Finally it was time for the first round of the DMCC 2013 series.. Everybody was excited as it was a long long winter.. As I usually do, I got to the track very early before the drivers and media meetings to scope out the cars and see what was new.
Walking around the pit area in the early morning fog I saw Seb Grandmaisons car.. He competed in Pro Am last year and for the 2013 season he moved up to the pro ranks.. I think he has one of the coolest liverys Ive ever seen.
An other Pro Am turned Pro is Kevin Morin.. He has a super sick style and will be fun to see him mixing it up in the pro ranks…Nice Phone btw !
I also spotted Dany “Babu” Bernier.. He drove a v8 G35 last season but for this year he traded his race suit for a DMCC shirt as he is the new Race Director.
Here Francis Tasse gets the bumper on his new beast.. a 950hp V8 Super Charged FD RX-7.. He didn’t look too happy, maybe it was because they were calling for rain and all that HP it would pretty interesting in the wet.
It was cool to that see Tanner Munson made the trip out from the States for round 1.. For this season he’s running a turbo’ed V8 in his S13..
Before I knew it was time for the drivers meeting! Maxime Lemoine moved up to the pro ranks as well this year and will be battling for the rookie of the year title in his chevy S10 drift truck!
Team A-Murca.. ODParts Driver Bob Patinka and photo bomber Tanner Munson..
Funny to see the different types of pit transportation some drivers have. .. And with that it was time for the fun.. First practice session of RD1.
Dom Desrosier car is looking great this year and running a Garret turbo matted to his V8 Engine.. Makes for a good smoke machine..
An other smoke machine is Francis Tasse’s RX7.. Looks so badass with the blower sticking out of the hood.
Mike Pollard drove all the way from Vegas to compete.. His looks soo good.. Sadly after only a few practice laps his 3rd gear in his transmissionion broke.. It was going to make qualifying very hard.
Last Years DMCC Champ was having car problems all morning.. It was not looking good at this point..
Jeff Laflamme finally got his car set up properly at the end of the last season and by the looks of the laps he was putting down he’s ready to battle for this years championship. Look at him ride that line!.
Practice was going very good.. Some sick runs were being put down and no “major” incidents.
Maxime Lemoine and Dom Desrosier both had slight off track problems but both “cars” were ok after a little bit of fixing.
S13 battle.. Tanner Munson with Eric Paradis chasing.. Eric really stepped up his chasing skills over the years..
Jo Thiffault was looking great out there in his SR powered rolla. Here he is chasing down Philippe Bruyere in his Toyota Soarer.. Phil has a great style to watch but he seemed to be having car issues during the morning practice.
We got to see a few more crazy runs before it was time for a track break before the qualifications
Yep.. Thats the Drift Posse BBQ’ing a muffin!
Before quals were about to begin Marc Landrevilles car was still having issues so luckily Marc was able to borrow his friends and Pro Am competitor Jonathan Guitards Lexus to qualify with.
All the drivers started lining up for the first pass of qualifications.. This year DMCC adopted the knock out style..so if you place in the top 8 you were locked in automatically for the top 16.
Not easy going from a RHD S14 to a LHD big Lexus SC400 but as Marc says “A car is a car”.. And with a borrowed car with no seat time Marc qualified for top 16.
Eric Warnet was back this year with his FC RX7 but for this year it was running a v8..Sadly on his first pass he bounced his car off the wall.. Damage was not too bad and he was able to make it out for his 2nd qual pass but the accident messed the car up enough that it didn’t drive properly and he straightened and would not make it into the event.
Pat Cyr put down a solid run and locked in the 3rd qualifying spot.
Getting the 2nd qualifying spot was Francis Tasse.
And securing the number one spot was Joe Thiffault with a crazy run.
Jo was very happy on qualifying first.
The next day did not start off too well.. Rain!.. At least the fans were ready for a wet one.
Top 16 practice started early.. Even tho there was a lot less traction and no tires smoke the drivers were putting down some good passes trying to get their set ups perfect for the main competition.
Francis Tasse getting a tad too close on Tom Tom.
After the morning practice session it was time for the pits to open to the fans.. Even with the not so great weather there were a lot of people..the paddocks were packed!.
Shortly after mother nature decided that we were having to much fun with the little rain we had in the morning and opened up the skies.
It was raining A LOT..
Drivers and crew were hiding out where ever they could.
And just like that the rain stopped.. Just in time for the top 16 to start.
Track crew were very busy removing all standing water.. With the aid of blowers and the Pro Am competition the track was pretty dry for the Pro Top 16.
Before the event was about to start the teams did final prep for the compitition..Pat Cyrs Team swapped out a diff just to be safe.
Jeff Laflamme just hanging out holding his trunk as KSP sets up a on board camera.
Not really sure what Jo Thiffault is doing here with his mechanic..But Im sure it was important.
Just incase of any other thunder storms DMCC skipped the usual top 16 driver intro and just had the drivers to a quick drive by.. Here Pat Cyr throwing some wet DeadMachine T-Shirts into the crowd!
With the grand stands pretty packed it was time for the Top 16 battles to start!
First Battle was Marc Landreville VS Claude Poirier.. Marc adapted super well to the big Lexus and was able to take the win..
Next up was Jo Thiffault VS Jessy Gaudy… Jo got the win..
Tom Tom put up a great fight against Francis Tasse but in the end Francis moved on.
Best Battle of Top 16 was Eric Paradis VS Seb Grandmaison… Seb drove great but Erics chase run was just too crazy.
Next up was Marc Andree Fontaine facing Pat Cyr.. Pats car was super fast and kept on Marc.. Pat moved on.
Americains Bob Patinka and Tanner Muson faced each other.. Bob drove super hard and got the win!
Max Lemoine got the win over Alex Michaud who was also driving a borrowed pro am car..
Jo Thiffault took himself out of the first great 8 battle against Marc Landreville when he over shot the first turn and went off hard into the drift.
Jeff Laflamme had a bye run in top 16 so his first battle was in the great 8 against Bob Patinka.. Jeff was driving hard all weekend and a lot of people thought he would make it all the way to the finals but Bob had other plans and took the win.
Eric Paradis took the win over Francis Tasse..it was an other super fun battle to watch.
Pat Cyr faced Maxime Lemoine in his pick up.. Its super impressive how Max handles that truck.. The battle went to a OMT where Pat was given the win going on to the Final 4.
In top 4 Marc went up against Bob.. Marc was really getting the hang of the big Lexus and was able to squeeze out the win moving on to the battle for 1st!
In the battle with Pat VS Eric, Eric spun on his chase run.. he had a good lead run bout the 0 on his chase lap was too much to over come.
Battle for 3rd!.. It was a really tight battle.. It could of went either way but with some deliberation the Judges gave the win to Eric..Giving him his first ever podium in DMCC.
Main battle was just nuts.. Marc VS Pat again!
It was a nail bitting battle.. Both drivers were on it from start to finish..and then they announced the winner of the RD1……
PAT CYR!
It was great to see Pat give his little rolla one last win before switching to his new FRS for RD2.
Final standings.. Pat Cyr, Marc Landreville, Eric Paradis and Bob Patinka.
DMCC has new owners this year and one of the new changes is big checks… 10k to the winner..but thats not all..
The winners actually gets the cash on the spot! You can see Pats reaction of holding 10 grand!
Fits nicely in the trophy.
RD1 was amazing despite the iffy weather conditions.. If this round was any indication of whats to come the next 7 rounds are going to be insane.. For more info check out the official DMCC web site www.dmccdrift.com
Thanks
JAG