After a tough week in the lead-up to the start of their British Drift Championship campaign, Maxxis-sponsored It’s a Drift Life were forced to make the difficult decision that Pro-Am driver Ryan Cooper would be unable to compete in Round 1.
Doing his best to push his own disappointment aside, Ryan and the team headed up to Lydden Hill to cheer on teammate Christian Lewis as he looked to make an impact in the Pro category. Unfortunately, Christian had his own car problems and was unable to race his newly built LS14 and so found himself behind the wheel of his trusty R33.
Practise began Saturday morning and other than tyre pressure changes in the extremely grippy Maxxis MAZ-1 drift the car was running really well. The R33 is a relatively low powered car compared to many other competitors in the BDC, but the team were confident that Christian would give it his all.
With fluent driving, Christian bagged 27th in qualification and found himself up against non-other than Maxxis Tyres team mate Paul ‘Smokey’ Smith of Team Japspeed in his top 32 battle.
Christian threw everything at the track in an attempt to secure his place in the top 16 but unfortunately, an error handed the win to Paul Smith.
When asked about his performance, Christian Lewis said ‘Although I didn’t get the result I wanted, I am pleased that the car performed well. The grip levels from the Maxxis MAZ-1 drift Tyres really enhanced my performance and kept their level of grip throughout the whole life of the tyre.’
Christian Lewis will now look to complete his LS14 build and head to France to compete in the opening round of the King of Europe Series.
