22 DriftSouth series was held on November 20th 2021 at Mike Pero Motorsport Park in Christchurch.
Checkout some of the video highlights thanks to Josh at GD Autosport!

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Zac Palmer came out on top at Round 1 of the 2021/22 Drift South Pro Drift championship.

Piloting a different chassis this season, upgrading the R32 to a rebuilt 180SX. Palmer started out the day with a solid 6th in the ranking battles but worked his way to the top with 2 very tight wins over Joel Counter (4th) and Cody Hayden-Holmes (2nd).

This of course means the early championship lead, but with 4 rounds remaining, anything can happen.

The Ranking Battles from Drift South Round 1 featured a very tight battle for the top 2 spots.

Daniel Liemburg, pictured driving his S13 'Onevia', pipped the returning Joel Counter (former DriftSouth champ and D1NZ Angle Judge) by a single point.

*Ranking battles are the unique format used by Drift South as a form of qualifying.

Drivers are given 2x randomly drawn pairings to complete a "drift battle".

Within those 2 battles, drivers are scored individually on their laps based on their standard speed angle and style, but with additional points available for how they interact with the other car. Extra additions to their score can come with a good chase especially.

New to the ranking battles for this season, the lowest ranking 10 drivers after 2 pairs get an extra go at improving their score with an additional battle. These drivers can not progress above that bottom 10 drivers though.

Pro Series Podium:

1st - Zac Palmer

2nd - Cody Hayden-Holmes

3rd - Sam Edinburgh

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